Absolute Sound Review of 801 D4
 

Interesting review. Discussed how sensitive they were to having the right kind of power as with his existing Pass XA 60.8 monoblocks with 60 Watts of power experienced, " a lack of control and grip with dynamic source material". He claimed this also included Piano recordings. Even with a 200W per channel amplifier he said he had to "lean in" to engage with the music. Part of this I wonder is if he was too close to the speakers for him to experience a fully coherent sound stage. He stated he was only 8 to 9 feet away in a listening room 15x15 which would appear to be too small for the 801.

Others on this forum including Joey had this experience with the 800 D3 and felt he could not get his listening chairs far enough back and that the speaker had to be pulled further away from the back wall due to bass challenges.

He did agree however the speakers represented a fantastic value, although reading Andrew Quint's review was not as enthusiastic as I thought it would be, considering the improvements to the D4 series.

Living with the 801 for 16 days now, I can confirm that they do need power and I guess the smallest monoblock by Pass Labs is not enough to drive them properly. However, reviewing them in such a small room cannot be accepted as a relevant review. You must give them space to perform and be at least 3 meters away from them so they sound coherent. I still have not read the review, so I will get back once I read it.

I read the review. I agree. Too much speaker for a small a room (15x15). I think a square room is not a very good room acoustically, either.

Best

Charles

As an 800D3 owner, agree the speakers need breathing room off the wall, a bigger room than used for the review and LOTS of power. I was using 1.2KW Mac amps to drive mine before moving to a D’Agostino amp. A largely irrelevant review I’d suggest in terms of being able to judge the speaker properly…

I didn’t find the review helpful

I did not read the review but I agree. I've had the bigger 800 series speakers in my main system and they all need much more room than a 15x15 space.

Building on what Charles mentioned, I can confirm a square room can be very difficult to tame the low frequencies in. While larger, my room is also square and I had to go to a 45 Degree offset arrangement. Eg back and face towards opposite corners.

I also have a dedicated room so total flexibility on listening and speaker positions - that is very important.

The 801D4 came in place of the 800D2. I will try and simplify my findings, just in case someone is interested. The new generation is easier to drive, can play much louder without strain, is less sensitive to placement (it requires careful positioning, but not in nanometres as the D2 required) and much more musical. It serves a greater amount of detail and information but in a way that it involves you more into the music, without being annoying. The distracting and attention grabbing treble is gone, now it is balanced and perfectly blended. The bass is amazing! Deep, articulate, extended, fast and never overpowering. I get the impression that it is much bigger speaker now (which is not). I have the 802D3 in another system (next room), so it is pretty easy to compare with the 801D4. The 802D3 is a lovely speaker, great value! But now compared to 801 D4 seems a bit off balance and hate to say, inarticulate. Still joyful, but it takes at least 40 minutes to wear-off the D4 effect. The D4 is still a B&W Diamond sound, they did not lose the essence, but now it is much more sofisticated, lush and inviting sound. I do not want to sound over enthusiastic, but 801D4 is a top of the line loudspeaker.

Awesome man

Any pics?

Nice, helpful review!
Thanks for taking the time to share