[Rod_S]

As a relatively new B&W owner I am extremely pleased with the paring of the HTM2 Diamond which I purchased in February and one of the channels from my 6B-SST C-Series. I have the crossover set to 60Hz. I find the clarity and sense of depth to be absolutely amazing. To say it's a step up from my previous Paradigm Reference Studio CCv2 is an understatement 

I just placed an order for the 802 Diamonds which should be here in about a week. They will be replacing a pair of Paradigm Reference Studio 100v2. The amp for those is a 4B-SST C Series. Down the road I will likely get a pair of 7B-SST² amps for the 802s but I'm sure the 4B will do a wonderful job. I'll report back on how the 802s sound once they arrive.

[vegasdave]

Cool. Sounds good. Congrats!

[math-geek]

I am a Dynaudio fan...I have a friend with B&W 802Ds and Mac...It is awesome...End of story!!!Period!!!  It is a great sounding system by any measure!  Bryston, Dyn, Mac and B&W all sound different.  Not good or bad but different!

[tesseract]

That is a very good outlook, there are so many great speakers, no use getting hung up on a brand name. I am shopping new mains right now, I will most likely end up with something quite different than I have now.

[tesseract]

Rod- stepping from the Studios 100's to the Diamond 802's is quite a step up. I look forward to reading your impressions.

[math-geek]

That is an enormous step up!!!

[Rod_S]

Rod- stepping from the Studios 100's to the Diamond 802's is quite a step up. I look forward to reading your impressions.

Well I finally got them last Tuesday so I have had over a week with them. The first impression. Whoa!. Second impression, my God the clarity! Third impression is that they have such and enormous soundstage which absolutely draws you in giving off a very 3 dimensional experience is that best way I can describe it. I'm a guitar player and this has been my first experience in having the feeling that what I was listening to was so amazingly close to how the real thing sounds it gave me goose bumps. Absolutely incredible. So far I have listened to rock, metal, and classical CDs, watched DVDs with legacy dts and Dolby Digital soundtracks, Blu-ray's with True-HD, HD Master Audio and PCM, SACDs and DVD-Audios. All sound wonderful.

The older v2 Studio 100's that I have were big speakers so the 802s take up a very similar footprint. They are a bit wider and deeper but basically the same height and are 40lbs heavier. I find the bass on the old 100s holds up very well against the 802s as the old v2 100s had 2 large bass drivers so they have similar low level extension with the 802 being more focused. The 802s absolutely destroy my 100s in the mid and treble, there is simple no contest. My dealer says they typically take a good 300 hours to break in so I look forward to them getting even better.

My 4B-SST C-Series is doing a fine, fine job driving the speakers but I would love to have the opportunity to demo the 7B-SST² with them or even see what bi-amping with 2 7B-SST² amps would do. I could also try using my 2nd 4B-SST which is a non C-Series and run the 2 in bridged mode to see what that is like but I'm in no hurry as I'm enjoying the speakers so much right now.

Rod

[alinto]

The bass of the 802 diamonds will get quite a bit better. When I 1st got my 802 diamond, I thought the bass sounded a bit constipated compared to the nautalis 802 I was using.  Now, after 5 months of use, I like the bass better than the n802. The bass seems deeper, with more snap and dynamics.

[jaxwired]

I've heard the 805 diamond and the 804 diamond as well as the previous generation many times.  Never liked them and believe me, I tried to like them.  I think they are now way over priced.  I think there are many alternatives that I'd prefer for half the money.  As for the bigger 80X's, they are just too big.

I do like the their CM line though.

[vegasdave]

Well I finally got them last Tuesday so I have had over a week with them. The first impression. Whoa!. Second impression, my God the clarity! Third impression is that they have such and enormous soundstage which absolutely draws you in giving off a very 3 dimensional experience is that best way I can describe it. I'm a guitar player and this has been my first experience in having the feeling that what I was listening to was so amazingly close to how the real thing sounds it gave me goose bumps. Absolutely incredible. So far I have listened to rock, metal, and classical CDs, watched DVDs with legacy dts and Dolby Digital soundtracks, Blu-ray's with True-HD, HD Master Audio and PCM, SACDs and DVD-Audios. All sound wonderful.

The older v2 Studio 100's that I have were big speakers so the 802s take up a very similar footprint. They are a bit wider and deeper but basically the same height and are 40lbs heavier. I find the bass on the old 100s holds up very well against the 802s as the old v2 100s had 2 large bass drivers so they have similar low level extension with the 802 being more focused. The 802s absolutely destroy my 100s in the mid and treble, there is simple no contest. My dealer says they typically take a good 300 hours to break in so I look forward to them getting even better.

My 4B-SST C-Series is doing a fine, fine job driving the speakers but I would love to have the opportunity to demo the 7B-SST² with them or even see what bi-amping with 2 7B-SST² amps would do. I could also try using my 2nd 4B-SST which is a non C-Series and run the 2 in bridged mode to see what that is like but I'm in no hurry as I'm enjoying the speakers so much right now.

Rod

Cool. Nice review. It sounds like you're very content.

[amblin]

i've heard 800, 802 diamond and PMC MB2i, first connected to Ayre's MX-R monoblocks and then Bryston's 14B SST2.

800D : while playing with Ayre ( 300w @ 8ohm ), i notice an obvious lack of bass and dynamic, everything sounded 'soft' , overall abit too warm for my taste. But i did liked the delicate sound of that HF unit. after switching to 14B, everything improved a lot. especially bass response and overall clearity.  Not sure why, but maybe it's because the 800 is one of those lazy power hungry  monsters that require a VERY hard kick.

well, i brought the PMC in the end, because it suits my taste better, and it's quite a bit cheaper than 800D ( almost the price of PMC BB5i here in my country) .  but i wouldn't say it's 'over priced', they did look more expensive than PMC.. especially the glossy MF 'ball' and that soft touching leather shoulder...

[vegasdave]

So, you ended up getting the 14BSST2, true?

[amblin]

yeah,  the bryston/PMC bundle offer superior cost/performance so i picked up BP26 pre and 14B sst2 plus MB2i .

during my test drive, i did find another power amp quite favorable,  a power hungry class A monster ,the krell 402e.  but that's more than twice the price of the 14B    and my credit card passed out 

[jsc010]

im a recent owner of bw 803d, but was long time a object of desire to me ...
yes, i think are a bit overpriced new, actually did buy them used, but immaculate condition.
i think made very good match with 4bsst, they sound pretty damn good! of course depending of the music you hear. in my case lots of jazz, fusion, some electronic music, very dynamic sound. Brutal !. doubt how good match with classical music, not my principal interest.

[budt]

  Congrats Rod, I have the 800 diamonds( about 7-8 months now) and the 7b sst2 is noticeable better than the 4b sst. The speakers  took about 300-400 hours to break in.They truly are amazing speakers( imo).

[vegasdave]

yeah,  the bryston/PMC bundle offer superior cost/performance so i picked up BP26 pre and 14B sst2 plus MB2i .

during my test drive, i did find another power amp quite favorable,  a power hungry class A monster ,the krell 402e.  but that's more than twice the price of the 14B    and my credit card passed out 

Cool. Great system you have there! Enjoy.

[95Dyna]

  Congrats Rod, I have the 800 diamonds( about 7-8 months now) and the 7b sst2 is noticeable better than the 4b sst. The speakers  took about 300-400 hours to break in.They truly are amazing speakers( imo).

Hi budt,

I have a pair of 7B SST2's and BP26 and am looking to replace my Infinity 9 Kappas.  I scratched the 802D's off my list because they didn't impress me enough compared to the Infinitys to justify the expenditure.  I hear the Diamonds are a big improvement.  Can you describe your experience, listening room setup etc. sound staging, imaging and bass.  I know they are great on mid range and highs as these qualities were superior on the 802D's.  It's rare to find someone who has the exact combo you are considering so would appreciate your thoughts.  There may be some others in this situation as well..

Thanks,

Bill

[Rod_S]

  Congrats Rod, I have the 800 diamonds( about 7-8 months now) and the 7b sst2 is noticeable better than the 4b sst. The speakers  took about 300-400 hours to break in.They truly are amazing speakers( imo).

Thanks. It would have been nice to be able to afford the 800 Diamonds but seeing as home theater is my primary focus and I do want to upgrade my side and rear surrounds to B&W I simply could not afford it. With the price difference between the 800 and 802 I can easily get 803 Diamonds or 804 Diamonds for my rears and still have a bit for my side surrounds, well if I go with 804 Diamonds for the rears that is. I will also be getting the new Lexicon processor whenever it sees the light of day. Just so many things to get and so little money.

Going from a 4B SST to 7B SST² definitely makes sense with the 800 Diamonds as they are rated to handle double that of the 802 Diamonds, heck 28B SST² look mighty good too  Eventually I'll most likely upgrade to 7B SST² for my 802 Diamonds leaving me with an extra amp should I decide to go 9.1.