Best Buy - Magnolia Announcement B&W speakers

coolsax

Not sure if any of you have see this yet... It was posted on Best Buy's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bestbuy, but they will start carrying B&W speakers starting in September...

ohskigod

5 more seals to open, then the apocolypse is in full spin

Face

B&W is over rated anyway.

Danny Tse

Face wrote: »

B&W is over rated anyway.

I found their 600 series to be lackluster. However, the B&W DM302 ($250.00/pair when available) was quite spectacular.

Well, those are the only ones I can afford. :rolleyes:

dkg999

I've only heard one pair of B&W's that I thought sounded good, and it wasn't even one of their more expensive models. Just not the sound I like. Seems a lot of people buy them as status symbols, they are pretty proud of the fact they have B&W speakers, but they just don't know why really they own them.

mhardy6647

Face wrote: »

B&W is over rated anyway.

I dunno that they're over rated; they just don't sound very good (to me, at any rate).

Sherardp

I enjoyed the 802D demo I experienced, they sound very nice. Allot more money than I care to spend when I can buy something just as great for a cheaper price. They can indeed be considered a status speaker, but to each their own. I tend to prefer excellent sound, for a cheaper price which is why the RTi12s continue to serve me well, add the cost of shipping to Japan makes me tend to stay put.

obieone

Great. They'll have even more speakers they know nothing about:eek:

JimKellyfan

I like my B & T speakers from polk.
Black and Titanium, that is.

I shall only buy polk for the rest of my life.
Not only that, I will preach the polk gospel, as I really wish I had got up off the dollar to begin with, buying better than the cheapest I could find.
Actually, a friend of mine who was an old 60's hippie at one time, turned baker, he had a set of bookshelf polks that I just could not believe at how good they sounded and how loud he could play them.
I had always wanted polk's from then forward.
It took me way too long before I sought the polk's out.
B & W.
Is that some type a new cigarette ?

sucks2beme

The BB Magnolia showrooms are carrying a limited selection of
Audioquest cables again. I think they are trying to create a more upscale image to fill the gap left when places like Tweeter went under.
Maybe Polk can get them to add the LSI lineup?

Hawkeye

I've never understood the hype on B&W speakers. I was fortunate(?) enough to hear my identical system with the B&W diamonds. The sound literally ran me out of the room. The mids and bass were spot on, no doubt. The diamond tweeters were like ice picks to my ears. Very harsh and abusive. I've never thought a speaker could be abusive, but these were it. The guy demo'ing for me couldn't understand why I didn't like them.

I think B&W has a rep which demands accept this sound as gospel or forever be be consigned to the depths of hell.

I'd rather go to hell!

Gordon

cnh

mhardy6647 wrote: »

I dunno that they're over rated; they just don't sound very good (to me, at any rate).

+1, mhardy...and FACE.

I hear you! And I'm actually getting tired of hearing B&W bookshelves in Asia...they're EVERYWHERE! Never thought much of the sound...especially the highs!

cnh

lasdaguy

The Magnolia at Metro Point, in Costa Mesa, CA has started carrying McIntosh gear, and Audio Quest cables. Gotta say, the MC275 is a hot looking amp.

mhardy6647

Hawkeye wrote: »

I've never understood the hype on B&W speakers... The diamond tweeters were like ice picks to my ears. Very harsh and abusive. I've never thought a speaker could be abusive, but these were it. The guy demo'ing for me couldn't understand why I didn't like them...

Gordon

That aggressiveness is the issue in a nutshell, from my perspective. I don't know for sure about Bowers and Wilkins (to use their full name), but in general that's a feature of speakers designed for flat response across a broad listening area in an anechoic environment. In a real room, things get really hot really fast.

That said, B & W speakers in general are well built and popular speakers, and the brand has certainly stood the test of time, so I won't denigrate them further.

lasdaguy wrote: »

The Magnolia at Metro Point, in Costa Mesa, CA has started carrying McIntosh gear, and Audio Quest cables. Gotta say, the MC275 is a hot looking amp.

Not just hot looking :-) The MC-275 family have always been good amplifiers; the current production version, I'd opine, is a veritable bargain as well (especially given the McIntosh name on the escutcheon).
I could live with an MC-275... indeed, it'd be on my short list if I ever seriously considered a new production amplifier.

Just sayin'...

sucks2beme

I've had the B&W stuff sound good and bad. Some of their lineup
are mainly HT designed. And it shows. I've listened some of their mid-range
speakers with the McIntosh mc-275 and they sound great.
Synergy is a b*tch. Same with any speakers. But what does this move
say about the fate of the small shops?

coolsax

I think it means even B&W realizes they are going to have go to mass market big box stores to get their product out as more and more small shops fold up.

jawhog

I'm interested in a lot of different kinds of music. While I can appreciate well recorded classical or jazz and love to hear this music reproduced on a wonderful system, my primary love is for rough and tumble rock that is typically produced on a low budget.

I was recently passing an AV store I had never been to before and decided to pop in. I told the salesman I was just curious to learn what they carried and look around a bit. He steered me to a set of demo 805 diamonds, not to buy, but they weren't busy so he said let's just listen for fun. They were beautiful and on sale for $3k or $4k, can't remember since it was so ridiculously beyond anything I would ever buy. At the time, I didn't have many cds in my car, but I grabbed Local H's "Pack up the Cats." The cd has a few good gems and a somewhat peculilar mix that has always sounded better in the car than at home (pumped up mid bass and screeching highs). It was unlistenable on the 805s, absolutely bass heavy and piercing treble. The 805s probably just reproduced what's on the recording. When I pleaded to turn it off, the salesman told me that he actually had a $8000 B&W system at home that sounded like crap with most of the music he listens to.

I always dreamed of having some high end audiophile system someday, but as I try more and more speakers I am finding that system synergy and musical preferences have a lot more to do with the end result than I used to think.

mantis

B&W speakers of any level are considered to be some of the very best loudspeakers made. There is a reason why people would be "proud" to own them.

I have Installed B&W speakers for years on end. I will say they make a fantastic product. I feel they can be non forgiving to gear , your room and quality of recording. They have a uncanny flat response that sometimes can be hard to deal with.

On a softer side they can fill a room for theater better then most others made. A full B&W theater is magic. It's dynamic and clear. You feel a sense of realism. Very impressive to say the least.

One of my very favorite under 2k and under 3k speakers are the CM7's and CM9's. Probably one of the very best sounding in those price classes speakers I have ever heard. They invite you in to listen then they grab your attention , after a while you just want to own them. I see myself owning a pair of CM9's in the not so distant future.

Another point as made by Zero is placement. They are fussy like a women , they need tender love and care , once you achieve this you have magic.

cnh

Nice review Dan,

But, unfortunately B&Ws do not do it for me. The flatness is dull and lifeless, the highs are too forward, the mids not smooth enough, etc. And that is true regardless of where or how I've heard them. I keep waiting for them to bowl me over and it never happens. It's not ever like the first time I heard a set of Focal Profiles. Smooth creamy detailed highs, clear musical mids, nice fast not overbearing bass and truly HOLOGRAPHIC sound almost like an SDA?

But enough of me. I've read enough posts here to know I don't like overly detailed-etchy tweeters like the aluminum dome and others used by B&W. Not saying they're a bad speaker. They're not, but they're also NOT for me! There are far better out there for that price IMHO. But it's pretty subjective.

And I can believe that PLACEMENT is a BiXXX with these.

It's all cool....because our ears aren't all the same. I heard some Dynaudios in Japan that were to 'die' for. But IMO they had more detail than you would hear if you were in a jazz club listening to the band 'live'. That's the beef I have with a lot of speakers. Is it supposed to sound like its live or like we're in some super-sterile recording chamber that is, in a way, unnatural sounding?

cnh

Duce

Well, with so few "True" Hifi/Stereo shops around, what are the big companies to do?Unless you go direct like Polk or Kef or CV ,then you are religated to sell your gear to a basement shop.Although, basement shops are are becoming more and more common with high end audio.

POLKHT

I find it funny how B&W's polarize people. Either love them or hate them. I've owned a few pairs of B&W's, DM602 S1, DM602 S3 and the LCR600 S3. I find them to be great speakers.

The best speakers I've listened to date were B&W 802 Diamonds paired with a Ayon intergrated tube amp and CD player.

ViperZ

Face wrote: »

B&W is over rated anyway.

Whatever. I love my B&W CDM HT speakers, and one day will own Nautilus.