B&W Owner's Thread - Page 56

No, I am definitely enjoying the ride. As I posted here on this forum before, the purchase is a letdown in some ways because all the fun of the research, demoing, etc. ends! But I know myself well enoough to know that in the throws of said research and demoing my mind gets to racing at night and I find it hard to sleep (and it was...).

To your points about emotional response, that is what I meant when I said I found the 683s to be more engaging and enjoyable and why I am now leaning in that direction - at least for now

Part 1
I thought it was time for me to post a few images of my setup. Heres a small teaser. Unfortunately i dont have bandwidth enough right now to post em all inline so...

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 - Last one

It's all very shiny, new and pretty! Congrats. I can see why you're excited.

dam why couldnt you give me that advice a few months ago (see post #1629). i have honestly spent close to 20K on my setup in the last year. i cant wait for the day when i spend that on 1 speaker and on that day i will be sure to recieve a notice for divorce.

Sexy. You're camera is awesome too. What is it?

SUCCESS!!! Had the guy from the dealer over and we fixed 70% of the problems!!!

So, he came over and started to have a listen, definately my room and positioning is TERRIBLE! But, first, we tried to figure out what's going on with low volume and low bass?

So, we started playing around with Elite settings and to my surprise and emberrasement , for SOME WEIRD reason, my setup was sending anything below 80Hz to a sub, which does NOT exist... now I SWEAR, I made sure sub is off... but I must have been on crack or something when I set it up... We also made sure speakers are Large and all the rest is correct.

That alone improved the sound tremendously! It was A LOT louder, and bass improved 10-fold!

Now, there was this imbalance... the left speaker next to balcony obviously was muffled by the wall, as well as the blinds... so we changed the left level at steps of 0.5dB and set it at +1.5dB! Vollah!

The sound is now GREAT. More details, balanced, louder, more bass, better soundstage, and more upfront.

He then changed some setting on my Motorola PVR by turning off Audio Compression, which improved TV sound quality (I never even know such setting exists).

Then we played with positioning. Moved both speakers away from the back wall, less bass, but cleaner! Then moved the left one over to an angle on the side of the balcony, and we changed the right speaker to be in parellel to it... GREAT. I could do that when I am doing a listening session but it's not practical.

He also suggested that I go over and borrow 2*20' speaker wires so I can move the speakers around to see at which location it sounds best and then based on that, I might re-arrange my sofa/furniture!

He said my receiver is the best of what I have (surprisingly honest salesperson), and the weakest link is #1 positioning, and #2 my DVD/CD player (Pioneer DV-588), and suggested if I can't re-arrange furniture to at least upgrade my DVD player, as my receiver is good enough for now.

He said, subwoofer would be nice, but not a must... but totally suggested two M1s for rear to give me good sorround and said you don't *have to* have center as my fronts are great to create the Centre image!

Thanks again for all your help and I will keep you all posted in what I might do with the positioning.

Any suggestion on rear channel? I am between M1 and XT2, but XT2 is A LOT more money... is it worth it?


Thanks, agreed on the room, but please read above, I think my Receiver is ok for now...

Thanks Tim and Pibbo.
For now I'm pretty happy with it, but the room still has some work left. I'm getting a new couch and table in a few weeks and then i still need to get up a few absorbers and perhaps a diffuser as the room has way to much reflections at the wrong places right now. Then ill be really really happy with it.

As for the camera, its not really shiny anymore, it's a run of the mill Canon 20D. But then, I'm cheating abit on that point as i've worked as a freelance photographer and a technical writer within photography for a few years on the side now. Although lately the home theatre has gotten way more time than the photography.

I wouldn't go surround until you have found a listening position that doesn't have the couch against the wall. I think that if the couch is against the wall, the surrounds would be annoying because they just fire directly into your ears rather than being behind and to the sides.

The deal with Phantom Center (ie, not having a center during movies) is that if you sit directly in between the speakers, this effect works. If you sit off center, dialog will be coming more from the speaker you are closer to and less from the speaker that is further away -- in effect pulling the dialog away from the TV.

I guess more of the same advice, the most difference would be to go with a better listening position and speaker position. The second most difference would be to play with speaker toe-in angle. Once this occurs, I'd try to live with it for a month before thinking about buying new gear (DVD, Surrounds). Especially since HD players are continuing to drop in price. If you upgrade your universal disk player, might as well go with an HD player I would figure.

If you notice that you really crave the dialog to be locked into the screen, grab the center speaker.

If you notice that you really miss the surround effects and your seating arrangement allows for a properly setup surround soundfield, then inquire back here for more options. Depending on your budget, and aesthetic needs there may be varying options.

man, you just hit the nail right on the head..............I'm beggining to realize this, it's sort of like drugs but constructive (haaa).

I'm going through another (almost yearly) iteration of "tweaking" my system- new Monitor Audio speakers, new Pioneer Kuro plasma, NAD T175 processor, Oppo 980H player, etherNET music server. The anticipation of "hearing" and "seeing" the outcome is overwhelming.

Has anyone had a chance to compare the 683 and 684 side-by-side? I cannot as my dealer does not have the 684 - trying another dealer Sat. who does but not sure if they will have the 683...

Right now I am leaning towards a pair of 683s in my LR with a pair of 686s in the nearby FR - very open floor plan so timbre match is important as they'll often both be playing on the Sonos. For about the same price I could put towers (684s) in both rooms, which is what I was considering with the MA RS6. Decisions, decisions....

And lastly has anyone seen the Wenge finish in person for the 600 series? I have seen it on the CMs only and assuming it will be pretty much the same on the 600s but would liek to know before ordering. I've only been able to se the cherry in person on the 600s and it looks okay but not sure I would chose it for our decor.

First, i have not seen the Wenge in person, but I am comfortable with that. I agree with you regarding the Cherry, it was OK.

As for the the 683's vs. the 4's, I am pretty sure the 3's are a nicer speaker even though i haven't heard them - no FST mid, etc. And since I liked the 3 I didn't feel the need to compare.

I have not but keep in mind that the CM line uses real wood veneer while the 600 series uses vinyl. So they probably won't look as good as the CMs... but who knows.

Yes, I was thinking the same but actually the quality of the cherry on the demo 683s I had (for being a vinyl and not real wood veneer) seemed pretty nice. The CM finish meanwhile I found to be disappointing - in fact I thought they were vinyl too and was quite surprised to find out they are real wood venner.

dam, today i got the dreaded "sorry sir your speakers are on back order" call. looks like i wont be listening to these puppies until the end of the month.

Wow, I think the Cm's are a beautiful speaker in all the finishes, in fact it's been commented on by a fair number of women, which one did you look at?
I find the 68 series to be on par with the Revel Concertas for good vinyl finishes.

Hello everyone;

I am looking for a sub to go with a B&W 5.1 setup (CM7 x2, CM1 x2, CMC). I have been hearing that the B&W subs are not all that great, and that it's better to go with a different manufacturer for a sub with these speakers.

I am a newbie to the audiophile arena, so I thought I would reach out and see what recommendations other B&W owners might have on this, or what subs they are running with their B&W's. My preferences are for movie watching (90%), music (10%), and my area space is 12x16.

Thank you in advance for your time and feedback

I'm using an ASW675 with 703's, an HTM7, and CCM65 surrounds, and I'm very happy with it. I have a 17x17 room, and it not only sounds great - it'll shake you out of your chair if necessary.

-Reid

I saw a pair of CM1s and CM7s, both in Wenge; I just did not care for the look of them at all. The very sharp corners detract (as they do on the 600 series) from the overall appearance and give them a cheaper look and feel IMO.

Interesting JN99. Do you require speakers to have curved edges to look high-end? I find the CMs to look very sharp and contemporary.

Anyway, I just got a message from the guy I won the CM1s from. He said he found the port plugs and will include them with the speakers, when they ship, probably tomorrow. Yay! Now I won't have to beg and plead with the local hi-fi shop.

anyone know of any reviews for the new 600 series. i'm stuck waiting on the back order so i'm hoping i can have something to read on them while i wait.

Allthough I do not have B&W's now, I was once a very proud owner of a set of older set of Matrix 801's. Still one of the best pairs of speakers I have heard to this day.

I'll give a +1 to the comment on the quality of the CM7's wood finish. The maple is quite striking. My wife even tolerates them in the bedroom.

the current Absolute Sound

I'm beginning to look for a center speaker and rears for my setup. I currently have a set of 604 S2's and would like for everything to match soudwise and appearance.

I thought I had found a LCR 6, but it looks like that deal has fallen through, though.


suggestions for me please.

TIA,
Tommy

Hi Tommy,

I have the L/R 604 s3 paired with the LCR600 as my center channel for the past 4 years and it works nicely for me.
Try to audition it at a dealer if you can.

..Mark

thanks for the reply......no dealer within a 3 hour drive