Are here any other B&W 805 D4 owners?
- Thread starter Chris81
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Chris81
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It depends on the Harbeth model and iteration. I will not write a comparison to every Harbeth speaker I have owned and listened to. The lower midrange on the Harbeth X.D. line is a tiny bit better, the B&W 805 D4 trump them in the HF by a big margin. Christal clear, detailed to an unbelievable degree, 3D-holografic and soundstage as good as it gets IMO. The speakers completely disappears. I like the bass of the B&W very much, it isn't the typical OMPH bass of a reflex design, more like a good mix of the speed and precision of a sealed box but with more punch. Harbeth has changed the bass from the SHL5+, it is much tighter now compared to older generations, especially the SHL5 and C7 ES3 but the SHL5+ and their successors have a bass, that sounds artificial to me. The bass of the SHL5 was warm and not the most precise but the sound matched better to the speakers. The crossover point from the midrange to the HF is better and more coherent since the SHL5+ up to the X.D. which is really great IMO but the bass doesn't fit. The C7 X.D. is my favorite Harbeth that I have owned and listened to until now. They have punch but in the lower bass, I miss something I can't really describe but Steve Guttenberg said it in the review too and a German Hifi magazine called "fairaudio"mentioned it too. The bass of the 805 D4 is there, nothing more nothing less and I like it very much.
But as always, you have to listen for a longer time to a speaker to get a better impression or detect some not so obviously faults. They B&W reveal everything from the track but still in a none fatigue way but you hear clearly if the song is mixed properly. With good recordings I can't believe what I'm hearing. The sound of Harbeth, even with the X.D. Line is more forgiving to bad masters and you have to turn the 805 D4 up a tiny bit more to get them alive. With Harbeth you can listen at very low loudness, say 60dB, with the B&W you have to go for 65dB or 68dB (all three numbers are an example!!!). With the Harbeth (to a lesser degree with the smaller M30.x and P3ESx) you always hear the enclosure and that it is a box speaker, with the B&W you have music in the room and in most cases you don't know where it is coming from.
The B&W seem to have a certain magic to me. They are THAT good. And I'm using a pair of 300b mono amplifiers witch doesn't do justice to the B&W 805 D4. I guess they need more power and control due to their lower impedance.
But as always, you have to listen for a longer time to a speaker to get a better impression or detect some not so obviously faults. They B&W reveal everything from the track but still in a none fatigue way but you hear clearly if the song is mixed properly. With good recordings I can't believe what I'm hearing. The sound of Harbeth, even with the X.D. Line is more forgiving to bad masters and you have to turn the 805 D4 up a tiny bit more to get them alive. With Harbeth you can listen at very low loudness, say 60dB, with the B&W you have to go for 65dB or 68dB (all three numbers are an example!!!). With the Harbeth (to a lesser degree with the smaller M30.x and P3ESx) you always hear the enclosure and that it is a box speaker, with the B&W you have music in the room and in most cases you don't know where it is coming from.
The B&W seem to have a certain magic to me. They are THAT good. And I'm using a pair of 300b mono amplifiers witch doesn't do justice to the B&W 805 D4. I guess they need more power and control due to their lower impedance.