Kudos 808 - what finish?

These arrived last week

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Lovely grain - actually the less warm colour, as they appear in this light, would be perfect.

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Is that oak Richard?
How is the running in going? :grimacing:

Yes, itā€™s oak @Robbo. Running is going well - Iā€™ve had them on virtually 24/7 for the past week with low volume radio overnight and theyā€™re improving all the time, although they sounded good straight out of the box.

I had a demo pair following on from @TimOopNorth and, as that was during lockdown, I had them for nearly 3 months.

I then tried a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 30s and, whilst they were good, I didnā€™t find them as easy to listen to as the 808s. Once I had heard them I donā€™t think there was ever going to be any going back.

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Good to hear! I am going in without the benefit of a demo, but I figure thereā€™s so many of you that are digging these that they should be a good punt. Anyway, I need a speaker that will work well close to boundaries, and thatā€™s a big and challenging box to tick off :grimacing:
Thanks for the photos. They look great, and will fit in well here - you may well have just brought me back from the dark side :slightly_smiling_face:

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Buying Ā£25k speakers without a demo? Rather risky I would have thought. Personally I would never buy any speakers at any price without hearing them. I am aware they are well reviewed and very well regarded on this forum, but itā€™s your ears that count in the end.

Thanks @Robbo - Iā€™m pleased with them.

Itā€™s difficult to say how they would work in your room and I would agree with @AndrewG that a demo would be advisable if thatā€™s possible - preferably a home one.

As you can see from the pictures mine are quite close to the walls in a relatively small room and Iā€™ve not had any bass boom other than with bad recordings.

Have you had a listen to any of the Titan range? Views do seem to vary quite a bit on preference between them (eg, some think 606 best 707 but others the opposite) but I have loved every hearing of them - though did have a big at home dem of the 808s

I am not too worried about the room as it is a dedicated listening space and I plan to add treatment as required. So I think the speakers can be made to work as they should. The room should be big enough to accommodate them at 5 x 7m ish. What I donā€™t want is speakers that sit a way off the wall so that I lose space unnecessarilyā€¦ and most speakers with this kind of scale require space, hence my choice being limited.
Iā€™ve heard so much good feedback from many different data points that I feel fairly safe with the choice. Ideally agree Iā€™d demo in my room, but that just ainā€™t going to happen due to where I liveā€¦ I am taking a listen to the 606s before ordering though (I am also putting a pair of those in the main living space to replace my Wilson Benesch vectors, again with the objective of sitting them closer to the wall and therefore less intrusively in our sitting room space). I am assuming that if I like what the 606s do then I can but like their big brothers.

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p.s. the colour for the 606s is already decided, black gloss.

Regarding positioning my T606s work closer to the back wall than the Spendor D7s that they replaced my dealer was rather surprised at this during the installation process of the demo pair they seem very room friendly indeed.

I get why youā€™d not spend Ā£25k without listening, but at that price, Iā€™d want to be selecting the timber too. Especially as this thread is about the wood.
Iā€™ve bought a number of way cheaper shotguns ( Beretta) and once a model has been decided, the wood was absolutely critical. Yes, better graded timber costs more. But a grade 3 can be better than a 4 or 5 in my experience.
So, if these speakers are for you, you need to go to the factory and select the exact wood you will have to live with surely?

Here is a picture of my 808 in oak I submitted already in another posting. Hope this helps to make your final decision.

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I have the 606s in Oak. Photo as requested.

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Iā€™ve not heard the 808s but have listened to the Confidence 30s bigger brothers - the Confidence 50s and they sounded amazing and similar in price to the 808s. A shame you werenā€™t able to try them out but your 808s do look the part in that Oak finish.

Nice work.

Cheers, Rack.

:+1:t5:

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Tineo finish which darkens with age.
Love my T88s. Great second hand value
Paid less than Titan 505s cost new

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@RackKit I think the Confidence 50s would be too tall for my room - the 808s look quite compact after the 30s

My walnut 606s. The official pics of the walnut finish is actually very close to real life colour

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Yeah, the 50ā€™s are very tall. I was half considering the 30s a while back but even though smaller than the 50s are still taller than 808s. Excluding the dimensions, what was it about the 30s that didnā€™t appeal to you?

Ok, definitely not for me. Looks like oak is the winner. Wife also happy with that. Thanks again for the pics everybody - much appreciated.

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