B & W speaker upgrade suggestions

AV123, the Onix/Rocket manufacturer, is about 10 minutes away from where I live, so getting repair/replacement speakers would not be a problem. Also, I am interested in their Onix Reference line, not their Rocket line.

I personally don't trust that kind of thing, especially since a bunch of people were running around other fora awhile ago acting like hooligans trying to coerce people into buying those speakers, and bashing anyone who said anything negative about those speakers.

That rather dismays me, Jkalman. I will need to do a search here to see if I can find some of these posts.

I actually belong to the AV123 forum; I joined when I was considering buying the Rocket UFW-10 subwoofer. Though there is great enthusiasm for the AV123 products, I haven't read any posts there that disparage or bash non-AV123 products. I hope the people here that were doing so weren't "real" Onix/Rocket owners. Just because I own a certain piece of equipment, I would never consider telling others that it is the best in the land and whatever else they were considering is crap! Like most people, I very much dislike that sort of arogance and ignorance.

I hope to be able to audition some Reference 3 speakers as there are some local owners. There is only one place in Colorado that sells B&W speakers. Their web site doesn't list the higher end series but I'm hoping they have them anyway so that I can audition them.

It will be a while before I can buy new speakers, anyway, so I'm hoping that I can hear some other good speakers, too. There is actually a place here in Colorado not too far from me that sells the Cain & Cain speakers. They look wonderful, Arkprof, and their lower end offerings are in my price range so I will definetly take a trip there to audtion them.

Holly

The posts were on AVS Forum and Audioholic forum. Not sure if there are others, but when I researched the company those were the sites I found them on.

BTW, I thought they were manufactured overseas in China?

Hi Jkalman - I shouldn't have called AV123 the manufacturer - sorry, that was a bit misleading! They are indeed actually made in China, but Mark Schifter, the owner of AV123, is deeply involved in the design and marketing of the products - here is a quote from 6moons ( http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/onix/onix.html)that explains his part in the Onix products:

Enter Mark Schifter. Like Phil Jones of AAD and now Phil Jones Bass, he decided a long time ago that to do things properly equated to living on-site. With a house in China and another in Khabarovsk/Russia, Schifter has made the necessary sacrifices, learned the language and created the ideal infrastructure. He's not Sting's Englishman in New York but rather, Onix' American in China. He oversees procedures, installs safe guards and training and assures that Western-style quality control is successfully implemented. He partakes in the various design process stages from the very beginning and stays on the lookout for discoveries and opportunities. He also OEMs for other manufacturers and leverages his own brand against his growing scale of operations. The outcome of all of these actions are regular container loads of Onix/Rocket goods entering the US only to be unloaded consumer-direct via Mark's on-line store. Solid customer support and active user forums combine to make this approach friendly and non-threatening. More importantly, it becomes a grass-roots ground swell to draw music lovers into the folds who couldn't -- or wouldn't -- justify the usual HighEnd prices. As our own Jeff Day would put it, it's audio for audio everymen and women everywhere.

Holly

I haven't heard anything bad about them except what I said above: "Rolled off top-end", in reviews, and strange online marketing tactics. It is hard to tell because of the latter whether the enthusiasm seen in the past in fora like AVS is due to hidden salesmanship or happy customers, but when those people start harassing others, it becomes transparent. I did see a good review here and there online, but none in the well-known magazines (which I trust a little more). Then again, it is hard to look through back issues of magazines, while you can browse through previous months/years of online reviews.

I would compare them to other speakers in person by bringing them to a Cain & Cain and/or B&W dealer (or insert other choices here). I don't like my music rolled off at the top end personally, but some people think it is warmer that way.

Ultimately, speaker choice is about personal, subjective preference, which is why there is no substitute for direct listening comparisons through the same equipment. Since AV123 is so close to you, you shouldn't have a problem doing this before making a purchase. I think AV123 was sued by B&W awhile back for one of their designs which placed the tweeter outside the cabinet like one of the B&W lines? I thought I read something about their Swan line on Audioholics in one of those crazy threads with all the fighting.

I didn't bother auditioning any Direct Seller speakers because I would have had to order them then send them back if I didn't like them (I had looked at AV123, Axiom, Aperion). I also wanted to buy something that would have resale value for when I upgrade. Also, it didn't make much sense to me to buy $20k worth of HT components then buy speakers over the Internet that would not give me comparable pride of ownership. I admit, I am a peculiar, if not egotistical, fellow... As I'm sure my wife will admit.