When’s the D4 coming?

[hdvidguy]

Deleted

[doggiehowser]

I buy speakers to listen to music. Not to frequency sweeps.

Are the 800s the most neutral speaker? Mmm no. Definitely not. I have heard 800s against Focals and KEF and can tell where the 800s have a more pronounced mid bass and high frequency extension.

But with the music I listen to, they do sound just awesome. I reckon a lot of the music I listened to were probably mastered on 800 series speakers of that era. My 805D3s get my foot tapping. At the end of the day, maybe that’s the one thing I really care about when I listen to music.

[ti33er]

When I first got my 805D3 last year I was so very excited to show them off to my wealthy friend during the break in Lockdown, especially after I got my £5500 CAMBRIDGE EDGE A Integrated Amplifier. Ive tried over the years to get him to invest in a nice Stereo but he maintains that high end audio is a waste of time; instead he has hoards of SONOS round his four storey home here in London which just works and is tidy and convenient…

So when he came by he brought a SONOS ONE SL that we linked up with my daughters SL and we put them on the mantlepiece, in close locale to my prized 805D3 setup

All I can say is that I was somewhat embarrassed when we shot out the two systems …I felt like a fool for spending in excess of £11K when the cheap pair of £360 SONOS ONE SL sounded pretty close…and most notably in the treble area - before he arrived I had hyped up having the ‘Worlds Best Tweeter’ which validated these extortionate bookshelf speakers.

So yes, the 805D3 could play louder (and look really nice in my opinion) but how often would I be blasting my eardrums out at levels beyond the SONOS ONE could muster up…I nearly threw in the towel to be honest …….but then I went back to RicherSounds and listened to their CAMBRIDGE EDGE system with Monitor Audio Gold Series 5 200 Speakers which I’d heard before …..wow they sounded refined and natural; with that ‘Class A’ treble that Cambridge tout their EDGE Series to have! …so what could be wrong with my system !???????

Was it the Room, was it the ‘speaker cables’ (lol to that tbh) or something wrong with my Speakers?

Then John WestLake (well known Audio Designer) guffawed me on a public Forum and insinuated my purchase of D3 Bowers was the root cause of my sibilance issues; saying ‘they are not an easy listen’

In a nutshell that sent me on this journey, first finding the Stereophile measurements;then me making tents over my Loudspeakers with duvets to rule out room reflections (Wife thinking I’ve got a screw loose); putting sports socks over the tweeters as did someone on Facebook with the same problem on 804D3; borrowing stupidly expensive Chord Signature cables (that make zero difference); pulling my hair out and about to buy Gold 200 Loudspeakers…… then finally locating a Professional (no he is not my buddy) that specialises in Crossover and Loudspeaker design,who showed me the truth…

…it’s a bit like Morpheus telling Neo that not everybody can take the Red Pill as they are not ready to accept the truth and some may never be…

Let’s hope the D4 is different or I’d certainly entertain another brand next move…or SONOS, I’ll have more to put into my Pension :-)

[doggiehowser]

800D3s with Dan DAgostino Progression, Audio Research, Chord Hugo TT2.

800D3s with PS Audio BHK Monos, BHK Pre Amp and DirectStream DAC.

In a reasonably large room or well damped room.

[thughes]

I buy speakers to listen to music. Not to frequency sweeps.

I agree.

[hdvidguy]

Originally Posted by thughes

I agree.

Ok, guilty, I listen to low bass sweeps to setup my sub. 👍

[ti33er]

Le’ *Sigh*… :-)

[PeterMusic]

Originally Posted by ti33er

@petermusic funny you say that; and I think being an Audio Nerd attracts a certain calibre of personality I’ve noticed; he rebuilt an e-type Jaguar engine in his youth when I mentioned another person I know occasionally saws older BMW 325i in half to go racing on the Nurburgring regularly

To get the best out of these 805D3 you have to buy something like McIntosh to dither the tweeter out

Originally Posted by ti33er

…look I know it’s not nice to hear that equipment we’ve invested thousands in could be sub-optimal -

You've captured a lot here--

I agree the E-Type is a magnificent machine. One of the most beautiful cars of all time.

I also agree that matching amps and speakers is essential, though I would not phrase it pejoratively as you have.

I think our difference is on the idea of "sub-optimal". It does not phase me that any of my gear might be sub-optimal. At the price levels we are discussing, pretty much everything sounds great, but almost every speaker, amp, source, has some sort of compromise--all gear is sub-optimal. The 805s, just for example, might be bright, but they have startling clarity and detail. Similarly, when we compare SS amps to tubes, we are balancing superior bass against superior midrange. It is hard to find a free lunch--we're just balancing trade-offs. Apparently, you believed this at the point you purchased the 805s.

So my concern with tinkering with a B&W speaker is that you are second guessing people who are far more expert and experienced than you are likely to be, and likely just swapping one suboptimal behavior for another. This would be similar to taking that BMW 325 up to track levels of performance, and then getting too rough a ride around town.

I do not expect the D4's to be "optimal". I expect them to be better than the D3's and tougher competition for speakers from other excellent companies.

[Carlos84]

September !

[thughes]

September !

,,, finally, we return to the thread topic.