B&W at Magnolia in Best Buy

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  • danz1906
    danz1906 Posts: 5,144
    edited January 2011
    skrol wrote: »
    I was in BB Magnolia this afternoon and gave a listen to the CM9's....they are sweet.

    I'm going to listen to the CM9s this evening at my local BB/Magnolia.
    Linn AV5140 fronts
    Linn AV5120 Center
    Linn AV5140 Rears
    M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
    Odyssey Mono-Blocs
    SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
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  • skrol
    skrol Posts: 3,393
    edited January 2011
    Erik Tracy wrote: »
    What else did they have from the B&W lineup?

    They have the 600 series in the store and say that they can order anything from B&W.
    Stan

    Main 2ch:
    Polk LSi15 (DB840 upgrade), Parasound: P/LD-1100, HCA-1000A; Denon: DVD-2910, DRM-800A; Benchmark DAC1, Monster HTS3600-MKII, Grado SR-225i; Technics SL-J2, Parasound PPH-100.

    HT:
    Marantz SR7010, Polk: RTA11TL (RDO198-1, XO and Damping Upgrades), S4, CS250, PSW110 , Marantz UD5005, Pioneer PL-530, Panasonic TC-P42S60

    Other stuff:
    Denon: DRA-835R, AVR-888, DCD-660, DRM-700A, DRR-780; Polk: S8, Monitor 5A, 5B, TSi100, RM7, PSW10 (DXi104 upgrade); Pioneer: CT-6R; Onkyo CP-1046F; Ortofon OM5E, Marantz: PM5004, CD5004, CDR-615; Parasound C/PT-600, HCA-800ii, Sony CDP-650ESD, Technics SA 5070, B&W DM601
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  • Monster Jam
    Monster Jam Posts: 919
    edited January 2011
    Side by Side, Ultimate vs. Best Buy in terms of "high end", Ultimate I think is the winner there - at least in Vegas. And thats with Best Buy carrying B&W.

    Ultimate carries Parasound New Classic amps. That in and of itself separates itself from Best Buy. But on top of that, they carry a variety of high end speaker brands, including Mirage, Jamo, Def Tech Mythos, and Focal.

    And its been my experience tat Ultimate's prices are more competitive lately than BB to boot.
    Do you hear that buzzing noise? :confused:
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  • JuanR
    JuanR Posts: 718
    edited January 2011
    danz1906 wrote: »
    I'm going to listen to the CM9s this evening at my local BB/Magnolia.

    Please post back quality and price on the CM9's. Also, which BB did you go to? What else did they carry?

    Thanks

    Juan
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  • hockeyboy
    hockeyboy Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2011
    I read that B&W built a plant in China and they are made there now. They have personnel on site from the UK to guarantee standards are not changed, but expect to significantly reduce the cost of manufacture.
    My Main Gear
    Mitsu HC5000 (Proj.)
    Marantz SR8001 (AVR)
    Sunfire TGA7200 (AMP)
    Marantz DV7001 (SACD)
    Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray
    LSi 15's (Front)
    LSiC (Center)
    LSiFx (Surrounds)
    DUAL SVS 20-39 CS Plus     (Passive Subs)
    Marantz IS201 I-Pod Dock[/SIZE]
    Panamax M5300EX
    Carada Criterion 106" Brightwhite Screen
    Sunfire TGA 5200 & (4) B&W 605's in the party room
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  • polkfan38
    polkfan38 Posts: 360
    edited January 2011
    The 800s are the only ones still made in England.

    And the Nautulis. (Who would think a crab would sound good?)
    Things are more like they are now than they ever will be!
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  • blueboxer
    blueboxer Posts: 621
    edited January 2011
    JuanR wrote: »
    Please post back quality and price on the CM9's. Also, which BB did you go to? What else did they carry?

    Thanks

    Juan

    I took a listen to the CM9's last night and was overall pleased with them, but not blown away by any means. Finish and style is a 7 with grills, but a 9 without the grills. With the addition of a sub they sound very good and could be a good HT/Music speaker for their price of $1499 each. However, the 805 and 803D were great speakers. The Magnolia in the Mission Valley mall located in San Diego is actually a separately owned store unlike the Magnolias located in most Best Buys, which is owned by BB.

    This Magnolia carried McIntosh, Primare, Arcam, Sonus Faber Cremonas, Martin Logan Spires, etc... just an incredible lineup available for demo. I had went in to speak with one of their consultants about the new diamond series, but as I was walking in I walked past a pair of Spires in front of the entrance and they stopped me dead in my tracks. I had heard the lower end Martin Logans like the Purity, but never their high end stuff. Wow, what a difference, the timing, separation, and overall balance was incredible. I decided to come back to them after listening to the 803D.

    Luckily, in the listening room with the 803D were the Sonus Faber Cremona M and the ML Spires. The first two were setup with McIntosh gear while the ML was setup with Arcam FMJ gear. After listening to all three setups I was definitely most pleased with the ML speakers overall. The Sonus Faber had better separation and sounded great, but they were a little forward and too placement dependent. The 803D were very nice, but the diamond tweeters leaned slightly on the bright side, but the midrange was perfect and the towers really dug deep, much more so than the Sonus Faber. The ML just did everything right IMO. The sweet spot was oh so sweet while drifting out of the sweet zone was a significant decrease in quality, they still sounded really good. The ML had the bass, timing, vocals, and separation in spades!

    I think for a dual purpose setup the B&W's may perform best for that purpose, the Sonus Faber had a very wide sound stage and incredible separation that many would find pleasing, plus they are currently on sale. The nice thing about the Sonus Faber speakers was the lack of such a laser specific sweet spot. Each brand had their own flavor, and all of them were delicious, but I think the ML is the flavor that I could drink all day and night without wanting for something else. Decisions, decisions, decisions...
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,204
    edited January 2011
    What was your Magnolia driving the CM9's with? I went into the one in Princeton NJ and found a Yamaha receiver driving them. No where near the experience I had when I listened to them on Rotel at Overture in DE.

    I have listened to the CM9's a bunch of times now and fell in love each and every time except my experience at Magnolia. They still sounded pretty good but they didn't show off how good they are.

    Honestly I would own the CM9' as my next speaker , I even enjoyed the CM7's as I felt a connection with them. Anyone who wants to experience CM series B&W's needs to look elsewhere , Best Buy just doesn't support them the way they should be. I really hate when good speakers are connected to so so gear. Yamaha makes fine receivers but they don't par well with B&W at all. Not to mention calibration and placement. I don't even want to get into all that as I will get very angry.

    I will say it again , they just need to hire me and let me revamp their showroom and product lines. I would bring in Rotel and set them up correctly , they have some nice room which with some tuning could be made to show them off properly , Thats it I'm telling them to give me a shirt.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • leroyjr1
    leroyjr1 Posts: 8,785
    edited January 2011
    Listened to the CM9's before buying my Mythos setup and I thought for HT they were outstanding. Very clean, clear speaker. Only reason I went with the Mythos is because they were on sale. Never seen a B&w on sale at BB.
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  • blueboxer
    blueboxer Posts: 621
    edited January 2011
    Sorry about the slow reply, I had posted one, but apparently it didn't go through and I just realized it.

    Dan,

    The CM9's were being driven by a Pioneer Elite SC-35, audioquest speaker wires, and setup for stereo use only. The flagship store I was directed to had the CM9's connected to an Arcam AVR-600, but I did not give them another listen due to my main interest being in the 803D based on your input. My previous experience with B&W was with Rotel and McIntosh gear, with my preference being the former of the two. The CM9's running off the receiver definitely did not match that experience and that is probably a factor. If I was running my speakers off of a receiver still, I would keep my Mythos ST. However, different gear would probably yield different preferences.

    The 803 and 805D speakers sounded really good off the Primare gear, very detailed, good stereo imaging, and an outstanding mid range with the ability to go deep with ease. I was impressed. The diamond tweeter did seem to lean towards the bright side, but not much, still a very relaxing and enjoying experience. It just seemed that the Sonus Fabers had better separation and imaging, but were much more forward than the B&W's. Then the ML just really got me, I still cannot get them out of my head.

    I am making a return trip with my Anthem D2 and MCA 50 to see which speakers work best with that potential setup. This Magnolia was a different animal than the others located in BB stores. They definitely took the time to set stuff up correctly and dialed everything in. The rooms were acoustically treated with panels, bass traps, and the Sumiko rep had just finished setting up the Cremonas. Very well done IMO.

    I will think over the pros and cons of each and go from there, the ML seem to have my heart at the moment, but the need to always want to experience that sweet spot may be more of a negative than I think it is over time. I would want the entire room to experience the same sound, especially during gatherings or when watching a movie with friends spread across the couch. I dunno, maybe I should have never walked into that place. lol
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  • john22614
    john22614 Posts: 214
    edited January 2011
    blueboxer,

    I would really appreciate hearing your assessment of how the different speakers perform with you Anthem equipment. I have been running my B&W 804's and HTMS4 with an Anthem MCA 30 and an Outlaw 990 and like the sound a lot. Still, I sometimes wonder how the Anthem MCA's compare to the more expensive amps used at your Magnolia showroom. By the way, in Roseville just outside Sacramento, Magnolia also as the high end show room you describe. However, they have the 804Di's in a separate room bunched together with some other speakers, barely making them noticeable. Not to mention that one of the tweeters has a hole punched in by some kid, and they have yet to replace it. And although the super high end room with the 802 and 803d's, ML's and Faber stuff is laid out very well, the other one with the 804's is done very poorly.
    I had the same thoughts as Dan.....give me an hour and I'll turn it in to a gem.
    B&W 804s mains
    B&W HTM4 center
    Polk PSW 1000 sub
    Outlaw 990 Pre Amp
    Anthem MCA 30 Amp
    Monitor Radius 180 surrounds
    Audiosource Stereo Amp for surrounds
    Denon 2910 Universal DVD/SACD Player
    Comcast DVR
    Pioneer Elite 42" Plasma 940 HD
    Harmony Universal Remote
    Blue Jeans interconnects and biwires
    Itunes Air Express
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  • danz1906
    danz1906 Posts: 5,144
    edited January 2011
    JuanR wrote: »
    Please post back quality and price on the CM9's. Also, which BB did you go to? What else did they carry?

    Thanks

    Juan

    I listened to the CM9s today at the BB/Magnolia in Tinley Park.
    The CM9s were being driven by a Yamaha RX-A3000 receiver and
    the Source was a lower end Denon blu-ray player. The CM9s sounded OK
    at best, but I could tell that they would sound good with better Electronics.

    Having owned several pairs of B&W speakers from the the Matrix series(801,
    803,805 and HTM) Nautilus 804s,805s and HTM2, B&W speakers can be Magical
    with Good Electronics!
    Linn AV5140 fronts
    Linn AV5120 Center
    Linn AV5140 Rears
    M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
    Odyssey Mono-Blocs
    SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
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  • blueboxer
    blueboxer Posts: 621
    edited January 2011
    I do agree that B&W speakers can sound wonderful, I had planned on picking up a Rotel 1095 to drive them if possible. I don't know why the McIntosh/B&W combo never seemed just right to me. I was hoping that the Anthem/B&W would be just as great as the Rotel. I will see if my gear changes my ranking of the ML and B&W. In the meantime, if anyone has personal with the Spires, please let me know. :)
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited January 2011
    blueboxer wrote: »
    I do agree that B&W speakers can sound wonderful, I had planned on picking up a Rotel 1095 to drive them if possible. I don't know why the McIntosh/B&W combo never seemed just right to me. I was hoping that the Anthem/B&W would be just as great as the Rotel. I will see if my gear changes my ranking of the ML and B&W. In the meantime, if anyone has personal with the Spires, please let me know. :)

    I'm finding good synergy with my combo of Musical Fidelity (A5 Int) and B&W CDM 1NTs.

    I would have thought McIntosh paired well with the B&Ws...hmmm...

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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  • blueboxer
    blueboxer Posts: 621
    edited January 2011
    I think it is just personal preference, you would think McIntosh paired with anything would sound great, but for my ears Rotel/B&W always sounded better. I remember during a detail out to El Paso I ran across a shop that carried a lot of great brands and I spent some time in their listening rooms. They had a room with Rotel paired with B&W, Paradigm, and KEF as well as a room with B&W with McIntosh. I always enjoyed the listening experience in the B&W/Rotel room more so than the McIntosh despite a fairly significant difference in costs. I guess I should be thankful my ear prefers different things than most, it might save me some cash in the long run. :)
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  • JuanR
    JuanR Posts: 718
    edited January 2011
    I went to the Tinley Park BB this morning danz1906, and experienced exactly what you did. Too bad they are driving these speakers with that Yamaha Receiver (should have been an amp to make them sing) I definetly am considering these for my next speaker purchase, would love to hear the LSiM's. I currently have the Lsi25's in one of my setups.
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  • danz1906
    danz1906 Posts: 5,144
    edited January 2011
    JuanR wrote: »
    I went to the Tinley Park BB this morning danz1906, and experienced exactly what you did. Too bad they are driving these speakers with that Yamaha Receiver (should have been an amp to make them sing) I definetly am considering these for my next speaker purchase, would love to hear the LSiM's. I currently have the Lsi25's in one of my setups.

    Juan,

    The Little Guys electronics store is just west of the Tinley Park BB.They carry
    B&W speakers. They have the new 804Ds with Marantz Reference series Electronics. They have the CM series also. If you get a chance,go check them
    out!

    http://www.thelittleguys.com/
    Linn AV5140 fronts
    Linn AV5120 Center
    Linn AV5140 Rears
    M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
    Odyssey Mono-Blocs
    SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
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  • B&W802d
    B&W802d Posts: 72
    edited January 2011
    blueboxer wrote: »
    I do agree that B&W speakers can sound wonderful, I had planned on picking up a Rotel 1095 to drive them if possible. I don't know why the McIntosh/B&W combo never seemed just right to me. I was hoping that the Anthem/B&W would be just as great as the Rotel. I will see if my gear changes my ranking of the ML and B&W. In the meantime, if anyone has personal with the Spires, please let me know. :)

    Rotel gear is for the lower end B&W lines like the 600 and CM series imo. If you want to hear the 800 series as they are intended to sound I would pair them up with nothing less than the monoblocks from Classe that I have now. The 802d are some power hungry speakers. For **** and giggles I hooked up some Adcom 565 monos and I'll just say they never stayed in the system for more than a few hours. A few amps that do them justice are the Simaudio W-7M Moon Evolution monoblocks,Krell Evolution 600 Monos,Mccormack DNA 750 monoblocks, and the Pass Labs X600.5 monoblocks (I liked these the best but could not for the life of me spend that much on the pair).

    McIntosh is wayyyyyyy to laid back when paired with B&W. Tried that route and the amps did not last a week before I took them back. Don't get me wrong, the system sounded good but was missing that magic I was looking for.
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  • blueboxer
    blueboxer Posts: 621
    edited January 2011
    For the money, the CM stuff looked great and appeared to have all the right build quality and features. I might just have to take a pair home and demo them with my separates. I think they would sound much nicer with a couple subs paired up with them.
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  • Monster Jam
    Monster Jam Posts: 919
    edited January 2011
    Swung by again last night to show the wife the CMs. You wouldn't be able to audition them even if you wanted to now; I took off the grill and the tweeters were horribly mangled and perforated, presumably by vandals.

    Too bad. Hate to see a case of speaker abuse.
    Do you hear that buzzing noise? :confused:
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  • danz1906
    danz1906 Posts: 5,144
    edited January 2011
    Monster Jam wrote: »
    Swung by again last night to show the wife the CMs. You wouldn't be able to audition them even if you wanted to now; I took off the grill and the tweeters were horribly mangled and perforated, presumably by vandals.

    Too bad. Hate to see a case of speaker abuse.

    When I when to listen to the CM9's one of the Tweeters was pushed-in:mad:
    Linn AV5140 fronts
    Linn AV5120 Center
    Linn AV5140 Rears
    M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
    Odyssey Mono-Blocs
    SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
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