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Am I the only one who thinks B&W is mid-fi?

I know that title sounds pretencious. By all means, everyones taste is different and I can grasp that. However, I find B&W loudspeakers to sound extremely Mid-fi ish, designed with sort of a boom and sizzle quality making it not much better than retail quality brands. At price point there is always something better than it, something musical, where the goals of preserving the naturalness and tonal balance of sound is understood. I am getting tired of people buying for the name, not the sound. I find it is letting the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In these times of dying 2 channel, and the ability to buy a complete stereo/home theater at your local blockbuster, all of the brands that should make it don't. Most Hi-fi starts with a retail system and with that type of over-processed, boom and sizzle sound (Boom meaning a spike at 80Hz and sizzle meaning a spike at 10,000Hz). That gives these rising enthuists a false impression of what hi-fi is about. Thus, the people who cater to that falseified sound, those who design audio, forgetting the passion involved with listening, putting aside all love for music just to put a nickle in the pig...Well are doing a good job. Honestly, it is just wrong. Thanks for the read...I feel better. Prehaps I just needed to vent, but I doubt it. Music is a passion of mine, and I don't want to have to battle in 20 yrs to get equipment that sounds like music. Any comments?
mikez
mfkeleher
146 posts
 
There's a lot of great gear out there, I would bet that at any price point one could find a majority of folks prefering another brand to any speaker one might name. Room, associated equipment, and musical preference are all bigger factors than the last few drabs of musical perfection. If you dig your B&W's or your JBL's, God bless you and screw the labels.
xenon101
25 posts
 
Models? What did you listen to? Break-in & electronics make a huge difference. I have no idea what models you listened to, but, I can tell you that I have heard N800's sound good and bad depending upon the electronics, amount of break-in time, and setup. The Nautilus line seems to need at least 200 hours of break-in and the more current the merrier.

My own experience is that Wattage is not as important as the ability to deliver large amounts of current. The change in my system from a 125 W/per channel to a 200 W/per channel had more to do with the new amp's ability to deliver current and it made a great difference. I probably never use more than 10 Watts continuous power at any time, but, you CAN hear the difference with the higher current amp. No compression in the bass or limits in the high-end.

Using Levinson electronics may not be optimal with the Nautilus line and is no guarantee that they were driven correctly. Why not condemn the electronics instead of the speakers? Or, perhaps better yet, condemn the person who setup the system as not understanding the requirements of the speakers - as being terminally "mid-fi"?

Lastly, the difference between speaker sound with my B&W N802's from day one until now is unbelievable. The "honk" & "sizzle" is gone, bass response is greatly improved and the speakers make a large sound stage. B&W will tell you that setup is also important and you must play with the toe-in, etc.

It's easy to setup speakers incorrectly, drive them incorrectly and then blame the speakers. It's a chain and if there is a weak link or incorrect equipment choice, unfortunately, the B&W's will show you that.
nilthepill
842 posts
 
I have to admit that I tend to agree with Mikez. Let me explain. I bought my current system almost 5 years ago. The bug started when I auditioned B&W804 Matrix run with Classe/CAL labs elecrtronics at local high-end shop here in LA. The system sounded real good to me compared to my then Yamaha and Cerwin Wega 'system'. I wanted more bass so I listened to 801 matrix. Even better I thought. I asked salesman to show me some more. And he let me listened to Dunlavy V's run all Classe electronics (higher product line) and I thought ' B&W sounds Hifi' . I bought the V's and Classe electronics. Then the Nautilus series came. I frequent the shop often and Auditioned the 802N's and 801's and 805's with Classe and Rotel Electronics, with Rel storm subwoofers( at different instances) and inspite of myself, I blurted out ' But Mark, this sounds like Hi-fi!!, Could you switch-in the IVA'S With every thing remaining same?" Presto!, The 'hi-end' sound was back. Now I do believe in Synergy and that could be the reason. Remember my auditioning took place in last 5 years in diffrent combinations, different rooms, after gaining lot of listening self training. This is just my opinion!. And is not meant to bash B&W speakers. Honest!( I assure you I am not biased, since I like other brand of speakers and electronics that I have successfully auditioned)
sstark
63 posts
 
I agree. IMHO B&W sound is not very special at all and overpriced. Note I listen almost exclusively to classical music supposedly the domain of the of B&W.
blackie
221 posts
 
What speakers have people picked over the B&Ws? I've done alot of auditioning to very good speakers (Dynaudio, Revel, Audio Physic, Sonus Faber, etc) before choosing the N803s. The B&Ws had the most natural sound to my ears but I will have to second (or third) the fact that they have a long break in time and that they are very critical of the electronics put in front of them. What speakers do you find to be consistantly a better value? From the $450/pr DM601 to the $11K/pr N801 I've found them to be very strong in their respective price points.
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