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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
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.
twl
3,251 posts
 
Cdc, this is a very subjective topic. I have not heard all of the speakers out there, so I am somewhat limited in the statements I can make. In direct comparison, in similar price ranges, to the B&W products, the Linn speaker line was far more open, dynamic, detailed, and natural. During my time at the audio store, I owned Linn speakers and was very happy with them. I had many opportunities to A/B them against alot of competition such as ProAc, Dahlquist, Quad, B&W, Boston Acoustics, ADS, B&O, etc., both mid-fi and high end stuff. While all had their good and bad points, the Linns did everything better in combination than the rest. Of course, nothing(or very little) matches the Quads for midrange at lower volumes. I don't use Linn speakers now, because I have moved to single-driver speakers. I think alot of the advantage that the Linns had over the B&Ws is the Scanspeak tweeter that Linn uses. Very open and detailed. This advantage of the Linns was true at all price points in comparison to the B&Ws. I am sure that many other high end speakers are also capable of exceeding B&W, but I have less experience with them so I'll let someone else talk about that. But, don't get me wrong, I don't think B&Ws are bad speakers. You can just get better for similar money. And if your system is really bright and bass weak, then the B&W might work out by adding a little warmth and smoothing the edges. To each his own.
shubertmaniac
350 posts
 
CDC:
I just heard the Totem Wind. They retrieved more info off the ESQ's Schubert's 14th String Quartet CD, then any other speaker I have heard including my beloved Acoustat 2+2. The soundstage and imaging where right up there with Avalon.
A slight veil and a little dynamic compression, but much better than I expected from such a small box speaker. Hey, they even did a credible job on Nirvana's Teen Spirit. A little pricey for $6500.00, but the fit and finish were first rate. Also, I actually liked the NAD silver series
amp/preamp/cd combo they were played with.

Highly recommended from someone who usually hates box speakers!!!
cdc
1,822 posts
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll put them on my list.
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