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Alternatives to B&W 805 D4

Hello,

I’m planning to buy a pair of bookshelf speakers that I hope will last for the rest of my life. I’ll turn 50 next year, so it’s not too far fetched!

I’m thinking about the B&W 805 D4 because I'm familiar with this brand, but in this price range, there are certainly good alternatives. The ones I have in mind are the Totem Element Fire V2 and Focal Sopra No1.

My goal here if there is to use the collective mind to learn if there are other makes/models worth considering. Once I’ll have a shortlist, I’ll find places where I can try them to make a final choice because, in the end, we all know the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I’m using B&W V203/DS3 for decades with integrated amp Arcam Alpha 5 that I recently upgraded with second-hand McIntosh C712 + MC7100. The source is Sonos Connect.

I’m in Montreal, Québec - it could change the availability of some brands.

Thanks for your input.

Papyneau
papyneau

Showing 2 responses by ryder

ryder
1,687 posts
 
Some good standmount options in the same price range as the B&W 805 D4;

Proac D2R
Dynaudio Heritage Special / Contour S20
Marten Duke 2 / Oscar Duo / Parker Duo

I’m not sure if the Mcintosh will match well with the speakers though.
ryder
1,687 posts
 
It’s okay. From the 17 suggestions, perhaps 2 or 3 are local and you can go and listen to them.

You can narrow down the choices based on your preferences. In that way, you don’t need to look at options which don’t appeal to you. I don’t know about others, I’ll only consider speakers which look good to me. I won’t bother listening to the speakers even though they may sound like a million bucks if they look ugly to me.
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