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Just got my B&W Signature 805's long

My system has been going extensive changes over the past
6 months. I upgraded my amp, preamp, cables and interconnects.

Despite costing me major $$$ its been a lot of fun and
very rewarding. I decided on a budget of $4K for speakers.
My original speakers, Vienna Acoustics Bachs have served
me well but I felt that I was not reaching the full
potential of what my system could offer. I was looking for
a floor stander with more transparacy and a slightly more
forward soundstage compared to the Bachs.

My room dimension (11x11) limit's my choice of floor standers. The 803 was a bit much size wise and so I was looking at the 804's. I have heard them before in a short demo and thought they sounded fine. In doing my research I noticed a lot of interest the new Signature 805. I really wasn't interested in a monitor since I wanted a more full range speaker. Still though I should at least give it a listen and see what all the excitement is about.

I arrived at my local dealer and asked about demoing both
the Sig 805's and N804. He actually had the Sig 805 already
setup from a previous session. The Sigs looked pretty
small in the 30x25 room. They even looked smaller compared
to the Dynaudio S5.4, C2 and C4 that were behind them.
They were set about 10ft apart and about 12 feet to the
listening chair. They were powered by a DNA 125,MAP1 and
a Denon CD/SACD player. Nothing exotic here.

Plopped in my Gladiator CD and whoa!!. The soundstage was
huge. It easily filled the room. More like flooded the
room. Clean and detailed without sounding harsh. Bass
was also quite good considering the small volume these
speakers have. Not very deep but tight and well defined.
Actually my Bachs go a bit lower but have nowhere near
the control and resolution in the lower octaves.

The midrange and top end reminded more of the Signature
800 than anything else. Imaging was very defined as well.
Tracks that I thought I knew well were presenting
themselves with new surprises. To make a long story
short I ended buying the Signature 805's without ever
hearing the N804's.

With less than 30 hours on them they are no where near
broken and yet I still enjoying them. My plan was to eventually trade up to N802's but I have begun to rethink
this. I'm enjoying these speakers so much that I really
think that adding a high quality sub (REL Strata III?)
might be a better option. Any thoughts?

Current system setup
B&W Signature 805
BAT VK500
CJ Premier 17LS
Ah Njoe Tjoeb 4000
Tara Labs Reference Bi Wire
Tara Labs RSC Prime Interconnects.

Cheers
cmach
cmach
12 responses Add your response
valleyplastic
149 posts
 
I had the 805 sigs and the Rel Strata III is a perfect sub to add to your system. The Rel is very tight and fast and is a real compliment to any monitor. Did you go with the proper stands? This also will make a hugh difference in your bass response. Then go the next step and fill the stands.
Dave
prpixel
876 posts
 
I've had mine for about 6 months now. They take about 100 to 150 hours to really start cooking. I have mine sitting on custom Amboyna Burl stands.

Good luck,
s7horton
1,077 posts
 
Hi, I too just bought a set of Sig 805's and love them. I'm looking for a different power amp and would love to hear some suggestions.
jorge_err
34 posts
 
Cmach, add the Rel Strata III to your S805s, you won't regret it one bit.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
If you add two Stratus III (one for each speaker/channel) even better..
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
765 posts
 
The Strata III is a great match with the B&W N805.

I second the recommendation of Sugarbrie - if you can spare the coin, go for two.
krell_man
827 posts
 
If you want to try something to really tighten the 805's, go to www.audiopoints.com and order the replacement 1.5" screw-in Audio Point spikes, then get six 1" regular Audio Point spikes and place three between each speaker and the stand. If your 805's are screwed into the stands, go to the hardware store and buy longer screws. Don't tighten the screws to the speakers, just seat them so they'll hold the 805's in place. I did this to my B&W Silver Signatures, and it was a nice improvement. If you do this, make sure that you get the coupling discs too.
f1a
196 posts
 
What are y'all using for amplification?
jdodmead
257 posts
 
I am using a BAT VK31SE tubed pre-amp with a BAT VK-200 ss amp. Sounds wonderful.
krell_man
827 posts
 
I just traded my Krell KRC-3 and KSA-50S after Christmas for a Musical Fidelity A308cr Pre-amp and Amp. I see that Musical Fidelity keeps getting bashed in some of these forums, but I think that they sound really good. Good enough to trade my Krells in for and I've never once wished that I hadn't.
patrick_audio
1 posts
 
Hi Cmatch

I also have 805 signature (since sept 03) and I have the same questions than you. I would be interrested to know what you have done since (subwoofer or 802N or others).

I love the warm transparent medium of the 805 sign, and when I wanted to upgrade to 802, I found all better in 802 (bass, treebles, soundstage 3D enhanced etc...but but but...less transparency on the voices!
O the magic medium of the 805 signatures!
I could not take 802 cause the high medium of 802 (or the junction with tweeter I don't know exactly) is a little bright, and tiring when like me you ear 3 hours of musique every evening :-)

Now I wonder which subwoofer I can buy.
I tried ASW 800, but makes vibrate my floor, even at normal volume (I think that frenquencies between 16 and 35 Hz are doing mechanical vibration in the room).
So I am thinking of using a Velodyne DD 10 because it is very adjustable to the room (many parameters/ micro/ response curve displayable and adjustable/ sub-bass can be cut... etc).
I have seen that nice Audiogon fews have adviced you A REL.
What have you tried?

What would you recommend? REL or Velodyne DD? or other?

I think also that some amplifier could compensate (add bass). I have never tried Cayin 500 on 805 sig, but listen to it on 802, and it has twice bass than with a chord 2600.

I am also thinking of plinius 9200, because cayin 500 does not provide pre-out to connect subwoofers, in case cayin valve amplifier does not compensate enough the lack of bass of 805 monitors.

About cables, do you have recommendations? I have old big monsters. not even biwired :-)
Tried Ecosse cables, all was nicer except the level of treeble: too much compared to the level of the voices.

I would be glad to read what you have done, and what you recommend.

Thanks
Patrick
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Patrick, something else to consider is something larger from the new B&W Nautilus line, these should sound much more like your S805's.
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