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4M views 30K replies 3K participants last post by  Tank_PD 
#1 ·
I noticed that I hadn't seen B&W OWNER'S thread , but that there are a lot of owners on this forum and I think that the consistant bashing from about 4 posters makes people hesitant to get involved in any of the many threads that keep getting nasty. So, to that end, I think that if there was a thread where the Lovefest could be conducted without bothering NON-owners and the bashers weren't welcome, maybe some good info could come out of it.


My challenge would be to ask people here to keep it civil and that if you don't like B&W there is no point in you being here. If you want to talk about other comporables, start another thread.


For the record, I am a B&W dealer , and most know this, and as such , if I can find out any important info on the brand or certain models, I will be happy to. Don't , however, post or pm me regarding sales, I don't use threads as advertising for my business, and I won't sell you anything .


So what do you own and how is it set-up?
 
#18,641 ·
I attached a picture -- but it looks like the transit cap has never been removed. Is that bad? Any harm to the speaker by running them with the transit cap on? I assume I should remove it (by backing out the phillips screw) correct?

Any help/advice is appreciated.
I don't think that leaving the transit caps on would have caused any damage to the speakers. Unknowingly, the transit caps were on my speakers for two years because the guys from the A/V store who delivered and set them up in my basement forgot to remove them. I called B&W when I discovered they had been left on and they assured me that no harm would have been done. However, I have since removed them from my speakers.

Enjoy your 803's. They are great speakers. I have a pair myself!

Cal68
 
#18,643 · (Edited)
Hi all

Now that I have finally ready every page in this thread, I feel I am ready to contribute!

First, a bit about me. I fell in love with home cinema about 10 years ago while in my 20's. Working as an IT engineer for a media company who master DVDs, I got a call from a sound engineer who was having a problem with his computer. As I entered the studio, the engineer was busy working on the effects for one of the Disney animations, at full volume. The quality of the sound coming from those Genelec speakers stopped me in my tracks! My jaw just dropped open, I couldn't move. The effect of the sparkle and twinkle from the wizards magic wand was so precise, so delicate, so sublime, I have been chasing that quality ever since.

A couple of months later I had maxed out my credit cards and bought some Bowers and Wilkins 700s. I still have them. They were the best speakers out of all of the ones I auditioned at the time by far. Obviously they didn't compare to the sound of a professional studio, but over the years I have been trying everything I can to get them close.

Originally I bought a Denon 3805 amp which I used the auto calibration from. It wasn't great. More recently I upgraded that to a Yamaha 3010. The YPAO on that was also massively disappointing. Very vague. No more than 1 or 2 dB adjustment and always with a small Q. Problem is, I never knew where to start with manual equalisation.

Then I discovered Room Equalisation Wizard (REW). What a difference! At first I was only using it with a Radio Shack SPL meter and calibration file. That was good enough for a while, but buying a proper calibrated microphone (Umik) finally made them sing. I was always a bit apprehensive about using too much EQ, (pure must be better, right?), but when I saw the level of the extent of the EQ adjustments required to get a flat response I was amazed. 20db cuts in some of the low frequencies were recommended by REW. That really stopped the boominess.

To compare the difference before and after REW I used a signal generator to create a sine wave of each frequency of the parametric EQ in my amp. I played them like an album, from 40hz to 16khz. With YPAO EQ enabled there were HUGE jumps in volume. After I switched to manual all tracks sounded pretty much the same. (admittedly after DAYS of learning and tweaking REW).

I also added some crude room treatment. Basically a shower rail between the top of my rear speakers. On it I have a hung some old, thick jumpers, and over that a plain rug to disguise it. Not great, but stops the higher frequencies bouncing of the rear wall well enough to tighten up vocals.

I am pretty happy with my setup. At least I was until recently when I added an SVS SB2000. That has inflamed my upgraditus! The speaker are 10 years old now. It must be time for some new ones...

I arranged an audition of the 800 diamond series at my local dealer. Demo'd both the 805s and 804s driven by both a £2000 receiver and £10,000 power amp. We watched a couple of movies and also listened to some of my favorite files on flac. How disappointing! The 804 did sound better then the 805's in the mid and low end but I have to say neither of them blew me away. Switching to the bigger amp made no difference at all.

I had considered maybe the shop hadn't set the kit up correctly, but we tried different sources; blu ray and media player, and also different amps. Don't get me wrong, they sounded good. But not much that better than mine. The top end didn't have the same sparkle as my setup, despite the diamond tweeters. Mid range was more detailed, but not by much.

I really wanted to be as amazed by them as I was that first day I walked into the sound studio. They SHOULD be a lot better, right?

I am wondering if it simply because my home system is now calibrated to well, a default setup without any equalisation just won't compare. Problem is, I REALLY want some new toys to play with! I just can't justify paying £7,000 for speakers that *might* not be much better.

I guess after all that, I am asking if anyone has experience of a similar upgrade!

Or could recommend other speakers
 
#18,647 ·
#18,648 ·
I like it alot, the mid bass the 685s lacked is now present and I don't feel I lost any clarity. I do think the htm61 center needs to be placed lower or maybe angle it down slightly. With it being close to the presence speakers it's hard to hear the height difference from effects like rain and helicopters.
 
#18,649 ·
I like it alot, the mid bass the 685s lacked is now present and I don't feel I lost any clarity. I do think the htm61 center needs to be placed lower or maybe angle it down slightly. With it being close to the presence speakers it's hard to hear the height difference from effects like rain and helicopters.
I can't tell from your picture but I would pull the HTM61 center all the way forward and definitely angle it down toward the listening position.
 
#18,651 ·
Hey all just purchase my first pair of Bowers and Wilkins speakers today. I bought two 684s and they sound great!
 

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#18,653 ·
So I am curious if I should Bi-Wire these or just keep the bridge that came with them since I am not using any additional amps. I purchased Audioquest X2 speaker cable and have that running from my receiver to these two front speakers (B&W 684 S1s). What is the consensus for those that have Bi-wired or haven't, or those who know about it in detail regarding whether these speakers will sound even better with the bi-wiring or not.
 
#18,654 ·
So I am curious if I should Bi-Wire these or just keep the bridge that came with them since I am not using any additional amps. I purchased Audioquest X2 speaker cable and have that running from my receiver to these two front speakers (B&W 684 S1s). What is the consensus for those that have Bi-wired or haven't, or those who know about it in detail regarding whether these speakers will sound even better with the bi-wiring or not.
Does not make any difference!
 
#18,655 ·
Does not make any difference!
That seems to be the majority consensus. I've tried to do some research into this, even getting into the physics of it at some points. As a formal electrical engineering student turned IT guy, I have to agree with you. I do not see how it is scientifically possible that running separate speaker cable from the same receiver output to two different inputs is any different than basically running one speaker cable from the receiver output to both inputs. If anything, I would argue the latter way would provide better sound due to a lower chance of signal interference or degradation as a result of a decreased amount of speaker cable being run all together.

That being said, the engineer in me wants to try it anyways :)
 
#18,656 ·
That seems to be the majority consensus. I've tried to do some research into this, even getting into the physics of it at some points. As a formal electrical engineering student turned IT guy, I have to agree with you. I do not see how it is scientifically possible that running separate speaker cable from the same receiver output to two different inputs is any different than basically running one speaker cable from the receiver output to both inputs. If anything, I would argue the latter way would provide better sound due to a lower chance of signal interference or degradation as a result of a decreased amount of speaker cable being run all together.

That being said, the engineer in me wants to try it anyways :)
The engineer in you should summarily discard the biwiring option.
 
#18,658 ·
Maybe Patrick could finally she'd some light on why B&W recommends biwiring in the owners manual.

Bill
Biamping could be beneficial but biwiring would offer no improvement.
 
#18,660 ·
Of course. The quote of the previous post was unintentional. Sorry about that. :)
 
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