Anyone heard/ heard of B&W 808 speakers

Tonto Yoder · « **on:** 16 Apr 2003, 03:46 pm »

I stopped in a local pawn shop and was surprised to see some actually good speakers--B&W 808's in very large cabinets with all the drivers mounted on the front baffle (not with the seperate boxes for mid/tweet ala 801 Matrixes. Supposedly, the 808's are TWO 801's in one cabinet, doubling up on the woofs/mids (not sure about the tweeter). There's really very little mention on the web about these other than some old ads on rec.audio marketplace. This particular shop tends towards excessive pricing, but these monsters were only $895/pair.

grundy · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Apr 2003, 10:48 pm »

I heard these speakers years ago in Champaign IL. They listed for something like $8k. They seemed fairly impressive at the time. For their large size I remember a slightly lean bass... Or was it accurate bass with no peakiness? I do remember some boxy colorations which may have been due to the large cabinet dimensions. I would jump on them if they are in good condition.

Where did you see them? I would like to buy a pair for my headbanging friends.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Apr 2003, 11:19 pm »

I'm in Naples, Fl. The pawn shop is Capital Pawn on Tamiami Trail.
BTW, I DID find a pdf of the sales brochure:
http://www.bwspeakers.com/downloadFile/speakerModel/DONE_-product_info_808.pdf

Unfortunately, I didn't actually listen to the speakers since the store isn't really set up for auditioning. They WILL hook speakers up to a central receiver (of some unknown pedigree) but they really are only concerned that speakers make SOME sound, not whether the sound is of audiophile quality.

BTW, I listened to B&W 801 Series 3 some years ago in the same room as some later Klipsch. Switching between the two, the Matrix seemed to have less bass but, the more I listened, I realized it was accurate bass compared to the tubby Klipsch bass.

Carlman · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Apr 2003, 12:53 am »

A friend of mine that owns B&W 803's and worked in hifi for several years told me the 808's were the worst B&W he'd ever heard. I've never heard them but I trust his opinion.
I'd consider buying them if I could resell them for a profit. But, they're big and hard to ship so, it'll probably be tough to get rid of them.

grundy · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Apr 2003, 12:55 am »

Ha! I found the original sales brochure in our upstairs storeroom. It survived my wife's 1999 20 cubic yard dumpster purge! (My VMPS stuff did also).

The brochure itself is massive, 11.5"x11.5" (which means I don't know if I can scan it for you). The 808 is also huge. It weights 180 lbs. It's only 41" high, but is 25" wide and 20" deep. This gives it a huge presence in photos when compared to the 801FS. Bass response for the 808 is listed as 30Hz (vented) vs. 45Hz (sealed) for the 801FS. Distortion levels for the 808 appear to be about 1/2 those of the 801 for the same volume levels. The 801 has better dispersion specs. however..

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Apr 2003, 01:14 am »

Quote from: grundy

The 808 is also huge. It weights 180 lbs. It's only 41" high, but is 25" wide and 20" deep. This gives it a huge presence in photos when compared to the 801FS. Bass response for the 808 is listed as 30Hz (vented) vs. 45Hz (sealed) for the 801FS. Distortion levels for the 808 appear to be about 1/2 those of the 801 for the same volume levels. The 801 has better dispersion specs. however..

Grundy,
yep, they're definitely huge. In fact, when I saw them, I THOUGHT they were a pair of Curtis-Mathis speakers the store had before that clearly were designed to sit beside a big C-M TV and be a similar depth.