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Sydney Audio Club
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Sydney Audio Club Meeting - March 2021
Bowers & Wilkins Visit

Sunday 14th March 2021 saw the first Sydney Audio Club event since March 2020 when the Covid 19 pandemic started, and it was great to finally see fellow club members in person.

This first meeting was an event which Bowers & Wilkins Australia graciously hosted, and rather than move a whole lot of equipment to Epping, we accepted their kind invitation to meet in their Sydney Headquarters in Chatswood where they also had their home theatre setup for demonstration.

The B&W showroom has an extensive range of all their current audio products and also examples of their older speakers which showcases the proud B&W heritage and the company’s technological achievements.

The meeting was in a word ‘superb’. The hospitality of the B&W team was matched by the enthusiasm of our members to see friends again after a one year hiatus. They even organised two lucky door prizes for both groups.

There were three main demonstrations, two in the main showroom and one in the dedicated home theatre room.

After a brief introduction from John Martin (B&W) and acknowledgement to Len Wallis for supplying the speakers from his store, we settled in to be bathed in glorious sound from the B&W 803D3 speakers, powered by amplification from Classe consisting of Delta Monoblocs and the corresponding Delta preamplifier.

The 803D3 speakers are part of the 800 diamond series which has the famous diamond dome tweeter. Music was streamed via a Bluesound VAULT 2i streamer.

A variety of tracks were played across several genres of music which demonstrated the capability of the 803D3 speakers and the Classe amplification combination. The synergy between the speakers and amplification was obvious and the silence from the audience while music was playing clearly indicated the enjoyment of the club members.

The popularity of this event and continuing Covid space restrictions meant that we had to divide into two groups, with half having their ears treated to a couple of Hans Zimmer Live Concert tracks and a scene from the war movie ’Unbroken’.

The home theatre demonstration was a 7.2.4 atmos setup based on the B&W home theatre 8 series reference speakers and twin B&W subwoofers. The concert tracks demonstrated the ability of the B&W home theater speakers to create a real life concert ambience. Finishing off the demonstration was a clip from the bomber aircraft scene and the thundering bass left the club members feeling like we were in the cockpit of the plane.

Meanwhile the others took photos of the ‘Nautilus’ and speaker cross-sections in Perspex boxes, auditioned the Formation Duo setup or the Formation Bar Wireless Soundbar with Formation Bass Wireless Subwoofer.

The Formation Wireless products have Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 compatibility, up to 96kHz and 24 bit.

After swapping over, we re-convened to hear the B&W 705 S2 Signature standmount speakers (Datuk gloss finish) which were integrated with a B&W DB3D subwoofer with in-built DSP crossover.

The DB3D is a twin 8” subwoofer with both Dynamic and Room EQ capability which can be programmed via an app. When this subwoofer is paired with B&W speakers the speaker model can be selected via the app which automatically programs the subwoofer to ensure seamless integration with the speakers. This was another impressive presentation and showcased the capabilities of quality standmount speakers when correctly integrated with a subwoofer.
​
The technical details of all the equipment are listed below:

Main Demo:
Brand
Model
Description
Retail $ inc GST
Remarks
Bowers & Wilkins
803D3 (Gloss black)
3 way floor standing
$24,500 pr
Kindly donated by Len Wallis
Bowers & Wilkins
705 Signature (Datuk gloss)
2 way floor standing
$4.999 pr
 
Bowers & Wilkins
FS-700S2 (Silver)
​Floor stands
​$899 pr
  
​Bowers & Wilkins
DB3D (Rosenut)
1000W active sub
$3,999
 
Classe
Delta Pre
Preamplifier
$16,900
 
Classe
Delta Mono
Amplifier x 2
$17,900 each
 
Bluesound
Vault 2i
Streamer / ripper
  
  
Audioquest
​Mackenzie
Balanced interconnects
  
  
Kimber
8TC
Speaker cable bi-wired
  
  
Theatre System:
Brand
Model
Description
Retail $ inc GST
Remarks
Bowers & Wilkins
CWM8.3D
3-way in-wall speaker x 3 
$6,998 each
Front LCR
Bowers & Wilkins
CWM8.5D
2-way in-wall speaker x 2
​$4,198 each
Side surround
​Bowers & Wilkins
CCM7.3S2
3-way in-ceiling speaker x 6
​$1,999 each
Rear surround + Atmos
Bowers & Wilkins
D81D
2000W active subwoofer
$7,500
  
Bowers & Wilkins
D82D
1000W Active subwoofer
$5,700
  
Trinnov
​Altitude 32
Preamp / processor
  
Kindly loaned by Trinnov
NAD
​M27
Power amplifier
  
Kindly loaned by Convoy
NAD
​CI980
Power amplifier
  
Kindly loaned by Convoy
Panasonic
UB9000
BluRay player
  
  
Epson
9400
4k projector
  
  
AudioQuest
Mackenzie
Interconnects
  
  
Monster
MC-1x / XP
Speaker cable
  
Kindly supplied by Arisit
Foyer:
​Brand
​Model
Description
Retail $ inc GST
Bowers & Wilkins
Formation Duo (White)
Active 250w/channel 2 way wireless loudspeakers
$6,400 pr
Bowers & Wilkins
FS - DUO (Silver)
Floor stands
$1,199 pr
Some tracks that sounded particularly well on the D3s were:

The introduction to ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’ by Richard Strauss with Rudolf Kempe conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden Orchestra on a remastered Warner (originally EMI) disc.

James Horner’s soundtrack to a movie entitled ‘Swing Kids’ with a film studio orchestra recreation in stereo of the Benny Goodman classic ‘Swing, Swing, Swing’ on the Hollywood Records label.

The ‘Pas de deux – Intrada’ from Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker’ recorded by Philips with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra. One of my favourite test tracks with cellos, harps, cymbals, trombones and kettledrums to boot.

‘Fandango’ from the disc ‘Los Impossibles’ by Christina Pluhar on the Naïve label. A great test track for transients.

Gershwin’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm’ sung by Ella Fitzgerald backed by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra recorded by Norman Granz back in 1959 from the ‘Ella Sings the George Gershwin Songbook’.

‘Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565’ by J. S. Bach with Michael Murray playing the organ of the First Congregational Church, Los Angeles on a Telarc disc.

‘Welcome to the Machine’ by Pink Floyd from the re-mastered ‘Immersion Set’ from EMI.
​
The 705 + subwoofer combination sounded very musical as expected with Norah Jones. The real surprise track came when someone asked ‘How do they cope with rock?’. ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC sounded awesome !

All three demonstrations received positive comments from the club members and demonstrated the consistent high quality of the B&W audio range from the more modestly priced 705 S2 signature standmount speakers to the flagship range with the 803D3 speakers, the smart subwoofers and the range of built-in home theatre speakers.

The day at the premises of Bowers & Wilkins Australia was a great success to rekindle the club events and re-connect with old friends. It is a great start to hopefully resume normal club activities at Dence Park for the year ahead.

The Sydney Audio Club and its members would like to thank the Bowers & Wilkins Australia team who went out of their way to make us welcome, for hosting this event, and for their generous donation of the lucky door prizes.

A very enjoyable demonstration of their wares.

The torrent of positive member feedback following the meeting augurs well for our restart going into 2021.

Edgar Kramer from Soundstage Australia attended this event and a link to his feature article on the event is:

https://soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/features/514-the-sydney-audio-club-meets-at-bowers-wilkins-australia
https://www.facebook.com/soundstageaus
https://www.facebook.com/BowersWilkinsAu/
https://lenwallisaudio.com/products/home-theatre/speakers-home-theatre/main/803-d3/



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