B&W 'New' 800 Series

I did not like the new look either.  Like the last post, the Marlan head is not proportionate with the main cabinet.  And that's was the case with 802D2.  The head was over the top with its tail sticking out of the cabinet.  Atleast with new series, they managed to blend the Marland head with the rear metal plate, which is quite sexy IMHO. 

I personally liked the fuller sound and looks of 800D2 so I am holding my breath to see what they do with 800D3 next year.  

For now, I am very content to live with my 800D2's.  

I cannot tell you how often dealers are doing demonstrations with speakers that are not even close to being broken in, but it is too often. The 800S in my experience needs around 800 hours to start sounding their best.

Pat McGinty of Meadowlark Audio told me how to cut break in time in about half or less. If I am remembering correctly you point the speakers at each other and wire the polarity of one backwards so there is a push pull effect between the two.

Perhaps someone here knows of the trick and can correctly say how it's supposed to be done?

Point being the B&W's sound really edgy and tight before they are well broken in. I used to deal with quite a few guys who wanted to trade these in on Meadowlark Blue Herons and heron 2's, I talked most of them into trying a wire upgrade that they were very happy with, but I did get two sets of 800S's and loved them. I liked the Blue Herons as well or better and they were priced at $6000 less.

These speakers come onto the used market being hundreds of hours under the hours needed to sound good. I've always considered the price someone who is not happy with the 800S is willing to sell speakers they are not happy with to be one of the great deals on an excellent set of speakers. I've seen them as low as $6000/$8000 here on Audiogon.

I'm not sure what Bo1972 is talking about. The 803 D3s don't fit his descriptions of the 802 D3 sound at all. I doubt they are that different with only 1" difference in driver size on the bass and mid-range drivers. These are the best sounding speakers I've heard in these price ranges (period!). The attack and decay of notes are accurate. The separation between instruments and notes is pristine. The soundstage is very large and immersive. Human voice is incredibly lifelike. When listening to acoustic material it feels like the musicians are in the room with me!

The 803 D3 could use a little more oomph at the sub hearing threshold frequencies, but otherwise the most accurate speaker I've ever heard.

Maybe the demo Bo1972 heard was set up piss poorly, or he is just trolling B&W. Both scenarios are pretty common around here apparently.

Aintitgr8 - The break-in process you describe is commonly used, but it does not cut down on the time required. The speakers are aimed towards each other in close proximity and one of them is wired in reverse polarity (+ and - connections reversed). The benefit is that much of their sound output is cancelled (actually the mono portion of the signal only), so you can run them at higher volumes without their output being so loud due to the cancellation effect.