B&W 803D3

[NickB]

Antonio

Thanks for your congrats.

How you doing with your speaker choice ?

Brian

Hi Brian,

So far, I've auditioned the Harbeth Super HL5+, Sonus Faber Olympica II, Focal Sopra 2, Magico S1, Wilson Audio Sabrina and B&W 804d3.

Of all those speakers, I really liked the Sabrina speakers the best but they are not within my budget (not even close).  These only had about 50 hours on them and sounded very nice.

For the Sopra 2 speakers, I just didn't like the Beryllium tweeter as it sounded bright/harsh to my ears (they had about 200 hours on them).

The Olympica II speakers were very nice in the highs and mids (beautiful/sweet midrange) but they do not go as deep as my ProAc Response D30R (I love deep, well-controlled bass).  These speakers had about 300 hours on them.

The Super HL5+ speakers did not impress me at all although they did have a sweet midrange but the bass was lacking (also had about 200 hours on them) and my wife hates their retro look.

The S1 speakers were god awful (to my ears) as they sounded congested and lacking in bass (they had about 300 hours on them).  I really hated these speakers and cannot understand the favourable reviews on them.  Note that these were the original version (they now have a v2 with new drivers & crossover).

I like the 804d3 speakers a lot.  They had about 100 hours on them and sounded great.  Very clear & precise highs, very sweet midrange and very impressive bass considering their size (smaller than my ProAc speakers).  They are also beautiful to look at (to my eyes) and seem to have very high WAF (my wife loves the look).  I was afraid that the tweeter would be bright (with a name like diamond) but not at all.

The last speaker I'm going to audition is the Spendor D7.  I've read great reviews on these speakers and I'm really curious to hear them.

So once I've auditioned the Spendor, it will be either B&W 804d3 or Spendor D7 or stay with my ProAc speakers.

BTW, I'm sorry if I've offended anyone reading this (in case you own any of the speakers I did not like) but this is what this business is all about.  We don't all like the same things...    YMMV

Couldn't disagree more strongly about the Magico S1, fantastic speakers and if you found them lacking in bass and congested I suggest you look elsewhere in your system. They don't have as much bass as the Magico S5 but then that's hardly surprising.