remember the Louis Lipnik review of the B&W 801 in Stereophile many years back?
He described them as the audio end of the road. The disclaimer was that if you fed them less-than-pristine sound, then you got poor results due to their accuracy- since they were originally used as studio monitors.
I had a pair of 801's, and the treble was a bit "hashy" and forward. So were Watt-Puppies at the time. along with Thiels, and several other high-end designs. Guess
what? when CD's started sounding better, so did my speakers. the last time i heard them, my friend who i sold them to had Pass Aleph amplifiers (1.2 mono blocks). the speakers now sounded smooth and relaxed, especially listening to Blue Note jazz recordings. I had NEVER heard them sound like that before. Could it be that what Louis L. stated in his review was the key to understanding the sound they were making?
B&W makes GREAT speakers and they try to meet a lot of budget levels.
If the newest versions are set up with the proper electronics in a decent room
they should sound darn good. How many dealers are up to the task of controlling these important variables? If you can get an in-home audition, that's the place to start, especially if you're interested in buying their premier line of speakers.
And, if you don't like them, fine! But I don't think that you're going to love something else better if they are also extremely transparent and revealing. It take an OPEN mind and a lot of comparative listening experience to determine if it's the speakers (even though they are the most important component overall), or something else that's screwing up the sound.
He described them as the audio end of the road. The disclaimer was that if you fed them less-than-pristine sound, then you got poor results due to their accuracy- since they were originally used as studio monitors.
I had a pair of 801's, and the treble was a bit "hashy" and forward. So were Watt-Puppies at the time. along with Thiels, and several other high-end designs. Guess
what? when CD's started sounding better, so did my speakers. the last time i heard them, my friend who i sold them to had Pass Aleph amplifiers (1.2 mono blocks). the speakers now sounded smooth and relaxed, especially listening to Blue Note jazz recordings. I had NEVER heard them sound like that before. Could it be that what Louis L. stated in his review was the key to understanding the sound they were making?
B&W makes GREAT speakers and they try to meet a lot of budget levels.
If the newest versions are set up with the proper electronics in a decent room
they should sound darn good. How many dealers are up to the task of controlling these important variables? If you can get an in-home audition, that's the place to start, especially if you're interested in buying their premier line of speakers.
And, if you don't like them, fine! But I don't think that you're going to love something else better if they are also extremely transparent and revealing. It take an OPEN mind and a lot of comparative listening experience to determine if it's the speakers (even though they are the most important component overall), or something else that's screwing up the sound.