B&W Owner's Thread - Page 393

could you post a picture of your setup for information?

I'm Wondering why only 4 star and a half in performance if the 802Di are an excellent speaker.

Anyone wanna sell or trade their HTM2 Diamond for my HTM4 diamond plus a good chunk of cash??

I have an HTM4 D2 which is basically the same thing except ported lol. Why do you say an 805? Because I have a small room? Wouldn't the HTM2 timbre match my 800s much better?

Dual subs are the way to go even better four subs in the corners no more bass problems

Only size, yes.

I thought you wanted a smaller speaker is all.

Being as my room is 11x15, would upgrading to the HTM2 cause me to go say "wow!"?? I'm barely pushing the HTM4 as it is, but I understand it's not perfectly timbre matched.

you will keep the 800?
BTW your 800 are in trade on audiogon? that is your room? if is so, maybe the HTM2di is not a good idea.

Yes it is my room. That's why I originally purchased the HTM4Di center. I think the 2 may be overkill.

I agree with you, in your room the 804D will are working perfectly, so my advice is keep all and enjoy it!



this is my room BTW is close in size like yours, I went for the 804D for budget only but if this last one not been a problem, I'm sure that I just went for the 802Di.

Sure, but I have to find out how to do that.

OK it's all so clear now. I looked at the ad on audiogon and knew I seen that room somewhere before, it was here in another thread. I got the impression from that thread that because of the room treatments the speaker size wasn't going to be an issue but I guess living with them for a while brought a bit to much reality into it. Reading 11x15 and now actually seeing 11x15 with the speakers in it gives me a whole different perspective. So given that I now have a good picture of things, pardon the pun, wow, going with 802's I think will still leave you in the same situation I think with the speakers totally dominating the room and if you do get a HTM2 with 802's then the 3 speakers will almost be touching. I think that room is best served with either 805's and the HTM4 but if you have your heart set on towers then I say get the 804's. Damn I wish you lived next door and not in another country because I could possibly arrange to take the 800's off your hands as they are in my color. I couldn't give you my 802's and HTM2 because I would still need those but I'm sure you wouldn't decline the cash.

I'm going to say "No" here. Keep your beautiful 800D and your HTM4. Be happy. They do sound great, right?

Possibly because of the performance of the DB1 and maybe due to the db bump around 4kHz on the 802. Regardless he gave high praise of the system as a whole and it earned a Top Picks.

According to the specs they are only 2" higher, 3" wider and 3" deeper (not including the plinth) so very comparable in size by my standards. Maybe the plinth just gives off a false sense of their size when thinking of the 802's. I get that from friends commenting about how big my 802's are compared to my Paradigm Studio 100v2's I have for surrounds. If put side by side the 802 definitely doesn't over shadow the 100. The dramatically different shape of the two speakers creates an almost optical illusion. They are the same height but the 802 is 4" wider and 6" deeper

I have a 9 by 15 ft listening area, and I wonder if I need to get a HTM 2 to replace the HTM 4?
All that talk above on this has got me thinking..
Using the HTM 4 with a 805s, but I can spring up for a 804 as well for better scale and bass in music.

I think people misunderstand me. The speakers sound INCREDIBLE, I just think aesthetically and volume wise they overpower the room. Good news is that the room is a dedicated theater, so it's acoustically treated the right way.

Second, given that the speakers are only 5-6 feet apart from each other (center to center of the 800s), do these bad boys like to be toed in? I have them faced front for soundstage reasons, but some speakers like an aggressive toe. Any suggestions?

Thanks for this post, I am new to this thread because i am considering getting a pair of 802 diamonds and htm-2 diamond for a center. I will be driving them with my denon avp and poa in bridged mode. I am guessing that should be a nice combo since b&w use it themselves on shows.

I do wonder about why there is no htm-1 anymore and how the htm-2 diamond relates to the other bigger brother any ideas/feedback on that would be welcome.

Daniel.

Concerning the discontinuation of the HTM1D the reason seems to have been sales, that along with the 801D did not sell as well as the other speakers so B&W decided to drop them along with their two dedicated surround speakers. I'll leave others who own or have heard the HTM1D to comment on how it sounds compared to the HTM2 as I have never persoanlly seen one let alone heard one.

What do you guys recommend using to clean the outside of the speakers? I have wedge CM9s.

If they sound INCREDIBLE like how my 802D2 sound to me, don't change a thing. Just keep the volume comfortable, not too high, even if they can be cranked up really high.

I toe mine in about 20-30 degrees. But again, if they sound INCREDIBLE, why mess up a good thing?

I toe in the 800Diamond II 30 degrees so they come right at me

My 802's are toed in, I found it made a noticeable improvement in the imaging but with your room being acoustically treated and not very wide with the speakers really close together you are probably at or near their sweet spot I would suspect.

Hey AcuDefTechGuy, I see you now have Focal speakers listed in your signature. What made you decide to add another pair of towers and I'm curious, with B&W 802's and Revel Ultima Salon's, why the 800 series Focals and not say the Scala Utopia ? You'll soon have to add a Wilson Sasha or Sophia and then add a Sonus Faber, something like the Cremona M or the Elipsa/Elipsa SE

I don't have an exact angle measurement, but mine also come straight at me, so I think 30 degrees is about right.

I have the Focal, Dynaudio, ATC, and Philharmonic in my living room, while the B&W, KEF, Revel, Linkwitz, and TAD are in my HT room, which is LOCKED when I don't want any house guess and in-laws nosing around.

The 800/802 have at least the +/-3dB frequency response, while the Wilson are more like +/-6dB, which falls out of my selection criteria.

http://www.hometheater.com/content/bampw-802-diamond-speaker-system-ht-labs-measures

"The 802 Diamond’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.82/–2.79 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz."

Here is the Sasha. At 6kHz, it is down a whole -6dB:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-sasha-wp-loudspeaker-measurements

Here is the MAXX3. Again at 6kHz, it is down -6dB:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-specialties-maxx-series-3-loudspeaker-measurements

Here is the Sophia3. At around 2.8kHz, it is down almost -6dB:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-sophia-series-3-loudspeaker-measurements

The Sonus Cremona is more like +/-4dB and has cabinet resonance issues:

"There is a suspicious-looking wrinkle in the impedance traces around 125Hz. Investigating the vibrational behavior of the cabinet panels with an accelerometer, I did find a resonant mode in that region on the front and rear panels, along with others at 154 and 387Hz (fig.2). These may well be associated with the slight warmth I noted in my auditioning."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-cremona-elipsa-loudspeaker-measurements

I know measurements aren't everything, but that is crossing the line just a little bit for me, especially for "high-end" speakers costing that much money.

I considered buying the Focal Diablo Utopia III, but didn't want to spend that kind of money on speakers with measurements close to +/-4dB (Focal Maestro Utopia III).

http://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-maestro-utopia-iii-loudspeaker-measurements

Again, measurements aren't everything, but they are included in my criteria.
Edited by AcuDefTechGuy - 10/29/12 at 6:30am

I have no doubt that speaker measurements introduce bias. The Salon2 gets 5 stars because it has better measurements. The FR graph is a lot smoother on the Salon2.
http://www.hometheater.com/content/revel-ultima2-salon2-speaker-system-page-2

I'm just happy to see the 802D2 in the +/-2.8dB range, and not +/-4dB or +/-5dB or +/-6dB.

The Salon2’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +0.99/–2.25 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz.

The 802 Diamond’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.82/–2.79 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz.
Edited by AcuDefTechGuy - 10/29/12 at 6:46am

Okay, now that's going beyond PASSION, right into the realm of CRAZY.

Nothing wrong with the B&W + Denon combo. I pair my 802 w/ the Denon AVP+ AT3005 amp.

Nothing wrong with pairing the B&W w/ Anthem per-pro + amp, or Classe, or Rotel, etc, either.

I think the Denon amp is overpriced, though. For $7500, there are a lot of great options. I don't like having to bridge an amp in order to get 300wpc. IMO, a $7500 amp should be at least 300wpc not bridged.

But nothing wrong with your thought on the combo either. Just a different opinion.

I can see that a lot of B&W owners use many, many different brands of surround speakers.
Just a quick review of posted photos and personal equipment lists shows not too many 800 series Diamond owners are using B&W branded surrounds or even using 805 Diamonds (as intended by the manufacturer). Obviously that is because the choices are poor. If you have a B&W 800 series speaker, you can use regular 805 Diamonds with their front firing sound, drop down two levels to the DS3 surrounds, look for a pair of used SCMS surrounds on the Web or use another brand of surround.

I wonder if B&W is getting the message they have dropped the ball in this area? Where are the high quality dipole surround speakers?
Edited by SugarmillMan - 10/29/12 at 8:13am