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Alternatives to B&W 805 D4

Hello,

I’m planning to buy a pair of bookshelf speakers that I hope will last for the rest of my life. I’ll turn 50 next year, so it’s not too far fetched!

I’m thinking about the B&W 805 D4 because I'm familiar with this brand, but in this price range, there are certainly good alternatives. The ones I have in mind are the Totem Element Fire V2 and Focal Sopra No1.

My goal here if there is to use the collective mind to learn if there are other makes/models worth considering. Once I’ll have a shortlist, I’ll find places where I can try them to make a final choice because, in the end, we all know the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I’m using B&W V203/DS3 for decades with integrated amp Arcam Alpha 5 that I recently upgraded with second-hand McIntosh C712 + MC7100. The source is Sonos Connect.

I’m in Montreal, Québec - it could change the availability of some brands.

Thanks for your input.

Papyneau
papyneau
ryder
1,687 posts
 
It’s okay. From the 17 suggestions, perhaps 2 or 3 are local and you can go and listen to them.

You can narrow down the choices based on your preferences. In that way, you don’t need to look at options which don’t appeal to you. I don’t know about others, I’ll only consider speakers which look good to me. I won’t bother listening to the speakers even though they may sound like a million bucks if they look ugly to me.
soix
8,840 posts
 
But I’m puzzled about how I can make a good selection. I can read reviews or graphs, but it will never be enough information to discriminate one over another.
Well, that’s why I asked before what sound characteristics and improvements you’re looking for.  Give us that info and at the very least we can help greatly narrow the field for you.  Without that critical info, you’re absolutely right — it seems like a daunting task.  Trying to help here but you need to pony up the basic info to let us do that.  C’mon man, help us help you. 

I’m pretty sure you all faced this situation at one point or another.
Uh, yeah.  And we can help but you need to provide what you’re looking for or we’re all just flying blind here.  Get where I’m coming from here?


papyneau OP
30 posts
 
@soix:
Yes, I saw the question but I'm not sure I'll be able to articulate a sensible answer :-) The more, I read the more it's clear that there is no one-speaker-that-is-the-best-at-all-styles, so I get your question! But I like, and listen, to a pretty wide range of music types. But looking more closely at my Spotify library, it's mainly female voices of many styles (Holy Cole, Adele, Coeur de Pirate, Elle King, Angèle, ..) but also some classic rock (Metallica, Led Zeppelin, ..,), signers with amazing voices (Louise Attaque, Asaf Avidan, ...), classical classic (Beethoven, Vivaldi, Chopin, ...) and... probably anything in between. 

Looking at the incredible comparaison between Focal Sopra No1 and Bowers 805D3 shared by @james633 (thank you so much for that!), I must admit that contrarily to my initial belief , I appreciate the Focal more that the B&W. I will definitely try them before my final decision. I'm pretty sure I can sacrifice a bit of the warmth and loudness of the B&W for the clarity and precision of the Focal.
This comparaison is even more instructive as my no.2. contender, the Totem Element Fire V2, has even more bass then the B&W, at least on paper (I haven't heard them yet).
Sopra No.1 :45Hz - 40kHz
805 D4: 34Hz - 35k Hz
Element Fire V2: 30Hz - 22kHz

And my understanding is human ears don't pickup anything above 20kHz, so going to 35 or 40 kHz is music for...dog! (Happy to have this assumption challenged as I am in full learning mode!)

james633
919 posts
 
Well I would not believe the specs. Looking at the measurements posted above you can see the Sopra 1 and 805D4 reach about the same depth.
james633
919 posts
 
I know you said bookshelves but the Revel 226be floor standing speaker would be another option. It will take up less floor space than the Sopra 1 on stands and is cheaper. They sound a lot alike to me. The Sopra is what, $10,000 now with the price hikes?

The Sopra might have a touch more air or it could just be a hair more tipped up too. The Revel counters with being able to play stupid loud if your into loud. Sometimes loud is fun. But both these brands are much better than the B&W 805d3 (probably d4 too). Both to my ear and objectively based on the measurements.


After demoing the Kef reference 3,Wilson Audio Sabrina, Sonus Faber Olympica nova III, Klipsch Cornwall IV, 803d3,804d3, revel 328be among others I bought the Revel 228be.

Anyway listen for yourself in this comparison video linked below. I think you will find they have very similar house sounds. Back to back sound demo, same room, same song, same system of the Sopra 1 and 226be. If I listen to this demo with my eyes closed I have a hard time telling the speakers changed. 
https://youtu.be/Y7xJjesFGKk



Review with kippel measurements here. https://youtu.be/r1JjCVVgIdc


Detailed measurement breakdown here. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/revel-performabe-f226be-floorstanding-spe...

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