Has anyone jumped ship to B&W speakers?

Polkitup2

I went to my local B&W dealer last weekend to see what they sound like. I darn near lost my mind and bought a pair of the 804's. They sound good and look good. Fortunately, my sanity returned and I told the dealer I wanted to play the same material on my Polks's back home (RTi150s) and you know what , they sounded pretty good too. Maybe some day I'll buy the B&Ws because they do look and sound good but for now it's not enough bang for the buck. Anyone else compare their Polk's to B&W?

Frank Z

LSi's over B&W's any day.

RuSsMaN

Put me in the other camp, 800 series Beemers over LSi anyday of the week.

Not to the degree as say Klipsch, but B&W seem to be a love it or hate it speaker. I dig' em personally.

Cheers,
Russ

F1nut

Awful sounding speakers to my ears.

okiepolkie

I like them. I might get a set of 705's for my next bookshelves. They just look sexy to me, and the wifey likes the looks of them too(always a plus). I've installed some of the DM series speakers that sound decent, but I'd take the LSi's over those.

Before I jump ship on the 705's, I might take in the LSi7's to compare them side by side. The 700-800 series seem to have a very wide soundstage(due to that top mounted tweeter), but may be a little brighter than the LSi's because of the metal dome tweeter.

If you do jump ship, what will you be using to drive them?

aaharvel

I've never heard B&W but i've always wanted to. I have heard Celestion and Wharfedale- i can't say they're good or bad- just different. From what others say- English loudspeakers can be a little weird sometimes- depending on what you hook them up to.
That summed up my opinion of Celestion and Wharfedales, although i do realize that B&W prob. makes much nicer speakers.

Russman- as far as Klipsch being a love/hate brand- I could not agree with you more.

When I hear Klipsch speakers I imagine Quint running his fingernails across that blackboard in Jaws.

organ

Originally posted by aaharvel
When I hear Klipsch speakers I imagine Quint running his fingernails across that blackboard in Jaws.

You've never heard Klipsch being driven with good gear. At efficiency +/- 100db/w/m for the Reference line and 104db/w/m for the big Heretage speakers, feed them garbage and you'll get a lot more than just garbage out. A head ache. There's a reason why the Heratige line is still in production today (been about 50 years I believe). They sound spectacular!



For B&W. I love them. I used to chill at my friend's house all the time and his dad own Beemers. Killer sound. They were the older models though. Don't know what the newer ones sound like. He had two Beemer rigs. The ones being powered by Adcom had a drier and brighter sound while the ones powered by Bryston were very warm and sweet.

Maurice

aaharvel

You've never heard Klipsch being driven with good gear.


yamaha receivers at bestbuy
this is very true.

shack

I've tried real hard to find some B&Ws to like...I really have....but to no avail. I have probably demoed more new B&Ws than any other brand (including Polk) and have yet to find a pair that I would buy. I could see them in a HT system but never a 2 channel rig. I heard them on high end and mid-fi gear, SS and tubes, but for some reason I just don't find them pleasing.

gregure

Never thought much of B&W other than it was overrated and didn't sound half as good as it should for the price. That was until I heard the 803 towers w/ the new diamond tweeters. Very nice. Of course, they were running on 450 McIntosh watts, so they had better sound great.
Still, for $8000/pr, there is so much better out there. The Sonus Faber Cremonas are far better speakers, and cheaper, and for $10,000 one could have the Mahlers from Vienna Acoustics. Nothing B&W makes can even touch those beauties.

W WALDECKER

too bright! at least for my ears

miner

After having numerous problems with my Polk RT20p (amplifier twice, replaced all 4 8" woofers & 1 midbass) I shopped for new speakers for months. I listened to the LSi series very closely but was still hesitant with build quality. I ended up getting the B&W804 nautilus line for a steal. Initially they were very bright but I thought that was due to room acoustics (hardwood floors, no cutains/rugs). Since they have 'broken in' they sound so lif-like, the sound stage is unbelievable. I am driving them with a Rotel amp/pre and my source is a Denon DCM370 (soon to be replaced). I am a very happy B&W customer.

Hellbender

i think you can't compare your Rti's to the 804's. try comparing it with the Lsi's.. even the bookshelf BW600 can't match the cheap POLK monitor 30's. which bout half the price.

RuSsMaN

Originally posted by Hellbender
the bookshelf BW600 can't match the cheap POLK monitor 30's. which bout half the price.

In some alternate universe?

miner

Originally posted by Hellbender
i think you can't compare your Rti's to the 804's. try comparing it with the Lsi's.. even the bookshelf BW600 can't match the cheap POLK monitor 30's. which bout half the price.

I did compare to LSi line, that is why I went B&W. Plus 5 yr warranty to boot.

gidrah

Of all the speakers that I own and have never listened to I like my B&Ws the most.

venomclan

I was a big Polk fan for 7 years before I went B&W. For me it was timing that sent me to B&W.

My first major stereo purchase was Polk RT16's, CS350 and LS/FX, PSW150. 7 years later it was time to upgrade my front end. I liked the RT16's a lot but found them to be boomy with bass and thr Trilam tweeter to be on the shrill side. I tried all types of placement and dacron stuffing to get the sound I wanted but could not get it. I drive the 16's with an Onkyo THX828, HK Pa5800 and Outlaw M200's. Different amps made differences in sound but I wanted more for 2 channel listening.

The LSI's came out and got great reviews. I had my eye on some LSI15's to replace the RT16's, but for the first few years after the LSI's came out, you could not listen to them anywhere. I live in Ft. Lauderdale and thought a city of this size, Miami and Palm beach would have some dealer who had them, but nobody did. My only option was to buy them from Crutchfield. I will not buy a product I have not heard and did not want to go thru the hassle of returning them if I did not like them.

So I strolled into a B&W dealer just browsing. Listened to a bunch of different series, but really did not want to spend that much. As I was leaving, the dealer showed me some CDM7nt's displays on clearance at 55% off. They wer beautiful looking and sounded very good in the store. So I jumped on them for at least a home demo.

Even though the B&W's were much smaller than the RT16's, they were also heavier. I hooked them up to my M200's and played a CD my girlfriend knew well. She laughs when I get so serious about sound and goes along with my fanaticism but is not really into my hobby. She was laying on the sofa when I played the first song. Within 1 minute she got up startled, eyes wide and said "I have never heard that before" referring to a series of chords in the background that were inaudauble on the Polk's. The B&W's slayed the Polk's in every area except very deep bass.

I still have my B&W's and love them. Bass and midrange control is amazing, highs are very smooth without fatigue. I still use my Polk's for the surrounds. There are a few points I would like to cover when someone is preparing to demo B&W's that will make a night and day difference. I have a feeling that some of these were overlooked by others in previous demo's.

1- B&W's need power. As most speakers will sound good from most receivers, B&W's need good clean power to achive full potential. polk's do not suffer as much from this and when a user hooks up B&W's to a receiver that sound good with the Polk's and are not impressed with B&W, it is most likly the receiver, not the speakers.

2- All B&W's drivers are very rigid when produced. Much more so than any Polk's. They will need a minimum of 200 hours of play to really break in. Do not even consider a demo of these apeakers before that. I think that many people did that and think the B&W's sounded bad. And they are correct, but not for the right reasons. They are a totally different speaker after breakin.

3- Most B&W's are made for 2 channel listening first, than movies. A competing brand may be better sounding for deep bass, movies, low effects etc. Rap and pop with deep bass are not as good on the B&W's, except with the higher end ones. Jazz, easy listening, etc. are amazing on the B&W's. They are more laid back than american speakers.

Please note that I am still a fan of Polk and always will be. I have been here for years and love this community. If the LSI's were available at the time I would probably have those. They are great bang for the buck and I would love to demo those head to head against the B&W's. I do think that the B&Ws are overpriced in many models. But they have to be, based on where they are built. The British pound is almost double the value of the $. Plus shipping is expensive. I am in export and know it is crazy $.

I just wanted to share any experience with you going in as a polk fan, toward B&W.
Venom

opus

Opinions are like ............ well you know.

My friend and I demoed a pair of DM603's in his house and on his gear against his pair of rti8's.
He had the upgrade bug and I wanted to score his 8's and we both thought that the 8's blew away the beemers.
Both of us, being relatively new to the audio world, aren't really able to provide all the cool words and phrases to provide a detailed comparison but simply put if we had to spend our money it would be on the Polk's. IMO:)

Hellbender

Yes! in an alternate universe.. I both have the BW600 and the M30's and did not audtion them just in an audio store. The BW600 is hooked up to an NADC320BEE in my den and had it there for many months already. I recently got the M30's for a separate system, just for the heck of it i biwired the M30's to the NAD's and there i realized i've been missing out a lot. I agree that the BW's require good amounts of power to be driven, so in this case perhaps the NAD's were not enough. I had 602's S2 also before but they were heavy to drive and praise overated so i sold them and switched to the smaller 600's. But still in the money for value sense, i give a salute to POLK for making good sound for less money.

TroyD

Put me in the B&W digging camp.

While you may not CARE for the sound of them, to suggest that they aren't well engineered or poorly built or what have you is just foolish.

I'd take a pair of N801's and never look back.

BDT

jltrdavis

I went form the LSi15's to the 804's and couldn't be happier. I grew up listening to Polks and I will continue to audition each new line they produce, but my musical tastes just evolved beyond what Polk speakers can provide at this point.

Polkitup2

Jason,

Any idea what a used set of 804's a year old in Mint condition should sell for? There's a pair on e-bay I am thinking of bidding on.

Polkitup2

Did a little research. Looks like they sell for around $2,400 on Audiogon.

jltrdavis

Yep, anywhere from $2400 - $2700 for a pair of Nautilus 804's used. (Not to be confused with the newer/improved 804S)

Dealers aren't discounting the new 800 series, so if your looking for a deal, used may be the best route to go.

miner

I just bought my N804 (cherry) new for $1400 each in Houston. The retail on them is $1750, so for a B&W product that was a decent discount.