B&W

miner

Like I said, I haven't looked back - not a regret whatsoever. I did listen to Vienna & Sonus, along with Dynaudio, Wilson, ML, Polk, just to name a few. For what I ended up spending on the B&W (N804 - 1350 ea.; ASW800 - 1250) I am very pleased. We all have are own listening preferences. I listen mostly to classic rock, blues & jazz. For less than $5200 I got my 2 ch system - speakers & electronincs.

LuSh

Never heard a B&W I liked really, detailed but thin...I dunno...it's british. Actually the only other speakers I've been less impressed with were Totem Mani II's. Never understood them.

venomclan

I am Polk-B&W convert. The initial impression after switching to B&W was detail. The music opened up. My wife was startled when she heard a well known cd of hers, she said that she had never heard that passage before.

Polks are great bang for the buck speakers, designed more for HT than music. The LSI's are a great addition. B&W's will let you know how good your equipment is. They also need 200 hours of break-in time to open up. Forget about using a receiver for B&W. You will never hear how they should that way.

Another thing that turned me on to B&W is the finish. Non-audio friends told me that my speakers looked like antique furniture. And sound great also.

I second Sonus Fabre. The Cremonas at $8000/pair are some of the best I have heard with Krell gear.
Venom

Shizelbs

The only time I have seriously listened to any BW was right after I got done listening to a pair of Wilsons. The bass was impressive, and superior to the Wilsons, but the soundstage was not nearly as broad or deep, it was too isolated to the speakers themselves, and they were not as able to articulate the fine details in the music as the Wilsons were. The BWs were being driven by all new Classe electronics. They still were very good, but should not have been the following act to the Wilsons.

VR3

Off topic...

****,
You compared Wilson and JM Lab Utopias?

Shizelbs

Sid,

Never heard any JM before.

VR3

You should definitely add them to your list...

They easily give Wilson a run for their money...

Joey_V

Gonna hear the Wilsons soon.. I'm interested in how good these guys really truly are.

Too bad I'm out of the market anyway.

However, when I listened to the 803S, I found my Vantage to be a magnitude clearer and better. It wasnt until I got the 803D when I began to feel the Vantage have a little competition. Keep in mind, the 803D are $8000. For some reason, BW are just a wee bit too expensive for what you get.

F1nut

Puunda, if you're not getting 3D pin point imaging from your SDA's, then something is wrong with them.

RuSsMaN

Yeah, if SDA is working (and setup) correctly, the 'image' is what they do best.

cmy330go

In my experience (and opinion) I have rarely found B&W to be worth the money.

Last time I was in NYC I got to hear the B&W 800D ($20k/pair) in the Stereo Exchange just north of Houston Street. If memory serves me right they were being power by big McIntosh monoblocks. This was the first time I was able to spend significant time listening to B&W's higher end stuff. I must say that overall I was not that impressed. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying they were at all bad, but they just didn't seem to live up to the price tag.

On the other hand, the same day, just a couple doors down from my hotel was Harvey Electronics in Midtown. There I was able to listen to the Sonus Faber Stradivaris ($40k/pair). They were being powered by Krell Monoblocks, and were absolutely breathtaking. I have a tough time believing that I will ever hear anything better in my life. Now I realize that they were twice the price of the B&Ws, But to MY ears they were worth way more than twice as much. Of the systems I've heard, they are the only ones that would almost fool me into thinking the artist was in the room. They produced the most coherent imaging that I have ever heard. I could go on for days trying to describe the sound, but I still could never do them justice.

I truly felt that the 800Ds compared more closely with the SF Cremona than they did with the Homage series.

Now I realize that these speakers are out of the reach of most the readers here (including me). But the reason I relayed the experience was because I personally have found this to be true of most of the B&W brand. It seems there are many speakers, at a fraction of the price, that can sound just as pleasing.

For any die-hard B&W fans out there....please don't take offense. I'm not saying that they are a bad speaker. It's just that in my experience you can get more for you money elsewhere.

Just my $.02 worth.

Joey_V

All this talk about the Cremona and the Homage series is really getting me to want to listen to these guys... so many speakers, so little time. And cash.

polkatese

I went to check out Amati Anniversario a couple of weeks ago. Given that Stradivari is an awesome TOTL, I'll have no problem stop my quest at Annversario. I wish the Cremona has the same glossy finish as the Homage series.

halo

Joey_V wrote:

Russman... dont know if it was the demo or the what but here is what was powering each speaker.

That is an INSANSE setup on paper.... most definitely. The dealer guy told me to hold onto my seats. I was like.... uhoh... here we go. Then I heard..... so much sibilance and so much overly synthesized vocal reproductions. Dont bash me, just my opinion. I gave it as fair a demo as possible. I listened for about an hour and a half.

Now I know why you didn't get the same impression I did Joey. He had the VR4 jr's hooked up to:

Shanling CD-T100 Tube Cd Player
Rogue Ninety-Nine Preamplifier
Rogue Zeus Amplifier
The VR4 jr Loudspeaker System

Expensive? Yes. Sibilant? Nope - not to me anyway (must be the tube gear)

Joey_V

Peersol....

A completely tubed system... niiice. I would love to give the VR4jr another shot with something like that.

Joey

halo

When you get some time go back to decibel and have them hook up the tubes. I'm surprised that they had all SS when you were there. The head guy seemed to be really into tube gear.

BTW - I also heard the VR-1 Reference Studio Monitor and I was very impressed by them.

Joey_V

The head guy chose the DK amp... it's partially tubed. I figured he knew what he was doing so I didnt interject or anything. I saw the VR1, but I didnt bother listening since it wasnt hooked up.

CaptainMurphy

When i started the thread i put down the wrong model number i ment to put the diamond series one down and miss printed so i thought i would add that. I was wondering why no one seemed to like the ones i put down.