Monitor Audio GR60 vs B&W


I am looking to upgrade my speakers pretty soon. I have honed in on the Monitor Audio GR60 and B&W 804, 803, or 704. I have heard the GR60's which seem comparable to the B&W 704 but I have not heard 803's yet. Anyone have experience with the MA's or 803's? I will also likely get the matching center and surrounds at the same time. The application is 70% music/30% HT, Sunfire Ultimate Receiver. Any suggestions or input is greatly appreciated.
maineiac
I agree with Cohn. My point is that it is relatively easy to get the GR 60's
sounding good. They *are* more efficient than B & W's and will take less
amplification to sound good, but if you feed them well, they will respond
to quality components upstream and will sound even better. They will
grow with you for quite awhile.
Thanks for the feedback so far, one other question. How big a difference would bi-wiring make. The dealer where I'm looking at the GR60's doesn't have them bi-wired and claims that since he is using a Sunfire 400W amp, it wouldn't matter. If I'm auditioning, should I want to go ahead and get bi-wires to be able to hear what these things are really all about? Another interesting thing, this dealer has sold two sets of 5 full size GR60s for HT, is this overkill? I was in the store when one guy was picking his set of 5 up.
Depends on your taste, but IMO, that is WAY overkill. Very little comes out of the rear speakers in most movies and the ones that have all the stuff coming out of the rear speakers, only have it coming out every once
in awhile -- and the ones that REALLY use the rear speakers -- Star Wars, etc -- are not the type I watch that often, but even then -- GR 60's
for the rear are more than is necessary, IMO. Get some GR 10's for the
rear -- that's plenty. Whether you subscribe to the notion that you should use a center channel speaker or a full range speaker for your center is up to you -- BUT -- here, I can see the benefit of the higher
quality speaker because almost everything comes out of the center channel during a movie. If you are getting surround for music -- then
that changes everything and then you MAY want to think about full range
speakers in the rear, but I still wouldn't do that. Use the money elsewhere. Like on a Sub-woofer. Bi-wiring doesn't really make that much difference, but make sure you make some nice jumpers -- don't use the cheap things that come with the speakers. Bi-amping is a different story, but I am going to bet you don't want to get into that -- and it is really not necessary in order to get those speakers sounding good.

5.1 SACD's are designed to have all (except the .1) the speakers to be the same.
I expect to be listening to a lot of 5.1 SACD, and I think that is the rationale for the 5 GR60's, but I don't have either the budget nor the space to really consider that as an option.