B&W 805D vs. Dynaudio Contour S1.4

Stratguy - What ever happened with the Wilson Benesch ARC demo?

TD,

I found the Benesch to be somewhat sterile compared to other speakers that I have been auditioning and I also found them to be fatiguing. The dealer said he had never had them described that way, so perhaps I'm in the minority. I ended up buying Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor M's with matching stands. They blew me away - in my estimation, they are one of the best monitors available.

Just my .02 cents

SG

Thanks for sharing your opinion on the WB's SG. I'm a fan of WB, one of my favorite speaker brands, actually. One man's sterile / clinical, is another man's clean and insightful... but the fatiguing part is a head scratcher.

When I listened to the Auditor M's, they were quite light on bass compared to 805Di and ARC, and I can't say that they grabbed me in any way. I'm not knocking your choice, it's just interesting how each of in this hobby can take away such different experiences with the same speakers. But then that's why it's good that there are so many different choices.

Enjoy your new toys!

Tdwalker,

can you please expand a bit your comments regarding the differences you found between the 805Di and the Auditor M? thanks in advance.

Jdec - Sorry for the late response, I don't frequent these forums and get no notification of new activity.

Anyway, the Auditor M's were neutral from about 70Hz up through the treble, but they are a small speaker and sounded like a small speaker in the bass. Other than being well-behaved from the mids on up, the detail, imaging, soundstaging, and treble extension all seemed satisfactory rather than exceptional in any way.

The 805Di on the other hand had exceptional detail and imaging, and bass deep enough that I would not be left wanting when listening to most music. The trade-off being a bit of disconnect / character mismatch between the sound of the midrange and tweeter and some mildly unpleasant sharpness in the high treble.