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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
ck
101 posts
 
As a very happy owner of N 805's I would like to add a few thoughts to this discussion. B&W speakers have always evoked emotional responses from people who consider themselves "audiophiles". For better or worse everyone seems to have an opinion regarding this brand.

They are and always have been very very fussy concerning the electronics that drive them. Cables too are critical.
I believe that most of their models compete with anything out on the market provided they are driven properly.

Mid-Fi, give me a break!!!
satch
329 posts
 
Just some remarks.... many here say they owned a couple B&W speakers that they didn't like. Why bought them in the first place? Second: I don't feel the number of posts on this board by a single person is of any importance. Third: buying speakers is so easy: listen, and if you'll like them, buy them. And last: BMW means Bayerische Motor Werke, where B&W stands short for Bowers & Wilkins. I don't think B&W tried to copy BMW...
twl
3,251 posts
 
I used to work at an audio shop that sold B&W speakers. They weren't the best and they weren't the worst. In my opinion, they are better than mid-fi, but nowhere near the best. The main problems are tubby bass and blanket-over- the-speaker veiling, obscuring detail. Build quality is superior in all respects, and appearance is very nice. You could do alot worse. But on a sonic scale, they are about a 6 or 7 at best.
asa
662 posts
 
Yes, I understood that you meant midfi-ish. To interpret otherwise, and to think that someone offering an opinion respectfully on a "thing" somehow implies a personal attack on "you" because you possess that thing, is, well, a symptom of bias in interpretation beyong this place (say, on a couch with a psychologist might be more appropriate). Also, to say that its just another opinion and all are entitled to an opinion does not imply that some opinions aren't more true than others. Admittedly, context is important (listening experience and system).

Does anyone know anyone with a top flight tube-gear'd NOS'd system that uses B&W as their preferred reference? The predominant answer might to tell you something about the relative musicality of the B&W line versus others. If you like SS and listen to a variety of music, but tend towards classical, and don't want to keep looking on and on, want to retain reasonable resale and like the comfort of a historically proven brand, then B&W should be listened to - and maybe kept. If you are sensitive to mid to upper band lack of air (enveloping quality not volume, progressively greater as you move down the line) then you may want to look elsewhere. Caveat: I have not heard the Nautilus in sufficient number of systems to comfortably put forth an opinion there.
cdc
1,822 posts
 
Twl, so what is better than B&W? I agreed about the "blanket over the speaker veiling". What speakers can you recommend that are clearer but still play music, not just notes?
I'm always searching, thanks for the help.
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