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No bass on B&W 800D2

Hi,

I’ve been a B&W fan Since the late 90s and have owned many different speakers over the years. I’ve owned a pair of 802Ds (first gen) For a long time and those had always been my dream speaker. 

I recently had the opportunity to upgrade to a pair of 800D2. I had never heard the 800 or the second generation diamonds before, but was tempted by the idea of owning the flagships. I don’t like the looks and sound of the newer generation 800 so in my mind, I was upgrading to the top of the line speaker of the last generation that I like.

I’ve had these speakers for three months now, and I’ve played around with positioning and levels of my subwoofers. when I first set them up I immediately noticed a lack of bass compared to the 802’s. I listen in the near field and have the 800 approximately in the same position as the 802, although with slightly more toe in and a little further away from the wall as they seem more sensitive to room placement than the 802s did. Even pushed up to the wall there is not more bass, just boom. 
 

I’m powering them with a Classé sigma amp 2, which doubles to 400W a channel on 4 ohms. Before you say it’s the amp, the 802s sounded exactly the same on my Denon 4520 as they did on the Classé amp after I upgraded to that - so I don’t really subscribe to the “more power” idea and believe an amp won’t change the sound dramatically as long as it’s decent quality and has enough power. I mostly listen at lower levels anyhow. 
 

Has anybody had the same issue with the 800D2 lacking so much bass compared to the 802D? The midrange sounds about the same and the highs are way more tame, which I like, but this lack of low end authority is making me seriously consider selling these again which makes me sad - since they are absolutely gorgeous in the looks department. 
 

thanks for your thoughts in advance - would appreciate hearing from actual owners of these. 

seb_audio

Showing 3 responses by mgrif104

mgrif104
388 posts
 

Curious.

I remember auditioning these very speakers in an audio store and was astonished at the challenges in bass they had in the audition. The speakers were interacting with the room to cause serious phase cancellations in the bass region. The owner of the store acknowledged the challenges in set up he was having. They are capable of great bass - but there are challenges.

A couple of thoughts:

Are you sure both speakers are in good working order as I assume you purchased them second hand. Try listening to 1 speaker at a time - do they sound the same (and bass deficient) on a mono recording? If they don’t sound deficient, it’s a phase cancellation and room interaction. If they do, see my next point.

I’m not familiar with the particular Classe amp - are they up to the task?  Even at low power, current matters a lot. If I recall correctly, these particular B&W models had some challenging impedance curves which make them hard to drive. It’s not watts, but current.

Sorry if this seems a dumb question - did you check the polarity of your speaker cables to make sure they’re correct? That would certainly cause a cancellation. 

Good luck.

 

mgrif104
388 posts
 

I think @testpilot makes a great suggestion to check to ensure the speakers are internally wired correctly.

It’s most likely a room interaction issue, but I also think you should explore your amplifier choice as those speakers are hard to drive. Do you have an option of borrowing a different one? 

By way of example: I personally know of someone who had a large Bryston (lots of watts) stereo amp in front of his also hard to drive T+A speakers which were completely lacking bass despite being well regarded full range floor standers. He replaced the Bryston with a T+A integrated amp (reference HV series - lots of current) and the bass difference was astonishing. It all fleshed out and reached down low such that he could hardly believe the difference. So, worth exploring before you give up. They’re great speakers.

mgrif104
388 posts
 

@seb_audio 

any progress or resolution on your speakers? Did you try a new amp, or move them around the room to see if it was a node issue?

Hoping you’ve got it resolved and would like to hear an update if you have one.

Best,

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