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B&W 802 Diamond or 800 Nautilus

I am looking to upgrade from my 802 Nautilus and will buy either of the above speakers on the used market. I have heard that the 800N is lean whereas the 802D is fuller....etc....I do not want to go to he 800N if it has a leaner balance on the low end than the 802 I own.
I am using Levinson 436 monoblocks to drive them so PLENTY of current.
15x21 room and some treatment. Has anyone owned both? Pleaswe help me out!!
Thanks,
Bill
billandsol
7 responses Add your response
everest_audio
285 posts
 
You have some conflicting info here. In the title you say 802 Diamond and in the body of the post you say 802D. They are very different speakers. The 802 Diamond is brand new and you probably won't find them on the used market. The 802D's will be much easier to find. Apparently the 802 Diamonds are supposed to be very good, but personally I'm not a fan at all of the 802D.
thesoundhouse
250 posts
 
Keep your 802N you can do some work on the crossover and have a better speaker. I like Nuatilus speakers better due to the paper cone. I am not a fan of the Rohacel. I do like the Daimond tweeter, but with better crosser and internal wire you can make 802N kill a stock 802D.
budt
157 posts
 
I had the 802N which was a pretty good speaker. I then went to the 802D which I didn't really like.If it had been 8 or 9K I would have considered not bad but it didn't sound like a 14K speaker to me. I have since went to the new 800 diamond and this speaker is a very very good speaker( much much better than the D series).
djones1915
53 posts
 
The 800n is much fuller in bass & mid. The D tweeter is a little better to my ears. I have the 800ns & have directly compared them to the 800ds, with the Ns winning hands down (to my ears). IMHO, no comparison to any of the 802 models.
budt
157 posts
 
Don't confuse the "D" series with the Diamond series. While they look almost identical the Diamond series are simply superb were as the "D" series is just "OK".....
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,143 posts
 
The diamond series us a complete redesign, the crossover in the Diamond series uses all of Mundorfs best Copper foil inductors, supreme resistors
Ant their best Silver ,Gold,Oil capacitors and it is now one of the best loudspeakers$30k or under in the world.
I would also like to mention the 800 diamond may be a hair more open
And more punch in the Bass, but in some medium sized rooms the
802 Diamond is a better match.
truemaineiac's avatar
truemaineiac
249 posts
 
Look outside the b&w line.
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