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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
goatwuss
877 posts
 
Any speaker will sound like mid-fi if it's setup wrong. The better B&Ws, when setup right, are definitely hi-fi.

Whether or not they are the right speaker for "person X" is another topic.
ct0517's avatar
ct0517
2,041 posts
 
Hilarious but that is what the internet is for.

B&W spends more on research and development than alot of other companies do on total sales.

All 800 series products always have been and still are reference quality - studio quality speakers.

Don't like the idea that a company makes lower lines to fill niches?

Regardless of the model level all B&W speakers demand the best in electronics driving them in their respective price category. From folks I have talked to this has been the biggest reason they switched. Their gear was not up to par to get the most out of them.

If you choose to hook yours up to your kit and it doesnt crank your chain you should be happy that you could probably sell them for what you paid if you bought used based on the kind of company B&W is - their history, reputation and quality.
weseixas
519 posts
 
Agree i wouldn't consider B&W mid-Fi .....
loomisjohnson
1,961 posts
 
b&w is certainly a polarizing proposition--unlike, say, psb or vandersteen, which everyone seems to like, people either love b&w or think they're overpriced/overrated. to my skewed ears, the curious thing about b&w is that some of their lower-priced offerings often sound better than their totl nautilus stuff. i auditoned the 804s (which i think cost $9k) against much cheaper magnepans and theils and didn't think the b&ws were in the same sonic league. on the other hand, i thought their $1k 683/684s were a really nice, well-balanced floorstander and a great value. again, purely my opinion and no disrespect to b&w's many fans.
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,081 posts
 
I can see why many listeners would love them, and why others like myself would be less enthusiastic. It is all in the individual ears of the listener. I find them to sound kind of dry, but I do believe that they make a quality product, just not for me.
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