B&W Owner's Thread - Page 111

Originally Posted by Wampy1234

I'm making the jump to B&W in about 2 weeks when the 2309 finally arrives in Perth, Western Australia, getting the following:

685 Mains
686 Rears
HTM62 Center
Energy ESW-V8 Sub
Denon 2309 AVR

Will be getting hooked up to my:

Sharp Aquos LC-46PD7X LCD
PS3
HTPC

Should sound sweet

Originally Posted by Wampy1234

Out of Interest, is the Denon 2309 undercutting my speakers in any way or should it provide ample power to get the best out of them? Only new in the HT game

Originally Posted by daddyyankee

I just picked up a pair of B&W 685's from Ken Cranes. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to remove the black and red plastic caps that cover the metal binding posts. I am not able to connect my banana plug speaker cables without removing these caps. Are these caps designed to be removed? What is a safe way of prying them off without damaging the binding posts?

Thanks !!!

Originally Posted by Bigred7078

honestly i'd say your fine with the 2309 if you have normal listening level...
now of course an amp never hurts

Originally Posted by Wampy1234

Cool thanks, out of interest.. the genereal impression i've been getting from reading some posts in the 1909 & 2309 threads is that an amp requires that you're reciever have pre-outs, is that correct? because I don't think the 2309 has pre-outs.

Originally Posted by Bigred7078

yup you definately need pre-outs to use an external amp. If you ever feel like you would want to use a seperate amp, then i would step up to a higher model. Its just kind of how you feel they perform.

Originally Posted by wgriel

Yes! Just take a butter knife or a thin screw driver and pry the plastic cap loose - it will be easy to remove then. I think they are there for some safety reason (they resemble an electric plug in some part of Europe or the UK, or so I've heard).

Originally Posted by JacobC1983

does anybody here use an onkyo 805 (in the preamp mode the receiver is capable of) and an external amplifier for the 683s.. or any variation thereof.. (such as using a receiver to an external amplifier) and find the 683s really singing.. or is there not much of a difference with these particular speakers?

Originally Posted by fhsun

Made the plunge over the weekend! Thanks to the consultation from everyone in this forum, I went out and got the following:

683 front
HTM61 center
M-1 surround
ASW610

Doing my best to break in the speakers right now

Oh, BTW... I also picked up a Rotel RMB-1075 120W x 5 amp!

This was an unexpected purchase but I couldn't resist because the shop is blowing out current year Rotel stuff at 25% off to make way for the 2009 models.


Nice setup. Did you get a chance to listen to the CM series? Anyway check out Emotiva, they're coming out with a new pre-pro at a reasonable price.

Originally Posted by mikefl52

Congratulations on the new equipment.

This is a tough question without any price guidelines since seperates can quickly get expensive.

Features you probably need in a modern pre/pro are:
HDMI1.3 (at least 4) inputs
Good video scalar
On-board processing for modern codecs (TruHD, TDS HDMA) since I am sure if you don't already have a bluray player, now that the bug has caught you you will want one.
Room Correction (Audyssey or Anthem ARC) significantly improves the HT experience
8 ch analog inputs

Look at the Integra DTC9.8, it is pretty much up to date video and audio wise at a reasonable price. You might be able to get it reduced since they are upgrading it to a 9.9 model.

I have Anthem and think it is excellent. They are updating all there line (AVM50 and D2) in the very near future. This may be out of your price range though

Classe SSP800 is beautiful and owned by B&W but is also quite expensive.

I know you said don't mention Rotel but they are coming out with a new pre/pro.

It is really tough at the moment since in the separates market every one is busy developing HDMI 1.3B compatable pre/pros. Six months down the road everything might be in place but at the moment there are not too many pre/pros that are compatable with today's technology requirements.

My last comment is to look at a company that supports their equipment with downloadable upgrades. Modern pre/pros are basically computers with DSP chips and video processing chips so it is possible for companies to support upgrades with downloads, rather than making you buy a new processor. Being computers they also come with bugs so get used to making changes.

I am sure there are others that people have preferences for. Also have a look on the AMP/Receivers/ProPro forum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=90

Good Luck - How about a photo when it is all set up.

Originally Posted by daddyyankee

Thanks! They are sticky little buggers, but it's good to know that I don't have to swap out by banana plugs for spades.

Originally Posted by Spylake

On the CM7 I used an allan key to push them out from behind.

Originally Posted by altanpsx

I have a 683's, 686's and htm61. Until, a week ago, I drive them with Yamaha Rx-v663. 663 cinema performance is great, but stereo performance is very very bad. So a week ago I bought an Roksan Kandy MKII integrated amp. and Roksan Kandy MKIII cdp. Difference is amazing. Drive 683's with a stereo amp. and see what these babes can do.

Originally Posted by Emig5m

. Now I'm wondering if the new Emotiva Pre/Pro will outdo the Yamaha in 2-channel stereo sound quality?

Originally Posted by Tybal

Could someone please describe the difference between the diamond tweeter and the low end aluminum one. I'd love to hear it described. --thank you.

Originally Posted by Tybal

Whoops, a quick search tells me why. Very good. But I would still like to hear from B&W owners their opinions.

Originally Posted by Emig5m

I just got a B&W 800 series DVD in the mail and it said the technical difference is that the breakup frequency is much higher which makes the sound/response curve more accurate as you raise the breakup frequency. So the reason why the tweeter extends much higher then the human hearing is to raise the breakup frequency and not so much just to say it will play that high. They said out off the materials they looked at that diamond was the best to extend the breakup frequency from 33,000 all the way up to 70,000Hz or so making it much closer to the perfect response curve of a perfect tweeter at the ranges of human hearing then the aluminum which they pronounce and spell it aluminium in the DVD, heh. So technical reason is that it's suppose to be more accurate and less coloration according to the B&W 800 series DVD.

Originally Posted by Wampy1234

I'm having an issue with my new setup where at volume levels arround -4.0db or higher that I get an audio crack or pop at specific points in some movies, if I lower the speaker volume a little then it doesn't make the noise but It's seems odd that I'd get this noise at what I think should be a completely acceptable volume level for my setup, the movies it happened on had a DTS audio track and a DTS HD MA track.

I'm running a Denon 2309 currently only in a 2.1 setup with B&W 685 mains & an energy ESW-V8 sub, any idea's? I'm temporarily using speakers that were floor stock at the retailer as new ones weren't in stock yet, so the speakers are atleast broken in.

Any idea's, could this be a speaker fault?

Edit: Just tested one of the problem scene's and it actually was happening as low as -7.0db and when adjusted to -8.0db the pop noise went away.

Originally Posted by Wampy1234

I'm having an issue with my new setup where at volume levels arround -4.0db or higher that I get an audio crack or pop at specific points in some movies, if I lower the speaker volume a little then it doesn't make the noise but It's seems odd that I'd get this noise at what I think should be a completely acceptable volume level for my setup, the movies it happened on had a DTS audio track and a DTS HD MA track.

I'm running a Denon 2309 currently only in a 2.1 setup with B&W 685 mains & an energy ESW-V8 sub, any idea's? I'm temporarily using speakers that were floor stock at the retailer as new ones weren't in stock yet, so the speakers are atleast broken in.

Any idea's, could this be a speaker fault?

Edit: Just tested one of the problem scene's and it actually was happening as low as -7.0db and when adjusted to -8.0db the pop noise went away.

Update: Turned off the sub and the audio pop wen't away even while testing at very high volume, will play with the sub settings to see what I can do to elimate the problem, could someone recommend me settings on phase and Low pass filter?? - also i've set my speakers to small in the AVR settings.

Originally Posted by Spylake

Take a look at this thread as it explains the DTS Bomb:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008620

Originally Posted by DiabloSandwich

Hi,
Please could anyone give me some information and advice on an impending B&W speaker purchase for my home cinema?

I am looking to upgrade the speakers in my system to some B&W 600 series ones.

On my reciever,I set the speakers to "small",crossovers at 120hz,and let my sub handle everything under that.

Would getting a a pair of 684 floorstanders give me anything performance/sound quality wise over a pair of 685 stand mounters on good quality fillable stands (probabaly Partington Dreadnaught Broadside stands)?

Going the 685+stands route is slightly cheaper,but not much.I would like to read your opinions

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.