WOW! Look at these bad-boys!

[Anonymous]

mattc76:What's this got to do with those enormous speakers?

God knows...

But back to the B&Ws, I'm not sure where the 800Ds are better than the 801Ds...

 

[floyd droid]

chebby:al7478:have ya gorra website?

Young Hughes' website here.

I just had to look chebby. Ok chocks away mate,tell you how she was tomato .

 

[Babur72]

mattc76 wrote:"125kg EACH. Thats the weight of 2 small human-beings! I never new hi fi could get so crazy! I bet listening to them is a completely new experience. Anyone had the pleasure? What was it like?"

I have to admit to having had the pleasure of hearing both the B&W800D's & B&W802D's Matt.There are very few speakers around which can match,never mind better,what the big B&W's do best.Namely,faithfully reproduce the drama,dynamics & sense of scale of classical orchestral works.

Andrew Everard wrote:"Yes, heard them many times, including in the main control room at Abbey Road, where they have a multichannel set-up using these speakers all round.

They sound every bit as impressive as they look - one reason they, and their predecessors, are widely used for monitoring in classical studios - but it goes without saying that they need some driving, and top-notch partnering kit."

As Andrew has elucidated,with many of the diamond tweetered 800 series partnering with electronics of commensurate quality & performance is paramount - ie. driving them with amps. capable of delivering a high,smooth current supply with a high damping factor & fast settling time,will help the bass sound more coherent & prevent them from becoming excessively 'boomy',or even occasionally 'flabby'.

Just as important is the need for these speakers to have plenty of space to breathe...I consider my medium-sized(18.5' x 14.5') listening room to be a bit on the small side,for the depth & volume the 800D's can produce.

Andrew.Am i correct in thinking that at Abbey Road studios the 800D's are driven by Chord Electronics & Classe amps.?

Personally,i reckon the 802D's are the real gems of the '800' series.About 95% of the performance of the 800D's,but at only(?!) 62% of the cost.They sounded great when driven by the Classe CP-700(pre-amp.) & M-400(monoblock power-amps.).But particularly sweet paired with the Plinius Tautoro(pre-amp.) & SA-Ref.(stereo power-amps.) when driving them in class 'A' mode(using the Tubes or Transistors to amplify the whole musical waveform).

BABUR.

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:al7478:have ya gorra website?

Young Hughes' website here.

Horowitz's Alex Rider novels were far better - quite remarkably some of the most indulgent reading I have undertaken! Much better than Byron, Shelley or Shakespeare and the like...

I'll get my coat...

 

[Messiah]

Hughes123:Octopo:They are astonishing. Preferred the 801D for a couple of grand less though.

Certainly - much larger driver and far better looking. I've heard a pair of these at Abbey in one of their smaller monitoring rooms and they have astonishing resolution and a kick to the bass which makes you realise what you're missing with less able transducers.

This video should be of interest to you all; I've put it in stereo so the sound should be good: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ELyY-V1hpGI&fmt=18 Shame about the awful electronics driving them! The quality of the audio on this youtube video is outstanding though!

Here's another video of the 801Ds being driven by Classe equipment: The sound is amazing even on a compressed video, you can hear the "air" in the recording! How is that so?! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qebnq7Qy-vg&feature=related&fmt=18

I find the comments posted with these videos a little 'odd'! 'WOW - how good do they sound' etc. Surely that is very limited by the system they are listening to the clip on?? How can they make this judgement??

They are effectively saying a YouTube clip of some high quality speakers is allowing them to appreciate how good they are?!?
Odd, odd, odd....

 

[Anonymous]

Messiah:Hughes123:Octopo:They are astonishing. Preferred the 801D for a couple of grand less though.

Certainly - much larger driver and far better looking. I've heard a pair of these at Abbey in one of their smaller monitoring rooms and they have astonishing resolution and a kick to the bass which makes you realise what you're missing with less able transducers.

This video should be of interest to you all; I've put it in stereo so the sound should be good: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ELyY-V1hpGI&fmt=18 Shame about the awful electronics driving them! The quality of the audio on this youtube video is outstanding though!

Here's another video of the 801Ds being driven by Classe equipment: The sound is amazing even on a compressed video, you can hear the "air" in the recording! How is that so?! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qebnq7Qy-vg&feature=related&fmt=18

I find the comments posted with these videos a little 'odd'! 'WOW - how good do they sound' etc. Surely that is very limited by the system they are listening to the clip on?? How can they make this judgement??

They are effectively saying a YouTube clip of some high quality speakers is allowing them to appreciate how good they are?!?
Odd, odd, odd....

never let common-sense or logic get in the way of opinions expressed online!