New Speakers under consideration - but I’m afraid

I’m a big believer in physics and can’t see (or hear) how the X3s go very deep, but I failed to mention that I have a VMPS Larger sub driven by Crown K2, so deep bass is not an issue. Will try and have listen in Fla.

In my room, I estimate the -6dB point of my X3s is around 35Hz. That’s with about 3’ between the speakers rears and the wall. The X3 specs are misleading because the woofers are quoted as 4.5” units, but that’s their actual cone diameter. Most manufacturer’s claimed woofer sizes are the diameter of the entire driver to include the surround and frame. So the “4.5 inch” Børresen units would actually be considered 5.5 or 6” woofers by typical convention. For example, the “7 inch” Seas woofers in my Tyler standmounts have only a 1” larger diameter than the Borresen units. One also has to consider that a woofer can create deep, powerful bass with either surface area or cone excursion. The Børresens have a good amount of linear excursion for their size. I would say they produce at least as much bass output as a typical medium floorstander fitted with either a single 10” woofer or two 6.5” woofers. The bass extension is plenty low for most music.

Regarding your somewhat vintage 801s, they perform really well on paper, arguably better than the newest 800 series. They were certainly more linear (though linearity isn’t everything), and it seems many prefer the older 800s to the newest line. IME, it’s not uncommon for a good 25-year-old design to compete well against newer models, adjusting for inflation (and then some). I haven’t heard your speakers so cannot say whether speakers like the X3s would be a worthy upgrade if an upgrade at all. I have auditioned a couple of the D4 800 series B&Ws, compared to those, I think the X3s give them a run for the money. I think B&W’s current diamond tweeter produces a hair more extension on top, but the Børresen tweeter is completely non-fatiguing and equally “fast.” I find the midrange sounds pretty similar between the two brands. Both manage nice bass definition as well. The D4 series might be the preferable choice if wall proximity is a concern.

But truthfully, if you were to go out and audition half a dozen options between $10 and $15K/pair, and conclude you should just keep what you have, that wouldn’t surprise me at all.

That’s the thing. I can experiment with things like DACs and bring them back and forth in my carry on. Speakers not so much.

Maybe I should just get a killer DAC and be done with it 🤓

Seems many audiophiles share this sentiment. Unfortunately, it leads to them owning a poorly skewed system in which the DAC, source, and often, even the amplification, far outclass the performance of the speakers. This isn’t to say they don’t hear a difference or achieve some improvement. It’s just that the improvement/difference is often minuscule relative to the same money otherwise invested into a speaker upgrade.

It would probably have the heads of some here doing 360°s to know that I use a $400 DAC in my system that’s anchored by the $11K X3s. I know many would claim the DAC is a bottleneck in my system—understandable logic. However, after owning a couple dozen DACs and ≈40 pair of speakers over the last decade, I have zero doubt that my X3s are still a bigger bottleneck than most DACs, including my $400 Topping E70. I would rather invest $20K into a speaker upgrade than invest $2K in a DAC “upgrade.”

It’s a rather unfortunate reality that speakers and the room they’re within, account for 75% of a system’s sound quality, that is if the system’s primary source is not a turntable. Probably 20% of the remaining 25% is the speaker—amp synergy.

DACs have been a mature technology for the last decade or so. Back in 2013, you had to spend about $3K on a DAC to get 21-bit resolution, perfect linearity, and great load tolerance. These days the same performance can be had for $250. Now the boutique manufacturers are mostly going the opposite direction of objective performance, just so their products can sound different and more easily capitalize on the same cognitive biases that have succeeded so well for the cable industry.

Currently, the pre-owned gear market is mostly a buyer’s market and as such, there are some pretty good deals out there. Revel Salon 2s, Yamaha NS-5000s and Spendor Classic 100s are a few examples for which I’ve seen better than usual prices.

Just mentioning those as examples, not to suggest they would necessarily be an upgrade over your B&Ws. My point is that, given current market conditions, you might be able to save a good chunk of change once you have a better idea of what you want.