B&W Loudspeakers - Tribute to John Bowers

[jadis]

The last speaker I owned that wasn't made by Wilson was the Thiel CS5. I drove it with my Krell KSA-250

The Thiel CS5 was my dream speaker circa 1990. I heard them first at Audio Excellence in SF, same place I bought my CS3.5 from. The sound was totally transparent then and they threw such a wide, deep and tall soundstage and I fell in love with them immediately. Coming back home when the local dealer gave home auditions, the CS5 was mated with a quad of Jadis JA500 monoblocks and somehow the organ on Cantate Domino just wouldn't come out. I got wary since my amps were the JA200 so I ruled them out and got an 801S3 instead. But I imagine the Krell KSA 250 should be able to drive the CS 5 well.

 

[jadis]

I'm currently driving my 801Ds and HTM1D with a Krell EV403 amplifier. I've eliminated any of the "bass boom" issues by crossing over to a pair of JL Audio F113 Fathom subs via the recommendation of Barry Ober of JL Audio. In my humble opinion, the compatibility between the two brands still exists. I need to get some newer photos up....

Lee

Sounds good, Lee.

 

[nephilim]

Former 600 series owner here, nice thread Phil. The 800 series used to be my "grail" speakers back in the 90s. A good friend of mine still has his B&W 801s powered by Krells. The B&W and Krell combination was indeed a match made in heaven. ;-)

 

[jadis]

Former 600 series owner here, nice thread Phil. The 800 series used to be my "grail" speakers back in the 90s. A good friend of mine still has his B&W 801s powered by Krells. The B&W and Krell combination was indeed a match made in heaven. ;-)

Welcome to the club of former B&W users, Keith. It was like touching the tip of Mt. Everest in those days for me. After a long while, I thought the I wasn't maximizing the bass with my tube amps and my room ideally should be as long and wide as my ex-neighbor who had the 800s and the Krell MRAs.

 

[JackD201]

We were all pretty deprived of choices in the early 90s huh Phil? One was either a B&W guy or a Dynaudio guy back then. Practically everything else had to be bought unheard via indent basis. Fast forward 20 years.........

 

[jadis]

We were all pretty deprived of choices in the early 90s huh Phil? One was either a B&W guy or a Dynaudio guy back then. Practically everything else had to be bought unheard via indent basis. Fast forward 20 years.........

We were deprived like those hungry zombie dogs of the apocalypse in I AM LEGEND. Hahaha...I ordered via indent a Monster Alpha 2, Infinity RS3b, VPI HW19MKII, and the Carnegie 1 cartridge without ever hearing them first. Good thing they're not that bad. Today, we have the goodies but not the money. Hahaha. SOTA speakers then were like $15,000. Today, $150,000 or more. I think 'deprived' was not too bad.

 

[JackD201]

You always make too much sense my friend! Hahahahahaha!

 

[jadis]

You always make too much sense my friend! Hahahahahaha!

 

[microstrip]

Yeah Jack, indeed the synergy of the Krells and the B&Ws were good. I've heard Krell 250 driving 802 and 800 as well and they all sounded good. I thought he should have gotten the X2MK1 long ago but he chose to get the Eggleston Ivy because when they heard it with the Krell MRAs in HK the matching was fabulous. Unfortunately, the MRAs broke down for good so he now has to go back to the drawing board. While he should indeed go with the LAMMs, you and I know why that will be difficult to do. Hahaha...

Although tube amplifiers could not control the bass of the big 801 , the 802 was a great match with Audio Research gear. The "West Side Story", (DG recording, conducted by Leonard Bernstein) sounded rhythmic and alive using my D70 and SP10 setup.

 

[jadis]

Although tube amplifiers could not control the bass of the big 801 , the 802 was a great match with Audio Research gear. The "West Side Story", (DG recording, conducted by Leonard Bernstein) sounded rhythmic and alive using my D70 and SP10 setup.

Good to know, microstrip. I had a few friends then who used the 802s with great results, and one was using a CJ amp. Well, actually I had used a CJ MV125 on my 801s3 briefly and that CJ's bass was a 'sledge-hammer' type. I put in lots of Telarc CDs then.

 

[MylesBAstor]

The Thiel CS5 was my dream speaker circa 1990. I heard them first at Audio Excellence in SF, same place I bought my CS3.5 from. The sound was totally transparent then and they threw such a wide, deep and tall soundstage and I fell in love with them immediately. Coming back home when the local dealer gave home auditions, the CS5 was mated with a quad of Jadis JA500 monoblocks and somehow the organ on Cantate Domino just wouldn't come out. I got wary since my amps were the JA200 so I ruled them out and got an 801S3 instead. But I imagine the Krell KSA 250 should be able to drive the CS 5 well.

The Thiel bass driver took forever to open up

 

[Steve Williams]

The Thiel bass driver took forever to open up

I'll vouch for that

 

[microstrip]

Good to know, microstrip. I had a few friends then who used the 802s with great results, and one was using a CJ amp. Well, actually I had used a CJ MV125 on my 801s3 briefly and that CJ's bass was a 'sledge-hammer' type. I put in lots of Telarc CDs then.

Unhappily by the time I got an MV125 the 801s3 were gone ... The cj MV125 was a great amplifier for the old Soundlab A4 (the flat type with separate treble and bass panels). I still keep it - I use it mainly to burn-in new 6550 tubes for 100 hours before putting them in the big VTLs .
Did you also own the PV9 preamplifier?

 

[jadis]

Unhappily by the time I got an MV125 the 801s3 were gone ... The cj MV125 was a great amplifier for the old Soundlab A4 (the flat type with separate treble and bass panels). I still keep it - I use it mainly to burn-in new 6550 tubes for 100 hours before putting them in the big VTLs .
Did you also own the PV9 preamplifier?

For some reasons, I never got to use any CJ pre-amp. I wish I had.

 

[mep]

Unhappily by the time I got an MV125 the 801s3 were gone ... The cj MV125 was a great amplifier for the old Soundlab A4 (the flat type with separate treble and bass panels). I still keep it - I use it mainly to burn-in new 6550 tubes for 100 hours before putting them in the big VTLs .
Did you also own the PV9 preamplifier?

I want to come to your house and raid your closet.

 

[JackD201]

I want to come to your house and raid your closet.

Somebody is missin' tubes.......

 

[naturephoto1]

Somebody is missin' tubes.......

I think that Mark is just missing his better performing equipment with the "new" Krell amp and preamp being repaired.

Rich

 

[microstrip]

For some reasons, I never got to use any CJ pre-amp. I wish I had.

The PV9 was an important lesson in my audio graduation. The PV9 was replaced by the PV11 - a preamplifier with superior supply regulation, one more stage of independent regulation for the line stage, two regulation stages for phono, less noisy tubes and lower distortion circuit. I sold the PV9 and bough the new unit, but it never sounded as good as the PV9 - it lacked the emotional characteristics and seemed more restrained - in one word it did not sound as fluid as the older brother. As a close friend got my PV9 we could compare several times - only when later I got a Premier 14 the situation was reversed!

Curiously cj had a similar issue with a modern unit, the act2. The act2 had two cascaded regulators in series - in the act2 series 2 they only used one regulator stage distributing the extra capacitance that was used in the pre-regulator in the unique left and right regulators. One more case where a simplification resulted in better sound, although it degraded absolute specifications.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Curiously cj had a similar issue with a modern unit, the act2. The act2 had two cascaded regulators in series - in the act2 series 2 they only used one regulator stage distributing the extra capacitance that was used in the pre-regulator in the unique left and right regulators. One more case where a simplification resulted in better sound, although it degraded absolute specifications.

That was one of my complaints. CJ changed the PS in the ACT2 Series 2 because of their other less expensive preamps. I had both the ART Series 3 and ACT Series 1 in and kept the ART. When I had a chance to compare the ART Series 3 and the new GAT, I sold the ART (with great sadness since it had served me well for 12 years).

 

[mep]

Somebody is missin' tubes.......

My system took a big gut punch with the loss of the KBL. And to make it worse, I bought a pair of the MIT balanced ICs to use between the two Krell pieces and Joe Abrams gave me full credit for the MIT RCA ICs which I was using and had to return. So now I'm back to some Cardas ICs and I'm not loving where I'm at compared to where I've been.