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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
spluta
58 posts
 
It funny you asked that question.
I am looking to upgrade speakers. I have middle
of pack Infinity's they have done a great job
for price point but im looking to get to next level.
I specifically had four speaker brands in mind
before i heard the B&W'S now i have three. Revel,
Martin logan and Infinity MTS series.
I recently had a chance to listen to the 801's
they were being driven by a Macintosh something
i was told about 200wpc. The first thing i noticed
was a Velodyne sub parked between them so i asked
the salesman to turn off sub and re-direct all bass
to 801's. I was shocked how they sounded. The only
thing that stands out in my mind was a haze that seemed
to cover music and a real lack of low end. It took me
a total of about 60 seconds to take these of my short
list. VERY DISSAPOINTING. I will say that the room
was not ideal and I would guess my Bel Canto EVO6 would
do a much better job of driving them but there was just
nothing that appealed to me about them. Sorry i dont
mean to flame anyone who has purchased B&W's just my
opinion.
loose
239 posts
 
Without a doubt, B&W speakers are FAR from top notch sound.

I have been on the lookout for a new set of speakers to replace my NHT 2.5i's (which sound pretty darned good, but somewhat sterile) I'm replacing them b/c my current room is actually too small for them (they need room to breathe).

Listened to B&W's (804's, I think) with a variety of amps (bryston 4bst, musical fidelity (not sure which), anthem). While I was certainly able to distinguish sonic attributes amongst the amps, the speakers were very, VERY disappointing. Sure, they are able to set up a semi - 3d soundstage, but overall the sound was flat, lacklustre and veiled. These speakers lacked in dynamics and overall performance left me wondering why anyone would spend so much money on the B&W line.

Maybe it's just my taste (which I admit is very likely). But in my opinion, I can find much MUCH better sound at a fraction of the cost.

And no, I'm not new to the audio game. I've been fiddling with this stuff for 17 years, so I do know what I'm looking for.
aball
2,018 posts
 
Cdc - first off I had a Krell KSA100 with 250p and just got tired of the sound. I then had a Classe CA100 for a while, tried a bunch of borrowed amps, ended up getting McIntosh 7100 and 712 from acquaintances which I really like and the B&W sounded pretty decent - they do change with components so maybe I just never got the right ones for it. Then I got rid of the B&Ws and got Paradigm Reference 100.2 for a sweet deal new and am very satisfied. For the price they are downright amazing. Sold the 802s locally for the same as what I paid. CD was always the same - Sony ES 5-disc. Arthur
cdc
1,852 posts
 
Spluta, that was my point about B&W revealing the source. I went right from my listening room (N804 / Musical Fidelity) to the dealer who had N802 and McIntosh. McIntosh threw a big veil over the sound. Some people like this.
Aball, Krell could be tiring. I heard Classe on Revels F30 then deasler switched to Musical Fidelity / M20. Lost a lot of high frequency energy. Maybe that is better.
Paradigm is great for the money.
spluta
58 posts
 
Cdc..

I definetly was not impressed with Mc and 801 sound.
My expectations were very high for 801 and i was really
dissapointed. I looked for pwr conditioner.. They did have one hooked up. So i couldent blame that. If i get the chance
i will listen closely to B&W's with some different amps.

I also had a much different take on the F30's and M20's. With different amps. The F30's were paired with Proceed amp and pre. The M20's were paired with Rotel gear (yeah i know).

I was really impressed with both especially bass and midrange on F30's. But the M20's really stood out as much better than I expected. Especially with the gear that was running them. Overall i would rate them both very high on my list. Im very confident my amplification could really get them where i want to go.

I do understand the effect's different gear can have on
any good speakers. I always try to take that into consideration.

I will check out Paradigm's also...

Thanks,

Steve
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