2. speakers
  3. 170129-166561

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
papyneau OP
31 posts
 

So it's done... I now own a pair of Focal Sopra No.1. I have them for 4 days and I am truly amazed. It was quite an upgrade from my no-named micro monitor.

I'm using (rather old, but still good) McIntotsh C712 + MC 7100. With a Bluesound Node and trying to figure out if I should replace my good old Spotify account for one that offest lossless/MQA , and if yes, which one. A topic for another post!

Thanks everyone for the hints and suggestions.

 

 

wadia150's avatar
wadia150
85 posts
 

You haven’t heard the capabilities of your speaker with a node. Great for background music and whole home. But not up to snuff for the focal. This is just my opinion 

papyneau OP
31 posts
 

@wadia150 The node is next on my upgrade list. I ended up replacing the McIntosh with a Luxman L-509x and now the DAC is clearly the bottleneck.

Still... The sound quality never stop to amaze me and I can hardly believe it can be improved (but I know I'm wrong!). I have my eyes on a second hand Luxman DA-06 but still are the beginning of my exploring journey of DACs. Any suggestion that will pair well with the Focal/Lux is welcome.

dynguy's avatar
dynguy
65 posts
 

I strongly suggest Dynaudio Heritage. Limited to 2500 pairs worldwide. I have a pair. Bowers D are nice speakers as well. Lots of options but for me these were the ones. I’ve owned Bowers, KEF Ref 1 etc. To me the Heritage were the ones.

I know hard to audition a lot of speakers but definitely some road trips if you must.

dynguy's avatar
dynguy
65 posts
 

Oh sorry, I missed the you bought a pair. Congratulations Nice speakers

More to discover