how different are 802d and 802s?

[domestic705]

Hi folks !

my first post here .
i have a chance to get the B&W 802s and i wanted to know if 802D's are much different than 802s .
are the 802s are good enough for mastering?
i also wanna know if any of you use the 803s and is it common to use them as mastering monitors as the 802s...

any other monitors u recommend at the same price range or are the 802s are really the best choice as mentioned here in bunch of threads...

help would be appreciated
thx.

[Brad Blackwood]

B&W 802s or Nautilus 802s?

[domestic705]

B&W Nautilus 802D and B&W Nautilus 802s of course.

gonna go get them today ...i hope the 802s are good enough

anyone?

[Brad Blackwood]

Originally Posted by domestic705

B&W Nautilus 802D and B&W Nautilus 802s of course.

gonna go get them today ...i hope the 802s are good enough

anyone?

Well, the 802D is not part of the Nautilus line (which is now discontinued), and the previous line was just called the 802, hence the question.

I've been mastering with the N802s for over four years now and can say, without exception, they are amazing. 'Good enough' indeed. They are ruthlessly revealing about amplifier deficiencies, so make sure you use them with a good amp...

[pelliott]

We have the 802's and a pair of the 800D. The 802's are very very good. They are more than just a serviceable set. You'll be very pleased with them, I'm sure.

Congrats,
Paul

[MAPLE QUILT]

I owned 804's previously and bit the bullet and got the 802 d's about 6 months ago after many listening sessions. The "d's" are most DEFINATELY worth it. The diamond tweeters are incredible !! If you haven't already, GO FOR IT !!

SC

[DSD_Mastering]

The 802 Nautilus and Matrix series are getting long in the tooth now. The 802D speakers are much more open/airy on the top end. They'll let you hear much more room ambience and give triangles/cymbals that extra added realism.
The 802S speakers are actually pretty good. They do well in a room that has a lot of hard surfaces (not dead). They are also more selective with which amp/cable you use. They sound the same below 1.5-2k
Both are pretty awesome. thumbsup

Regards,
Bruce

[domestic705]

thx for replying!so which ones actually sound better , the 802d or the 802s ? or there is no difference at all ,
i know that the 802d's tweeter is built from diamonds powder or something like it ,

is that the only difference or there is more to it?is this diamond thing really sounds better ?

thx

[mischa janisch]

I know that there is not much valuable information to be gained by reading and writing about speakers, but I'm currently in the process of deciding about new mastering monitors - and I'll have to travel a lot to listen to each of them since most of them will not be available for demo locally. Narrowing down the number of choices therefore - to me - does make sense, even if I miss some great speakers...

So - has anyone here ever been able to listen to a B&W N 802 and an N 802D side by side? Or the N 801 and the N 801D?

[mischa janisch]

I finally got the chance to listen to the B&W 801D, 802D and the 'old' N 801 (Nautilus without the Diamond tweeter) in the same room - a demo room at a hifi store. Unfortunately no N 802...They were driven by Halcro monoblocks, the setup was the same for each speaker - the speakers were moved to the same position one after the other.

My impressions: No surprise - each of those speakers are perfectly usable for mastering, they all share a similar sonic signature, but they all do sound different. Actually I've been surprised how different they sound. Probably the biggest difference was with the bass of these three systems - while the 801D would go down the lowest and also had the tightest bass on the other hand had the least amount of mid bass and low mids (120-350Hz). Very nice and detailed mid range and top end. To my ears a very clean sounding speaker. Since they have the same midrange driver and tweeter I expected it to sound identical to the 802D from 1k on upwards.

Surprisingly this was not the case. I can only imagine that I was psychoacousticaly fooled, since the 802D seemed to have more bass (not sub bass). Definitely more fun to listen to basswise - and to me this is a good thing. Maybe the double woofer has to do with it, which seemed not as precise but had more weight in the low end and low mids, which is exactly the oposite of what I had expected. It didn't play quite as low as the 801D and the midrange didn't seem as detailed, which I atribute to psychoacoustics.

The 'old' N 801 also had a little mor sub bass than the 802D, but sonically seemed closer to the 802D than the 801D. Also more mid bass than the 801D, more fun to listen to, not quite as clean. The 801D probably has a more pleasing midrange and detailed top end.

To me there was no clear winner - if you like clean the 801D to my ears was the clear winner. For those (like me) who like to hear and feel more bass you'd have to decide between less sub bass, a more pleasing midrange/detailed top end (802D) and a little tighter overall bass, more sub bass, less detailed top end but cheaper price of the N801 (used about half the price of a new 802D).

To me maybe the most convincing argument was the price, since all of the three of them sounded very good. The cost of our new studio keeps constantly rising - and we're in the design phase, we haven't even started construction yet...

[draudio2u]

I run the N802 in my studio (I requested the VERY last pair made - to my surprise they came in cherrywood - SWEET!). In my previous room I swore to the CHORD amps with the 802 but then moved into my new room and couldn't believe the lack of detail. So I tested just about every amp we had on hand - including mono blocks of CHORD, BRYSTON, Cello, etc. Finally I settled on the KRELL 600c Class A. BUT they had to be bi-wired before I settled on this. Running single wire was just not enough for these speakers. Once they were in bi-wire mode - everything sang. Now of all the rooms with B&W speakers in them, the engineers come to my room to double check their work.

Cheers.

[mcsnare]

From what I understand the low freq drivers are also different in the 802D vs the N802 as well as the crossover. The crossover is different to accommodate the diamond tweeter. The cabinet is also slightly different and the midrange driver is the same but mounted differently. Most reviews I've seen say the 802D is not brighter than the N802, but actually a little cleaner in the treble and mids. I'm probably not going to switch from N802's any time soon, but I will be listening to some 802D's in the near future.
Dave

[807Recordings]

802 "D" Stands for the the fact the tweeter domes are made of pure diamond.

The "S" Suffixed models a less costly aluminum dome used in the Nautili.

The manufacturing process involves chemical vapour deposition at 1,000 degree Celcius and then laser trimming. The reason B&W chose diamond is because it is the stiffest material on earth so in theory it should produce the stiffest dome which in turn ensures its first break-up resonance is at a signifigantly higher frequency than an aluminium alloy dome. Disadvatnage might be they are heavier than beryllium, titanium, aluminium but they claim the advantages out way this problem. Where the resonace peak of the S line is around 32kHz the diamomnd is around 74kHz some two octave above the human hearing.

Other new features like new surround material also have lowered the fundemental resonance and thus allowed a gentler-slope, single-component, first-order crossover feed. Also a new capacitor from German company Mundorf was also specialy developed for the 800's speaker range.

All new 800 series use B&W surroundless FST midrange driver (minus the 805). The idea being the midrange driver does not need to make the substantial excursions required for bass/mid drivers and therefore can make use of special material to absorb the vibrations of the woven kevlar driver. The use of Klippel's computer modelling techniques helped refine the FST driver over the previous generations and why they use of a plastic "bullet" polepiece extensiosn, as metal is better avoided here.

Also new bass units in a sandwich diaphram made from 8mm thick Rohacell structural froam, laminated between woven carbon fibre, providing high structural stiffness and minimising the transmision of sound from inside the enclosure.