Joey_V
Well-known member
Ok ok ok.... it was only an audition!
I'm on a new rotation at the moment and I was out in a suburban hospital doing my medicine thing and this town is pretty ritzy and upper-middle class... I found a nice little audio shop on the side of the road on my way home from the hospital. I decided to wait out the traffic and I went inside.
Inside, I was greeted by some 45 year old guy, or someone atleast twice my age. I asked to see his reference gear. He brought me to the reference room with all the good stuff. I saw a pair of the BW 802D sitting next to some Thiels, Magnepans and Gallos. I wanted to hear the 802D this time around, powered by electronics above the Rotel league.
I asked to listen, he asked me which components I wanted to hear it with. I pointed to the Class CA2200 2 channel amp, the Ayre C5xe CDP, the Ayre K5xe pre... each of which are $5000 a piece. He hooked up all Transparent cables and wires throughout the entire system and hooked everything to Transparent power conditioners.
He fired up the now $40K system.... I sat down.... and I was stunned.
ABSOLUTELY gorgeous sounding from top to bottom. Coherence was great! Imaging was great! Overall tone was superb! I hadnt heard the BW802D sound this great ever... and I know it was the components/electronics running them which made it so. I had this feeling sitting there... that if I had this system, I'd be done. It was over. I looked at the guy and I asked him, "I suppose this is about as good as it gets for reproduced music, huh?"
He replied, "Pretty much... until you go to the ultra-fi products."
Soundstage was deep, instruments were individualized without smear. Vocals had very little if any fuzz around the focus, and the background pallete was as dark as can be. Very black backgrounds, very good transient dynamics, very good imaging throughout. You just had to be there. It was truly an experience, otherwise, I wouldnt waste my time typing up this thread.
Anyway, I had the salesguy switch the Ayre CDP to the Classe CDP202 reference CDP and it completely ruined the sound of the system... nothing like the Ayre.
Now I know why the Ayre C5xe is considered by many as one of the (if not, the) best CDP on the planet without getting into the insane money regions.
I wish I took pics.. but I will leave you guys with some stock pics of the individual components for some eye candy action!
Just wanted to let you guys know... BW *can* sound great.... as long as you treat them right and give them the components they deserve. Expensive? Yes. Good sounding? You bet.
Ayre C5xe CDP
Ayre K5xe Preamp
Classe CA2200
BW 802D
I'm on a new rotation at the moment and I was out in a suburban hospital doing my medicine thing and this town is pretty ritzy and upper-middle class... I found a nice little audio shop on the side of the road on my way home from the hospital. I decided to wait out the traffic and I went inside.
Inside, I was greeted by some 45 year old guy, or someone atleast twice my age. I asked to see his reference gear. He brought me to the reference room with all the good stuff. I saw a pair of the BW 802D sitting next to some Thiels, Magnepans and Gallos. I wanted to hear the 802D this time around, powered by electronics above the Rotel league.
I asked to listen, he asked me which components I wanted to hear it with. I pointed to the Class CA2200 2 channel amp, the Ayre C5xe CDP, the Ayre K5xe pre... each of which are $5000 a piece. He hooked up all Transparent cables and wires throughout the entire system and hooked everything to Transparent power conditioners.
He fired up the now $40K system.... I sat down.... and I was stunned.
ABSOLUTELY gorgeous sounding from top to bottom. Coherence was great! Imaging was great! Overall tone was superb! I hadnt heard the BW802D sound this great ever... and I know it was the components/electronics running them which made it so. I had this feeling sitting there... that if I had this system, I'd be done. It was over. I looked at the guy and I asked him, "I suppose this is about as good as it gets for reproduced music, huh?"
He replied, "Pretty much... until you go to the ultra-fi products."
Soundstage was deep, instruments were individualized without smear. Vocals had very little if any fuzz around the focus, and the background pallete was as dark as can be. Very black backgrounds, very good transient dynamics, very good imaging throughout. You just had to be there. It was truly an experience, otherwise, I wouldnt waste my time typing up this thread.
Anyway, I had the salesguy switch the Ayre CDP to the Classe CDP202 reference CDP and it completely ruined the sound of the system... nothing like the Ayre.
Now I know why the Ayre C5xe is considered by many as one of the (if not, the) best CDP on the planet without getting into the insane money regions.
I wish I took pics.. but I will leave you guys with some stock pics of the individual components for some eye candy action!
Just wanted to let you guys know... BW *can* sound great.... as long as you treat them right and give them the components they deserve. Expensive? Yes. Good sounding? You bet.
Ayre C5xe CDP
Ayre K5xe Preamp
Classe CA2200
BW 802D
).
