B&W 804 Diamond vs Dynaudio Focus 380

Having heard both its the Dynaudio all the way.

B&W are a bit of an acquired taste. Some go ga ga over them, for others like me - ho hum. In this case overly bright treble and grungy, dead, recessed midrange to my ears. Noel Keywood in Hi Fi World measured them and found a dirty great big treble hump. He said it outright - they measured like shite and will sound like shite. I would not go that far - many speakers have exaggerated treble to give false detail but still you would expect better from a company like B&W.

In that price range there is a lot of competition so broaden your horizons and listen to other stuff. If you can reach that far price wise I would check out the Rockport Mira

Thanks
Bill

Hi James and Bo

James thanks for posting the link to the measurement of the 804. Here is exactly what Noel said:
'The 804D will have even sounding bass with a dry-ish quality and some subsonic content. It will also sound bright across the midband and sharp in its treble, straying far from accuracy.'

Bo - crossover issues is the exact problem with the 800 series speakers. They use excellent drivers and inert cabinets but their crossovers let them down. In the past they used parts of very dubious quality for a high end product such as iron core instructors, PCB's and low quality capacitors. The very best crossovers use air coiled small gauge conductors, point to point wiring and high quality capactors such as Mundorf or even Duelund. They fixed the quality part with their latest 802D but even that speaker doesn't do it for me - a dirty great big bass hump and dirty and grungy midrange.

Thanks
Bill