I was lucky to hear a comparison of 8000.2 vs. 8000 SE upgraded vs. 8000 SE factory last Monday courtesy of Rick at Audio Images. He still has the HH demo set up in Penistone. If you could get to Sheffield, this may be the only place to hear this comparison and presumably will go away at some point as that's a lot of stock value!

My perception, for what it's worth, was that the .2 to upgrade difference was of similar magnitude to the upgrade to factory difference. The character of the differences were similar to my ear - improved bass clarity, improved detail and more of the character and body of the voice coming through. My prior expectation was diminishing difference, but that wasn't what I heard.

Obviously I didn't make precise measurements, but it appeared to me that retrofit of clamp rings would require machining of the cabinet openings. Although the bass drivers appear similar, I think the baskets differ. If correct, use of the existing clamp ring design would also require changing the drivers. Otherwise, a custom clamp ring design would be required. I doubt it would be practical for this to be a field retrofit.

Cheers, Ian

1: Roon on Mac Studio, G-Drive 10TB, 818v3, 7200.2, UHD722, LG 77G4
2. 808.6, 8kSE
3. 218, 3200's
4: Rivian R1T - 18 speaker 1200W Elevation by Meridian premium sound system
5. G68ADV (croaked), G98DH (also croaked), [HD621, Syles SL-S/PDIF, MD600 (2*4TB), QNAP 469L (4*3TB), MS200], Ayre MX-R Twenties, TBD