So here goes:
I’ve been the fortunate or unfortunate (depending on your take on B&W) to have been the owner of most of the ranges for many years now. Personally, I have always really enjoyed some elements of the B&W signature sound stage that I have only ever been able to find in this brand and yet, and here is the “BUT”, I felt there have always been some critical elements always failing the overall presentation. Typically, in the 800 range the major criticism has been sensitivity to power matching. For me I’ve never ever found this an issue(oddly), but what I have always questioned is the coloration possibly due to cabinet design (among other things I agree), and most of all the Kevlar mid-range driver has always been IMO, tending to the brittle. I have made significant improvements to these issues by mounting them upon granite blocks and very careful positioning. That said, these moves only counter the issues in part and have never removed them. So those are my main criticisms of the B&W big boys in recent years and apply to my current 802 D2’s although I have received a huge amount of pleasure from them with the caveat above which has added frustration to my experience but not destroyed my desire for the signature sound.
With the introduction of the D3 range and the massive changes in design philosophy and material integration, I was intrigued as I was also considering a brand change due to my previous frustrations and yet after so many years of B&W; a brand change seemed like a scary option. Also, any upgrade would be limited by size, as the layout of my room is not ideal and I must also live in it (how I wish things were different). In my quest for a replacement the closest I have come to chucking in the towel on B&W are Ushers (the big ones) but sadly they are just way too impractical for my room. So, I was very thankful to be offered a home demo of the new D3 802 and 800.
I must own up here to confessing that I was not convinced B&W would be able to break away from those elements I have been critical of in the past and what has inspired my search to change. In some respects, they have excelled and in some I feel they have committed a bit of a boo boo…so let’s get to it:
I had my 802 D2’s playing for some time before we made the switch to the 802 D3. This was the one I was most interested in making a direct comparison to as a direct replacement to my D2 version. Starting with the low frequencies, much much cleaner, timing is vastly improved and I feel that this gave me the impression that they were lean on the base. That said, when required oh my god could they go deep, it just wasn’t apparent all the time. In comparison, I was instantly critical of this and I felt somewhat disappointed by the base in general terms as it just felt lean in a general presentation and yet very capable when really needed. (Just not sure it was meant to be that way remembering that B&W claim the 802 D3 now beats the 800 D2). The mid-range is where this speaker has completely changed its clothing! In direct comparison to my D2 (and most others I have heard) the mid-range vocals are effortless, amazingly real, incredibly accurate, hugely open with a sound stage completely in unison with the rest of the whole damned thing! I could go on talking about the mid-range until you poured petrol over me and ignited me, but really it is an amazing step forward for B&W and I think quite honestly it needed to be. Realism is the key word to what they have achieved with the new driver and without any of the previous pitfalls.
The tweeter is claimed to be the only common part between the old and the new, but this puzzled me. Yes, it looks the same and it may well be the same, but it sounded different….so why? I have no idea, it just wasn’t quite so in your face and dynamic as with my 802’s. It is still very nice indeed and yes it’s all there just not quite as dominating I felt.
Overall, I started to grow accustomed to the different base presentation, it is very absent of any cabinet influences and it is very clean and perhaps I was missing that from my D2’s? Is it a replacement for the D2, for me I would say no but purely because my room is quite large and I really missed the support of the base in general terms although I concede it is all there when the track beefs things up a little. I will return to this aspect later and after the 800 D3 has been scrutinised.
So, I was direct and open with the dealer about my impressions and that the 802 wasn’t on my shopping list now. “Just wait” he said. I didn’t want to wait really, I felt the 802 D3 should have been delivering more and it wasn’t. But then came the 800. Dear lord! The 800 does not seem like the usual step between 802 to 800. In fact, in comparative terms the 802 should be the 803. The 800 is absolutely staggering! Look, it has the same tweeter and the same mid-range drivers, but in its own box even these 2 elements seems improved over the 802! How can that be???? Please someone out there offer a possible explanation. The base…. equally controlled, fast, clean, superb timing, slam my god could it when it was required…. but overall there remained a greater impression of base extension during the general presentation that the 802 lacked in my opinion. It is captivating, the sound stage just hangs over you and the synergy of the 3 elements of driver is just correct. I don’t know what more to say? Well, I’ve just decided that the 802 means nothing in the grand scheme of things and this I feel is going to be the next B&W Achilles heel. But the 800 is so good I’ve chucked out my girlfriend and I’ve ordered them.
I think it is also worth mentioning that I tried different amp configurations in an attempt to determine the drive requirements for these speakers. I used 2 MF M8-700 mono blocks in stereo. Absolutely no problem with that whatsoever and where I was bi-amping my current D2’s (so halving the power). Then I tried a single MF AMS 50 dual mono pure class A and similarly no problem but I preferred the M8s.
In short; the 802 might suite a smaller room to mine but I still remain concerned that current 802 owners will expect it to do much more and be out of range in price to buy upgrade to the 800 so B&W may have lost some custom there. The 800 (if one can afford it) is the boll…cks! B&W have not only cured the coloration of the base but made it tight, clean, realistic, controlled and effing exciting. It’s there and its even more there when it is demanded of it yet it does not bloom and it does not stray off path at all! The mid-range has not only corrected the critics of the Kevlar but it has now excelled in terms of realism, air, dynamics, grace my god it has grace and it balances within the rest of it all perfectly. The tweeter is just a little less of what it was (for some strange reason…help me fathom this one please). Is it value for money…who cares I’m single now and the choice was easy so guys if anyone’s is interested, there’s a brunette on the market and do I care!
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