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

I’m not sure that I would call B&W mid-fi but I’m not a huge fan. I generally want sound over sight and personally I think B&W’s are expensive for the sound they deliver. For the price of a CDM9 NT I would prefer Vandersteen’s 2Ce or Magnepan 1.6’s. BTW neither of those speakers look nearly as good as the CDM and Nautilus B&W’s. That being said I have a friend, with no real hifi sense, whom is dying to get his hand on some Nautilus 804’s. Why because they have Nautilus technology and look cool. After listening to the 804 once (even good stuff can sound bad once) I was not thrilled, and I would take Martin Logan or Magnepan speakers instead. Do I think my friend is wrong. Yes and No. Yes, I think it’s dumb to buy any speaker because of a certain technology it contains (Nautilus or electrostatic for that matter). No, they do sound good, just not $3600 good. No, because he is interested in how they look. I think the CDM and Nautilus series both look really good. While I think ML’s look better they are a bit tall for some taste.

My opinion, the short version: B&W does not have good performance per dollar. B&W’s higher end speakers (CDM and up) are really cool looking. If you are willing to spend the cash B&W can sound really good.

A note about spelling: Spelling skill does not equal intelligence! Typo’s are common place and not everyone will proof read a post before sending it. Second, spelling skill is tied to how your mind processes reading. Not all people read in the same way just like not all people are right handed. I have a masters in engineering from Stanford yet I misspelled several words while typing this post. That’s why I use a spell checker religiously.

Nik, that sums things up kinda nice. But i don't give B&W as much credit as you. Frankly there are not many reasonably priced speakers that are class "A". If you don't know what class "A" is or don't even believe in such a hypothesis, well then what can i say. The French lab, Traingle claims Class "A" for one of their models, $2K. One member says they deliever, vs the Theil 1.6's that fall way short of the mark in the lower bass region. But are the Traingle class "A"??, hard to say. Here's my opinion, nothing more, maybe not even worth 2 cents, the Seas kit called Thor is class "A". That's a reference speaker for the price group under $3K. Now Vandy's 2ce, over B&W, yea that's acceptable. Maggies, no go. ML's, with a big Krell, yes,$$$. But its not for me. B&W's are not class "A", lets leave it at that.

I think everything is relative. If youre worried about the price vs. performance ratio on speakers i.e. B&W you can do what I did, and wait a few years and get a mint used pair at a much lower price. Hey, its the same with cars, would you spend a hundred grand on a Ferrari that gets you from point A to point B When a Chevy or Toyota Will do the same For a lot less. It's all about what the market will bear. Although B&W is expensive the sound quality is what matters. The R&D that goes into the speaker insures the technology will be cutting edge for years to come. Look how long the Matrix 801 has been in class A. And now the silver signature. Yours in audiodom, Poloman.

Asa and Unsound, B&W speakers in general do not mate well with tube amps. Mostly the speakers require a high current amp (not wpc but current) to make them open up and sing. See the Enjoy the music review of the Pass X-250 amp where they feel the high current amp really makes the 803s sing. As always, what sounds right for one does not always sound right to another. I own a pair of 803s and know there are better speakers out there. I also know that I need a very good components and system matching to get the best performance that I am looking for from my system.

Peace.

For my $0.005 I agree that they seem bright and not too involving. I had N802s for a while and was glad to get rid of them (now I know why I got such a good deal on them from the last guy!). For their retail price, they were not good. For the used price, they were ok. I have only auditioned the N801s and N804s with the latter being like the 802s and the former pretty good but at what price? I am basically finished with having my ears strained by B&W. They do look darn good however. Arthur