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October 30, 2017 - 12:25am
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DYNAUDIO C4 VS B&W 800 D3 FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS
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Both speakers are very good, but somewhat different in their sound quality. You will probably be fine with either one.
Your choices all seem good, although IMO McIntosh gear is way overpriced for what you get.
Musical Fidelity and Audio Research are better choices IMO, if you have access to them.
Thanks for your advise. I will definitely try out Musical Fidelity and Audio Research before taking a decision.
Both speakers are awesome. I happen to own the B&W 800 D3 in my dedicated home theater room driven by a pair of Classe CAM-600 monoblock power amps.
If you go with the B&W 800 D3 I will highly recommend to get the Classe Delta CAM-600 monoblock amps and the Classe CP-800 stereo preamp/DAC. The Classe CAM-600 retails for the same price as the McIntosh MC601 monoblock amps. I've heard the B&W 800 D3 driven by both the Classe CAM-600 and the McIntosh MC601 before and the speakers performed and sounded way better driven by the Classe CAM-600 amps.
Classe and B&W are meant to be paired together and they have great sonic synergy together and these B&W will sound their best driven by Classe amps. Especially these new B&W 800 series D3 speakers were designed and tuned based on Classe amplifications. B&W 800 series voiced their speakers using Classe amps.
The Classe CAM-600 monoblock amps did retail for $14k/pair here in the US and they were recently discontinued so you will be able to find them in a used market like Audiogon at discounted price. The entire Classe Delta series have been dropped as Classe is going through some changes or restructuring. Only the Classe Sigma series, which is their entry level series offerings, remain in production.
As for a preamp option if you go with the B&W and Classe CAM-600 amps I would highly recommend the Classe CP-800 preamp/DAC. Again this preamp was also recently discontinued and you can find a used one at discounted price. The CP-800 preamp did retail for USD $6k here in the US.
You can connect your computer using USB cable to this CP-800 preamp/DAC. Its USB signal input path sounded best compared to its other digital inputs (spdif/coaxial digital audio, optical digital/Toslink, AES/EBU).
This preamp was optimized using its rear USB input if you must use its built-in DAC.
Its analog input is optimized using XLR balanced analog inputs. This preamp, along with the CAM-600 amps and other Classe products, are fully balanced design internally from input all the way to output.
All Classe products internal circuitry are true differential design or fully balanced design.
I will suggest that you use their XLR balanced connections (inputs & outputs) in order to get the best optimal sonic fidelity.
You can also use the CP800's XLR balanced analog inputs from a CD/SACD player or some sort. It is also a phenomenal sounding analog preamp.
As for your cd/sacd player I would not get the Marantz SA 8005 cd player if I were you especially considering the level of the setup and system you are planning to get. I highly recommend the new Marantz SA-10 cd/sacd player from its reference series line. Or perhaps a Cary Audio cd/sacd player or some entry level or mid-level series Esoteric cd/sacd player if you can afford one. The Rega Isis cd player is also phenomenal sounding player.
Hope this helps. Let us know what you finally decide on.