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B&W 802d3 vs 802d2

The B&W 802d3's are everything the 'Stereophile' and other reviewers stated.
I cannot improve on their descriptions, including the d3's better integrated diamond tweeters.
Comparison with the d2's, which I just sold, 'gives one pause'.
'Two roads diverged...', and 'would I could travel them both'.
On first audition of the d3's I wondered if I'd made a big error.
Where was the immediately exciting and enchanting resonance of the d2's ?
On further audition of the d3's resonance emerged, but now it derived
more or less entirely from the audio source rather than as an accoutrement of the loudspeakers themselves.
The d3's required higher volume settings in order for the audio source resonance to emerge.
Whereas the d2's accorded a pleasing resonance to older and 'thinner' piano recordings, the d3's
did not yet convincingly conveyed the resonance of a fine piano recording.
Which brings me to ask if anyone has A/B'd the 802d3's with the 800d3's, if the latter convey a degree
of concert hall ambiance where the 802d2's may improved upon, and if a subwoofer might render the 802d3's a bit more exciting even if less realistic. 
Thanks for any input.

seventies

Showing 2 responses by arty_vandelay

arty_vandelay
28 posts
 
802D3’s have a more overdamped bass alignment and less energy through the upper bass and lower mids, so they are by design a less warm / rich sounding speaker than the 802D2 or 800D2. Positioning them closer to the room boundary might be beneficial, and ditto less toe-in to the listening position, for a fuller, warmer sound, but the basic characteristics are different enough that it would be difficult to make one sound exactly like the other without the use of active room correction.

Fwiw, I use 800D2 in a mid sized room, with room correction below 100Hz to fix a mode at 40Hz.

Best axis for listening in my experience is just below tweeter axis, and this applies to all 800D,D2,D3 models. Listening at the level of the FST results in a loss of presence region energy. (2dB dip at 2kHz)  
arty_vandelay
28 posts
 
@auxinput1,   I've heard 802D2 and D3 side by side, so my comments relate to those models, and what I heard is more or less supported by Stereophile and other 3rd party measurements. The older D2 definitely has more weight and warmth from a more generous bass output.

Noting too that the old Kevlar does operate through its non-pistonic range, but that's up near 4kHz, so a long way from the low mids and most of the piano range too.  

For what it's worth I agree with you re the 805D3 vs D2. 
 
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