B&W Owner's Thread - Page 123

thanx for the help guys.. i'm thinking it may be the recordings... i am listening at -30DB's max and it doesn't seem to go away when i lower the volume.

I thought that might be the case. By the way, if the recordings were mastered on analog tape, the distortion can reach several percent on peaks, especially with classical music which often demands a huge dynamic range. This distortion is caused by the nonlinearity of the tape itself, and is thus unavoidable with analog tape. For example, I found this to be quite noticeable on some RCA Red Seal SACD's which were made from old tape masters. Despite this they were generally excellent.

I had the Adcom GFA-545II 2ch amp for many years before replacing it with the GFA-5400 5ch. That got replaced with the Outlaw 7125 and now 7500. I should be keeping this one for a lot of years.

All,

I am finally in a position to upgrade my system to a level I have been wanting for some time. The initial purchase will be a set of B+W 804s, and an amplifier (I am eyeing the Rotel RMB 1575). My first question is around price flexibility at the dealer level. As it stands my dealer is taking 15% off the B+W's (due to my past business with him) and has stated that this is typically unheard of (apparently B+W doesn't discount). My first question is around whether or not this is true. My second is with respect to the deal, is it a good one? Lastly, is there anyone out there powering this model with ICEpower? If so how is it? My dealer is trying to push me to Anthem, and while they have great preamps, I am not sold on their amps just yet.

Any advice from the collective is appreciated!

I bought speakers from the dealer that my father bought from, and they gave me 10% off.

I would love to know how class D works with floor standing B&W's. I cant believe it so efficient compared to 70+ pound a/b Amps.

Very well. Using BC Ref1000MkIIs nicely now with my 802Ds. Also, they were my preferred amp with the Jamo R-907 and the Pioneer S-1EX speakers.

Both times I bought speakers (602 S2 and later 704) the discount offered was 10%. My feeling was that 10% off was standard and anything more was real bargaining.

I ve just bought a new HTM1 center speaker. When I came home I saw that the tweeter was 'hanging loose'. The tweeter has some sort of cover and that 'hang' loose (NOT the dust cover but the actual tweeter itself!). I saw 2 wires that where intact and just pushed/clicked the tweeter back. Could my tweeter be damaged now?

I don't know. I understand that the diamond tweeters are very fragile. My dealer once told me a horror story, of how they were shipping a speaker, and to stabilize the tweeter assembly, they put a piece of tape over the external tweeter housing, just to provide a little extra rigidity. When it arrived, the diamond diaphragm had simply disappeared! There was just open daylight where the diaphragm had been! Presumably it had just shattered under a slight shift in pressure.

Anyway, proceed with extreme caution. I suppose it is still OK if it sounds like before, but this is somwhat speculative. In any case, you might check with your dealer or B&W about this.

15% off is a decent discount. It's true B&W frowns on discounts; however I've heard of up to 25% discount given. Regarding ICEpower, yes they're very efficient. My dealer powered the 802 with the 1077 amp. Do not underestimate the power of those little bugger.

When I got my 804S and HTM3S this summer, my dealer gave me 12% off MSRP and 18 month of no interest/no payments.
Now, with the economy even worse, 15-20% off shouldn't be too hard to get. I all depends of how bad the dealer is hurting and wants to make a sale.

From what I've heard off, most dealers only "discount" if you are buying multiple items, such as front & center speakers, speakers and an Amp, etc. If you were just buying a pair of L/R speakers, or only a center, or an Amp, then don't expect a discount.

Dealers that want to survive will do what ever it takes I don't understand why the high end firms don't like their dealers to discount?? It's called capitalism What ever the customer will pay

On an other note any one tried Emotiva XA-1 amp with the 800D serie?

the xpa-1's just shipped so i doubt it

I got a 10% discount on my 683 speakers. Also had to order them so... But I also think it depends on what you will buy. I bought L/R speakers and a receiver. The receiver went from €1299 to €860, because it was an older model (denon 2808)

Hey guys,

I was hoping you all could chime in on a dilemma i am having. I am a B&W fan that just (as in today) got a new pair of 804S from a local dealer here in Singapore where I am based. As they were unpacking the speakers, I noticed that the serial numbers are not consecutive, and are actually 200 apart. How big a deal is this? Obviously if the serial numbers that B&W keeps are consecutive to detail production order, it makes sense to have consecutive numbers because they are "matched" though not in the same way that a dedicated left/right design need to be matched. The dealer swears that all of his batch shipments have varying serials and that he only sells pairs off of the same batch, but never with consecutive serial numbers.

Any hard facts you have on this would be helpful and/or contacts at HQ that I might need to contact to resolve this issue.

Thanks!

I don't know how much nonconsecutive numbers really matter, but I've owned B&W speakers for many years and every pair of L/R speakers I've owned or seen have had consecutive serial numbers. I think your dealer has an inventory issue at a minimum.

Why not just email B&W with the question?

Yep, I shopped around for a new pair of 683s and most dealers weren't willing to work with me on the price. I then went to a MyerEmco in DC (it's a small mid-fi chain in the DC metro area) and they gave me just under 17% off, which I thought was a great deal. I was actually planning on holding out for a nice set of used ones on Agon, but with that deal I jumped.

Frankly, I have never looked at the s/n of my speakers.


Good idea since, apparently, it concerns you.

I have consecutive numbers on each pair. Which isnt surprising since the smaller ones and the surround speakers comes two in a box. But i also has consecutive numbers on my 703's. Still, i doubht there is much swing in tolerances in such a large manufacturer unless there are other factors at play.

It used to be an issue in the old days when everything was made by hand and it probably still is for some brands. However, the bigger producers, and B&W certainly qualifies, are mostly automated for production and testing. I would imagine that the 800 line is subjected to sufficient testing to insure that all meet the defined specs or better. I know, for example, that the Revel Ultima line is stringently tested so that any two of a particular model are matched for performance.

I played again and again with crossover settings on my 600 system (683/HTM61/685/Velodyne MiniVee) and always dropped back to leaving everything set to large. Everything just sounds more fuller and lifelike. For instance, when setting the center to small, I could hear a loss in the real low midrange like say with the infamous voice of Batman in the new Batman movies or even when say a car would drive by...the sub just doesn't seem to do any lower midrange good at all and I don't like to set the crossover real low like say 40Hz because I do like the sub to play up higher "bass" frequencies up to 80Hz so I have good bass impact.


Significant upgrade in sound quality with a Emotiva amp over your receiver? Well that depends IMO on the quality of your receiver and your opinion in what a significant upgrade would be. My Sony receiver to a Yamaha was what I would consider a "significant upgrade". The difference was night and day in sound quality and fidelity. The Yamaha + the Emotiva, not so significant, but I still felt it was needed to put that last touch on my system. My first impression when I hooked my Yamaha 663 into Emotiva XPA-5 was that the sound was nearly identical at lower and normal volumes. The one thing that did stand out initially was the bass had more weight/inertia to it - not louder SPL wise - but bass notes would sustain longer and harder without really making anymore cone movement then before.

I would also drive the Yamaha into protection mode when I wanted rock out at dance club volume with bass intensive music with the 683's (I run them full range) - and after the third time, I decided it would be best to just get a dedicated power amp so that I would have plenty of headroom to handle the ohm drops along with volume loads. Of course at loud volume the sound is less compressed and clearer sounding. The nice thing about having a power amp is that it will last you a long time and not have to be upgraded often which will allow you to buy better performing pre-amps. I'm sure if right now I dropped back to the receivers internal amps that I would notices other differences - but basically more solid bass performance and clearer and cleaner at high volume levels.


None of mine did - not even the last pair of 683's when I opted to go brand new instead of keep the floor demos. Didn't check the 685's, but it would be funny if they didn't since they're boxed together as a pair, heh. Strangely my old Cerwin Vegas did have consecutive serial numbers. Not that it matters to me, but I do notice that sellers on eBay like to sometimes point out that their speakers have consecutive serial numbers like it means something or adds to the value.

My 683's also have consecutive numbers.

None of mine did - not even the last pair of 683's when I opted to go brand new instead of keep the floor demos. Didn't check the 685's, but it would be funny if they didn't since they're boxed together as a pair, heh. Strangely my old Cerwin Vegas did have consecutive serial numbers. Not that it matters to me, but I do notice that sellers on eBay like to sometimes point out that their speakers have consecutive serial numbers like it means something or adds to the value. [/quote]

It was more noticing the issue of consecutive number on ebay that prompted my question - I will email B&W and make sure.

One more question - what small footprint integrated amp would you recommend to use with the speakers? Also, it needs to be something available in a 220/230 voltage because of the Singapore locale. The background is I am here for work and we (my wife and I) live in a very nice, but somewhat smallish apartment. As we intend to be here only for a year or so, I do not want to spend a whole lot of money on a quality Classe or McIntosh but something under $1000 that goes well with the minimalist decor of the apartment (her concern). Any recommendations? As for functionality, two channel is key, though any A/V functionality would be fine since this is not going to be a permanent addition to the collection.

Thanks!

According to a french website the 700 series in going bye bye

Ack! I need to get some 704s in maple pronto.

I sent you a private message--I have a like-new pair in maple.

Yeah, think we had a discussion about it a few pages back in this thread. The rumours seem to surface every year or so, but as it also seems that most of the dealers are selling out their stock of 700-series speakers it actually seems to be true this time. Especially since the CM-series has raised its bar a bit. Still, the definitive statement will come from B&W when they take it down from their site or replace them.

Hey guys, I bought my 602 S2's 7 or 8 years ago and seem to remember the salesman telling my that with these speakers I really don't need a sub woofer. Am I remembering that right? Is that the claim, that they can handle the lows well enough that I don't need a sub? I have never been disappointed with the sound (just the opposite, actually) but I now have the opportunity to get a good sub at a good price. In your opinions, should I get it? Or am I just as well off using the 602's without one?

Thanks for any input.

Get the sub........