B&W 802 Diamond Stands

I have an order in for some Sound Anchors and some Herbie tiptoe footers.

Classe CT-600's are incoming too. So stay tuned :)

Suspended wood floor so the Sound Anchors may help.

Right with you on 1, 2 and 3 Kal :)

Simply put does anyone have what they deemed to be a positive outcome putting 802 Diamonds on tiptoes or stands like Sound Anchors.

The C3Ltds were first and foremost transparent and revealing. Well recorded music sounded tremendous played through those speakers. Poorly recorded, sounded obviously bad. On those recordings that were well recorded (largely jazz and other kinds of acoustic music) the midrange and treble had an uncanny bloom. What the Piega's lacked was dynamics in the bass region. The bass went fairly low and was musical, but it always lacked the slam and presence that I look for when I listen to certain kinds of recorded music. For that reason, while I tried very hard to enjoy music played through these speakers, I always felt like a material element of the picture was missing.

With respect to the B&W's while they are very revealing, the way they have been voiced results in a more forgiving result when you play something recorded in less than ideal circumstances. The speaker is very dynamic from the bass to the treble. The treble particularly is gorgeous. Imaging when it's present in the recording is fully reproduced. Bass slam when it's in the recording is all there. The midrange might give something up to the Piega's in the presence but not by much. Overall I am very pleased with the change. I wouldn't necessarily call it an upgrade, but I feel like I am getting a better view of the whole picture. I am very satisfied.

I have been fine tuning the room chair speaker relationship and I think I just about have it. In my 16x14x10 room they are about 7 feet apart now and I am sitting about 8 feet back. Each speaker is about five feet from the back wall and 3 from the side walls. The sound is coherent, musical and virtually no more boom (I put em up tip toes and raised the height of my chair too).

They are lovely and they rock. Was listening to a Liberty Blue Note pressing of Art Blakey's Jazz Corner of the World last night. Blakey's drum kit was huge and full of snap. And Hank Mobley's and Lee Morgan's tenor and trumpet, respectively, just leapt out of the speakers. Really something.

Oh, and I have a pair of Classe CT-M600s on the way to replace the CAM-350s. Katy bar that door :)

Update on the B&w Diamond 802s:

Well they are up on the Sound Anchor stands. My house is old and the music room floor is pretty dished (like a bowl) so leveling and ensuring that speakers were perpendicular to the floor was a trial. A lot of work but worth it as I discuss below.

I raised the listening chair about four inches using some risers so my ears are at the midrange level.

Oh and the other big changes was purchasing some Classe CT-M600s from a dealer for amplification (they replace the CAM 350s I was using).

16x 15 x 10 room with the speakers 6'8" apart and my ears about 8' 6'' from the midrange cone. I positioned them in room using the Cardas approach so they are well out and then adjusted by ear.

First of all the CT-600s are amazing. Any flabby bass, GONE. All the bass info is all there (depending on the recording) and it's always tonally accurate and complete. Never exaggerated, never deminimized. And no boom. I also struck with these amps at how sweet the midrange and treble are. Listening you are at serious tenitus risk as you just want to keep taking the volume up when there is no brightness. Soundstage and imaging are all there when on the recording. And to use a cliched term, the combo of the speakers with amps makes for a very coherernt sound.

The sound anchors improve on the tiptoes I was using by improving imaging and particularly the depth of the soundstage.

All in all a tremendously musical sound that sounds good on a much wider range of recordings than my prior Piegea C3Ltd/Cam 350 setup.

Thanks for reading. Otto