Please give more information about your room dimensions and setup.
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.
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- 49 posts total
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.
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Check to make sure that each speaker is wired with the same polarity. On rare occasions, speaker leave the factory with mismatched polarity. In addition to lack of bass, the centre image will be ill defined. To test, use a 9v battery and touch the positive and negative speaker cables to the corresponding battery terminal. The woofer cone should move forward. Check each speaker. |
@mgrif104 thanks for your reply. Yes, I’ve run them individually and confirmed they are in phase. The drivers all work. Speakers are cosmetically and mechanically in like new condition. they’re in the same spot as the 802s and since the cabinet geometry and location of the bass port are so similar I’m surprised the difference is so big. They just sound anemic in the main listening position without subs. while I partially made up for it by crossing my subs higher and dialing them up, they only fill in below 80 and I’m also noticing some lack of authority in the lower octaves of voices and instruments above 80hz that I cannot compensate for with subs. I think the amp is fine, it’s faired very well in reviews. They produce bass and are cleaner than the 802s, but sound pressure wise it feels like half of the bass output the 802s produced. Unfortunately I had to sell them before the 800s arrived, so I could not A/B test. |
- 49 posts total