Speaker Ownership/Present and Future

I am using Polk SRS SDA 2.3 speakers that I bought about 35 years ago. Despite the claim these need many, many watts to sound good, I find that my VTA St-120 can drive them just fine. They also work well with my Hafler DH-200 amplifier. Even though they are large with many drivers, they supposedly have about a 92 dB efficiency. I like the SDA-enhancement of the sound stage.

Just a small wobble off-topic, but the best speaks made in the U.S. are family-run operations. You can phone up Maggies, Tylers, Vandersteens, Dahlquists (when they were really Dahlquist) and it's usually the daughter or son who answers the phone. Ask for tech support, and it's, "Let me get my dad. He's in the shop." "My dad" turns out to be the president of the company who will drop what he's building to talk you through a problem or technical question. Try doing that with some brick-and-mortar-store mass-producer.

Right now I'm playing music with my VTA ST-120 through JBL L100T3's. I think the amp and speaker combo is quite nice.

I'm thinking I'd like to try building either Aethers or Sunflower (Redux) open baffle speakers. Though they aren't super efficient I have heard that they would sound good with tube power.

Just acquired a pair of Kenwood triple 7's (KL777D) Anyone had these?? Looks like 6 speaker/5 way and weighing in at 47 lbs each. Probably run these as monitors for deck/garage and powered by the ST-150. Dale

wgallupe wrote:That's fantastic! Looking forward to your comments after they have settled in their new home...

So sorry for the VERY LATE REVIEW of the 803's
Pretty much the 803's are living up to my prospects and the marriage of the m125's mono-blocks with the 803's have surpassed my performance expectations especially in the midrange. The tonal balance of the 803's brings the realism and lifelike feeling I have been searching for in years. Most notably at least for the last ten. The bass is solid and is not overwhelming with 2channel, as a matter of fact it is just right. I can see why ABBEY ROAD studios have used B&W speakers in their recordings. The playback is true. The diamond tweeter is every bit worth the money for the upgrade since I had owned the B&W804S speaker. However I cannot say enough about the 804's as they also served me well and give me a great listening experience.

The 803's in my room give a forward presentation, a greater sense of instrument presence especially with guitar and piano but does not get to the point of listening fatigued.
The midrange is absent of coloration and the sound is smooth.
Soundstage is real. When I close my eyes I can visualized the artists performing in my dedicated room. The dynamics of the 803's make the music come alive a real feeling of coming together with the performer.

In conclusion, the speakers are a part of the equation in my system. The Grace m920 studio monitoring pre/amp dac is sweet and in line with the m125's...that combination is a real winner that gives me my musical nirvana.

Again I am sorry for the late review

bluemeanies wrote:So sorry for the VERY LATE REVIEW of the 803's
Pretty much the 803's are living up to my prospects and the marriage of the m125's mono-blocks with the 803's have surpassed my performance expectations especially in the midrange. The tonal balance of the 803's brings the realism and lifelike feeling I have been searching for in years. Most notably at least for the last ten. The bass is solid and is not overwhelming with 2channel, as a matter of fact it is just right. I can see why ABBEY ROAD studios have used B&W speakers in their recordings. The playback is true. The diamond tweeter is every bit worth the money for the upgrade since I had owned the B&W804S speaker. However I cannot say enough about the 804's as they also served me well and give me a great listening experience.

The 803's in my room give a forward presentation, a greater sense of instrument presence especially with guitar and piano but does not get to the point of listening fatigued.
The midrange is absent of coloration and the sound is smooth.
Soundstage is real. When I close my eyes I can visualized the artists performing in my dedicated room. The dynamics of the 803's make the music come alive a real feeling of coming together with the performer.

In conclusion, the speakers are a part of the equation in my system. The Grace m920 studio monitoring pre/amp dac is sweet and in line with the m125's...that combination is a real winner that gives me my musical nirvana.

Again I am sorry for the late review

So glad you are happy with the B&Ws, Mr. BM. As an 803 Matrix series owner I agree with your hyperboles. One thing of interest - the midrange unit in these speakers is virtually unchanged throughout the history of the 800 series. B&W knew it had stumbled upon a good thing when it first used Kevlar cones; oddly enough the stiffness and damping abilities were exactly right for clean, clear midrange. B&Ws aren't for everyone, but when they click.....

Wayne Parham 4PI modified (bottom mains)
Troels Gravesen - Classic 3 ways (upper mains) SEAS drivers
Morel 12" Subwoofer top - Mid bass freq - Med Volume
JBL 2242H 18" Subwoofer bottom - Lower Freq / Low Volume

Ahah! Another Troels fan, I see.

Since last posting up on this thread, I've finished these speakers:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21640362/DTQWT%20Mk%20III%201.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21640362/DTQWT%20Mk%20III%202.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21640362/DTQWT%20Mk%20III%20c.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21640362/DTQWT%20Mk%20III%20d.jpg

These are Troels Gravesen's DTQWT Mk III's. So far, I'd say I'm in love.

:-)

Took well over 100 hours to build. More like 200. I made many mistakes, so it's my fault. The plans are very good, very clear.

I'd say these were well worth the effort and the expense (about $2800 Canadian). I encourage others to venture into the rewarding world of DIY-ing your speakers. There are many great designs, kits, plans etc, and supportive forums with other builders to guide you. Speaker building is no more a "dark art" than amplifier building.

All reviews of this speaker on the web are were very positive, leading to my decision to build these ones. All but one negative review from a fellow who claimed he could hear the sonic degradation caused by the relatively inexpensive binding posts supplied with the "kit" of materials from Jantzen (drivers, wiring, acoustic dampening, binding posts, cross over components....). I would like to see him identify the cheap from the best available binding posts in a blind comparison.

Tube Nube,
Beautiful workmanship. If they sound as good as they look, WOW!

Thanks Dave. Yes, I'd say these would be the speakers I'd want with me on an isolated island kingdom!

Insofar as the Island Kingdom's knights assembled still have some hearing left after driving large aluminum things through the air for several decades, they are to a man and woman music aficionados.

All the better to have 95 dB's at 1 watt from 1 meter.

I nearly built those too. Real Nice! Nice work!

Tube Nube wrote:All the better to have 95 dB's at 1 watt from 1 meter.

Man, you're getting to horny territory at 95dB.
My Tylers are 90, was surprised at the difference from the 87 dB/watt the Vandies had. Like two notches on the volume pot.
I guess we're retro-gressing back to the old theatre systems of the 1930s, small amps, hugely efficient speakers. I think Cerwin Vega set the record at 130 dB. Could run 'em off a crystal set.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but more sensitive speakers won't just play louder with lower power, but they should have better dynamics, too, no?

Tube Nube wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong here, but more sensitive speakers won't just play louder with lower power, but they should have better dynamics, too, no?

Yeah, because most were just a single full-range driver, no crossover mechanics.

There is that. I forgot about that aspect. But I was also thinking that with say, a crescendo that sends double the power to the speakers, a 95 dB speaker would swing louder than an 87dB speaker, if they were playing at the same volume before the crescendo. I might be wrong.

Polk SDA-1A.
Great sound. Still need to upgrade crossovers, but they sound lovely.
Don't mind the mess. Getting ready to move.
Note: SS gear is not lit.

Hey thanks, Mantha. Sorry, I mssed your comment before.

Dave, you're right about horns... These things are open on the bottoms, as they are a transmission line speaker, which I understand is a type of horn.

I've become a happy owner of Tannoy Arden's (mk.I) since about a month.
They have replaced a pair of B&W DM2a's and even though I liked them a lot, they are no match for the Ardens.

Don't forget the horn-loaded BIC 6s (Venturi tube. ) 110 @ 1W@ 1 meter. I drove it with a transistor radio ( Toshiba .  ) It was very dynamic, had room filling soundstage and sounded marvelous. It was three way and had two tweeters angled 30 degrees off axis to aid dispersion.

Strongly recommended for tube amps.