B&W Signature 800 upgrade diamond tweeter

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#441
Stefanoo said:
Also, anybody heard the latest B&Ws?
I have been thinking a bit over this topic in the past days and can't figure out why B&W would make their product worse over time. True, they don't have the same designer anymore, but they have listening room and several ears can hear before and after. Maybe I am just getting this wrong, and possibly the latest B&W can be a true bargain at that price point.
If all is considered G2 and G1 are much more expensive than the new 800 (to be released). If the new 800 manages to be much better than my old 800, then it would be a true bargain...although aesthetically speaking doesn't look so great!
I need to audition that speaker soon....if anybody does in the meantime, please post your opinion...
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Stephan,

HFN has reviewed the 802d3 and measured the response at the FST height rather than the tweeter height, so the response is uneven, but it also tells me that the crossover design is unchanged from the D2 version. (see attached)

The new continuum driver appears to have eliminated the 4kHz resonance, though there are minor resonances further up.
 

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#448
Stefanoo said:
I think you are really funny!!!! That should tell you something!! Change your speakers!!! 😱:shhh:
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MY latest monitors have no problem with the dialogue, but listening to movies in two theaters and listening with my previous speakers I could not understand some of the dialogue. Neither could a lot of people I talk to.

To me this says the B&W's are really terrible speakers for movie mastering.

Yes, I can hear it all now, but damn, movies should be intelligible by most speakers, not just a handful of high end reference .

In LoTR there's a section where Galadriel telepathically speaks to Bilbo. I've spoken to at least one other person who had to use the "Close Captioned" feature to understand her. Now I don't.

Best,


Erik
 
#452
youknowyou said:
if there is a problem of dialogue in LOTR, its nonsense to automatically attribute it to the speakers that was used to mix the LOTR.

have you ever heard B&W speakers? they are far far far from terrible speakers.
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I have. Actually you are right. They are far from terrible. Also never really interested me. Sorry. 🙂 When I was younger I loved the ads and the tech. Bulletproof drivers, separate enclosures, used to mix classical and Abbey Road, etc. 🙂

I've since heard many, including the original Nautilus at the B&W demo room in Massachusetts. No B&W speaker has ever made me interested in listening further or purchasing though. I'm sorry. They are not terrible. They don't make me want to turn them off or run from the room but they also have never caught my fancy.

Best,


Erik
 
#454
I think it's worth pointing out that a few of B&Ws speakers have less than flat frequency responses. These are not suitable for mastering or monitoring when your deciding on the mix for something. B&W speakers often have peaks within the presence region and a raised top end. This can increase clarity and give a false impression of projection. If you were to master on them then you would turn down the vocal balance as a result. Then when listening on speakers that are actually flat the vocals would be recessed and perhaps difficult to understand in complex HT sound tracks.
 
#455
5th element said:
I think it's worth pointing out that a few of B&Ws speakers have less than flat frequency responses. These are not suitable for mastering or monitoring when your deciding on the mix for something. B&W speakers often have peaks within the presence region and a raised top end. This can increase clarity and give a false impression of projection. If you were to master on them then you would turn down the vocal balance as a result. Then when listening on speakers that are actually flat the vocals would be recessed and perhaps difficult to understand in complex HT sound tracks.
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really? Because I hang a lot in studio forum and B&W matrix 801, or B&W 800d seems to be very highly regarded. Not the best per say, but not too shabby either.

They do in general seem to boost under 1000hz, but any guy who use them to master learn their B&W and know how to compensate with the ''problem'' of that particular speaker. Just like any speaker really. There's no speaker that is showing the exact truth.
to imply that vocal in a film contain badly mixed vocal and blame it on the speakers is funny. its the mastering engineer fault.
 
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#456
5th element said:
I think it's worth pointing out that a few of B&Ws speakers have less than flat frequency responses. These are not suitable for mastering or monitoring when your deciding on the mix for something. B&W speakers often have peaks within the presence region and a raised top end. This can increase clarity and give a false impression of projection. If you were to master on them then you would turn down the vocal balance as a result. Then when listening on speakers that are actually flat the vocals would be recessed and perhaps difficult to understand in complex HT sound tracks.
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Thanks so much! This explains much. I wonder if this is why the fire / flame sounds are so funky too?

Erik
 
#457
eriksquires said:
Thanks so much! This explains much. I wonder if this is why the fire / flame sounds are so funky too?

Erik
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It doesn't explain anything, 5th element statement is so generic and doesn't include that studio's use DSP to flatten response in house/studio. Further more, you contradict yourself by saying your former speakers were bad in dialogue, nowadays is ok!! Well, if it was bad before, how come it's ok now?
Two errors correct each other?

Peter
 
#458
Hi Peter,

Sorry I wasn't more clear. My previous speakers were only 3.7x better than B&W. My current speakers are between 500x and 1000x better than anything B&W has produced, ever.

The difference is due to me changing speakers.

My confusion happens because in 4 different settings dialogue and flame effects have been difficult to understand. 2 THX theaters and 2 homes.

With my current monitors I finally got to hear it. I don't think that's how movies should be mixed so only the elite of systems will have the necessary resolution to hear 100% of the words. I'm still not sure why.

I'm being a wicked troll. Sorry, I need the energy and attention. Please flame ahead.

Best,



Erik
 
#459
peterbrorsson said:
It doesn't explain anything, 5th element statement is so generic and doesn't include that studio's use DSP to flatten response in house/studio. Further more, you contradict yourself by saying your former speakers were bad in dialogue, nowadays is ok!! Well, if it was bad before, how come it's ok now?
Two errors correct each other?

Peter
Click to expand...

It's not generic at all. Elevated responses in the presence region and elevated treble responses cause a false sense of clarity and forwardness. Have you seen the measurements of some of the 800 series? This is how they present.

If the studio bothered to use DSP to flatten them then sure it's a moot point, but if not...

I do not know why any studio would choose the 800 series to master on in the first place as they are known not to be neutral and have terrible off axis performance.

Expensive monitors, from what I've seen, typically have very flat frequency responses and use wave guides to offer well controlled off axis responses.
 
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