I've heard your 804s at length and agree with your assessment. The 805Di may be better, but in that price range you should take the time to look around at more brands. I'd think in Tokyo you'd have lots of choices, and since trial periods aren't prevalent (what's that about by the way?) you should make sure you get this right. Especially these days the speaker world is much bigger than B&W. I'd also consider bringing your Accuphase with you to use in demos if at all possible to see if it's a good mate with the speakers, especially since it seems like there's no going back once you pull the trigger. Yeesh, that sucks. Best of luck.
Thoughts on replacing an ageing pair of B&W N804s
I tried bumping an old question from 2 yrs back but think better to start a new thread.
I've been using the N804 for over 12 years with an Accuphase E-407 integrated amp (Class A/B, 180W/ch @ 8 ohm). I feel its lacks detail, bass and doesn't feel very immersive/involving.
Recently I demo-ed the Franco Serblin Accordo and it's a fantastic (monitor?) speaker but too pricy for my budget & needs a subwoofer to fill in the bass. I also tried the 803D, 804D, SF Cremona-M, & Dali (forgot the model). The rest of them didn't really do much for me.
FInally on a different floor and different setup (and sadly different music track too) I demo-ed the 805Di. Whilst not as good as the Accordo (lacked separation and soundstage by comparison), I felt the 805Di actually performed quite well, more so than its 803D/804D bigger brothers.
So here comes the question. I -think- the 805Di extended deeper and tighter in bass, had more detail, and felt more immersive than my N804. However not being able to compare side-by-side, I don't know if it's setup, or if the 805Di speakers themselves truly big improvement over my ageing N804s.
In Tokyo there's no "1-week" demo concept nor returns. Once you've bought, it's yours and will have to sell at a loss. I do not intend to change my Accuphase E-407 integrated amp.
Is there truly a big improvement between the N804 to 805Di or was it just placebo in my mind?
I've been using the N804 for over 12 years with an Accuphase E-407 integrated amp (Class A/B, 180W/ch @ 8 ohm). I feel its lacks detail, bass and doesn't feel very immersive/involving.
Recently I demo-ed the Franco Serblin Accordo and it's a fantastic (monitor?) speaker but too pricy for my budget & needs a subwoofer to fill in the bass. I also tried the 803D, 804D, SF Cremona-M, & Dali (forgot the model). The rest of them didn't really do much for me.
FInally on a different floor and different setup (and sadly different music track too) I demo-ed the 805Di. Whilst not as good as the Accordo (lacked separation and soundstage by comparison), I felt the 805Di actually performed quite well, more so than its 803D/804D bigger brothers.
So here comes the question. I -think- the 805Di extended deeper and tighter in bass, had more detail, and felt more immersive than my N804. However not being able to compare side-by-side, I don't know if it's setup, or if the 805Di speakers themselves truly big improvement over my ageing N804s.
In Tokyo there's no "1-week" demo concept nor returns. Once you've bought, it's yours and will have to sell at a loss. I do not intend to change my Accuphase E-407 integrated amp.
Is there truly a big improvement between the N804 to 805Di or was it just placebo in my mind?