B&W Owner's Thread - Page 421

I have a “different” question for you guys. I love the rosenut finish of the B&Ws and that is what I have. It works ok with our “décor” and oak floors, but now that I am looking for a A/V stand I am having a hard time finding a match. Can anyone recommend some furniture brands that have “rosenut” or “rosenutish” finish that is a match?

Or better yet, for the gifted interior designers here, can you tell me what other furniture color might be a match in this room? Our furniture is all black but that will probably change sometime in the future to something in the brown family. We are also open to mounting the TV on the wall. Side note, I will most likely be getting the HTM2D2 in rosenut sometime in the near future.
Thanks in advance.

One of the site sponsons (I can't remember their name) makes real hardwood AV furniture. I'm sure you could order a stand from them unfinished and have them include some scrap wood that you could use to have your local paint store make a custom stain thats an exact match for what you want.

I am wondering if a black piece will be ok. Considering the TV is black and the speakers have a lot of black, and our furniture is currently black, maybe that is going to be the best way to go?

Try Salamander or Lovan.

I'd look at three options. Really try an match your speaker stain, your floor stain, or black.

Interesting idea - thanks.

Salamander is at the top of my list, especially the "synergy" system. Which "stain" would you recommend? Never heard of Lovan - will look them up.


Do you know any furniture stains that match the b&w diamond rosenut stain?

I wouldn't use a premade stain. If you have some sample wood from the company that makes the stand your getting you can go to a local paint store and they can make a custom stain that's an exact match for your b&w's. Avoid the paint departments at box stores.

*standoutdesigns.com is who i was trying to think of.

From a visual standpoint black or ebony might be the safest/easiest. Matching your speaker or floor stain would look great, but the key word is "matching". If you only get something "close" it may not look good (close but not matching often looks "cluttered", or worse cheap).

Or, as mentioned in another post a custom made stain would be your best bet.

Used set - CM9 x2, CM2, CM1 x2. What would be considered a fair/good used price?

(considering buying, not selling)
Edited by sdg4vfx - 1/5/13 at 5:22pm

Your big B&W's are spectacular.

I may take this off topic a bit but before you worry about furniture, why not work on the room. You have hard wood floors, fairly plain walls, brick from the fireplace. Of course we can't see the back wall but might I suggest a rug to cover up some hard wood, some type of wall treatments that aren't ugly and use materials that might absorb some sound. I am no audio engineer but you have a lot of reflective material. Again, it is not my intent to offend but you have very expensive speakers and probably a hard room to get the best sound results from.

I also noticed the TV is pretty low and I am guessing theceiling is either white or close to it. A darker ceiling can really make the viewing experience improve. Of course that might cause spousal issues.

Just picked up a new B&W 5.1 set, which includes the below listed speakers. Prior to my purchase, I demoed the KEF Q700 and Q900, the B&W 683 and CM9 and the MA RX6. I decided to go with the 683s. Please let me know what you think of this setup or if I should swap any of the speakers out for others. I am open to suggestions and have a few weeks to try these out. I'm not sold on the subwoofer and would be interested in hearing about better (less expensive) options. Thanks.

Fronts: 683s
Center: HTM61
Rears: 686
Receiver: Denon 3312ci (plan on returning the 2113ci I bought earlier this week)

Based on reviews, the HTM61 is pretty bad and AFAIK the 686 speakers aren't efficient and 685s would be a much better buy.

If you liked your setup then by all means keep it though!

Concur. 685s for surrounds and consider either 685 or CMC2 for the center. Again, if you like it keep it.

Yeah. I wasn't sold on the 686s, the sub or the center channel. They sounded pretty good in the store, but I was looking at getting dipoles for the rear or the 685s. Do you have a better subwoofer recommendation? Also, in the store the HTM61 sounded better than the CMC. They didn't have a CMC2 to audition. The CMC2 is also considerably more expensive.

Don't know what sub you have but B&W makes good subs, just over priced. I am a fan of sealed subs but not really up on the ID options, what is your split on music and movies? That might help others who are more up on those to recommend.

60% of original price.

Thanks.

I got the ASW610. Thoughts?

CMC's design isn't good as well which is why people suggest CMC2 even though you might not need the extra power.

As for the subwoofer, I honestly didn't get to hear B&W woofers, but when it comes to price to performance ratio, I highly doubt it can be better than SVS, HSU or other internet brand companies that are very popular on these forums, I suggest asking in the subwoofer forum you'll get much better replies there if you mentioned your price range.

From what I know the ASW610 is very good for music but a bit lacking for HT unless your room is small. As noted, there are several Internet direct brands that provide better value but again, the 610 is still a good sub.

A few weeks back we picked up some CM9s. So far Ive just basically wired them up and have not ran audyessey yet as I am waiting on some cm1s to arrive. They dont sound anything like in the store. In fact the polk rti10s they replaced sounded better. Will they get better with time? Is there a proper time frame or technique for breaking them in? They are being powered by a Marantz 6007/Emo xpa5 combo. I listened to them using the same receiver in the store. They were not hooked up to an amp but he said they were bi amped, which had to be passively since they didnt have them hooked up to any amps. I listened to these on the open floor not in a sound room.
Thanks for any help.

I realize this is a subjective question and everyone has different taste and room/furniture considerations , but for the CM series (CM8 and CMC2) , should i go for black piano gloss, or rosenut? Based on youtube videos, internet pictures etc... the piano finish seems more common/popular. The speakers will go in a dark theater/media room. I think either finish would work as I have a burgundy leather couch and rosenut coloured picture frame hanging above it. My AV stand below my projection screen is glass with gloss black posts, and my sub is piano gloss. I am leaning toward piano gloss, any opinions or comments would be welcome. I have some other contemporary furniture in the room, and I think the black may be a bit more future proof. It will go with any furniture and will never go out of style.

Piano gloss should fit with more variations of room and, by extension, be easier to sell later.

After i got my black piano, i started looking, and possibly regretting not going with the veneer. But like many have said, black gloss is very classy and will go withn aything no matter what furniture changes the wife wants to make in the future.

A lot of companies, especially all ID companies, charge $1500-$2000/ pr for piano high gloss finish, which takes considerably more time & labor. For example, Salk charges $2K/pr for piano gloss on most of their speakers.

One example for B&M, the KEF 207/2 dealer cost is $10,000/pr, but the piano gloss finish is $11,000/pr, although MSRP for both finishes is $20,000/pr.

I have a cheaper tech craft with my rosenut 805 S's which is similar to this one
http://www.amazon.com/Techcraft-PAL50-50-Inch-Equipment-Walnut/dp/B003ICXEGY
It is not a perfect match but at a quick glance its pretty close, there's a bit more redishness in the rosenut B&W

I think the one I have was the model replaced by the one linked, I got a good deal at HHgreg for it. The feet on mine don't flair. Although at this price we aren't talking about a US handmade hardwood product I am happy with it. Shelves have air vents, good cable management, classy style close enough to a finish match for us.

So I returned my ASW610 and I'm going with two SVS PB-1000s to pair with my 683s (which I am enjoying so far). I also am running a CMC center speaker as the store I got my speaker package from was out of the CMC2. I have not noticed any problems or tonal imbalances with the pairing of the 683s with the CMC instead of the HTM61 (which I demoed, but didn't bring home as it was sold out) or the CMC2, but perhaps my ears can't notice it as I haven't compared it to the CMC2.

I know most people on here recommend the CMC2 and the reviews for the CMC and HTM61 are not as good, but will I have a problem pairing the CMC with the 683s?

Also, I'm considering swapping out my 686s (which I'm using for surrounds in my 5.1 setup) for 685s. Will I notice a major difference if I'm only using them as surround speakers and not as fronts or main speakers in a stereo setup? Thanks.

Just joined the B&W family last evening. Picked up DM603S2 fronts(2), DM601S2 surrounds(2) and an LCR6S2 center. All were in near mint condition with boxes all packing material, accessories and manuals.

Very pleased with the quality of sound thus far. I calibrated the system at lunch today while the house was quiet and tonight we'll see how they really sound.

Welcome to the fam, Cainman.
Edited by VicTorious1 - 1/9/13 at 8:47am