Auditioned B&W Speakers--Conclusions? - Page 2

Ok, there was quite a few things to reply to and I don't have a lot of time right now so I'll try to address them quickly.

The replacement driver for Carver Ribbons that someone asked about is by Bohlender Graebener (RD-48 for AL-III). I do believe there is also someone out there that is selling OEM Carver ribbons for a similar price. I'd still go with BG because they've eliminated some of the flaws that cause the Carver ribbons to go bad (in some conditions like humid areas relatively quickly). They are supposedly a nearly indentical frequency response either way.

I have had a home theatre setup before. I guess I didn't mention it in this thread since I talked about it elsewhere, but I used the Carvers with an Energy RVS Center channel (when guests were present) and Definitive BP-2 bipolars at the sides of the listening couch front-to-back (BP-2s are much brighter than the AL-IIIs, but using them as surrounds in that manner took the edge off and provided a 'reasonable' match for surround duty. There was no way I could put 4+ AL-IIIs in that room even if I wanted to. I used a Definitive PF-1500 sub for the LFE channel and a Denon receiver (pre-outs went to my outboard amps for the Carvers, obviously, but I powerred the center and surrounds off the Denon). Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the sonic performance of the system for both home theater and music. It wasn't a perfect match, but for movies it was virtually unnoticeable, IMO. Running a DTS surround music disc like Alan Parsons spectacular "On-Air" album, you might notice when the guy walked around the room his character changed somewhat, but it was still a satisfying experience. Most of my music listening is 2-channel CD, though so the system was only a secondary home theatre objective. I used it with a Panasonic 57" HDTV rear-CRT projector.

But I recently (last July) moved to the Youngstown vicininty and a new house and the room I had in mind for home theater has the aforementioned bookcases which make it rather unsuitable for use with the Carvers (can you say eye sore?) So I put the Carvers upstairs in the formal living room/music room (3 comfy recliners in a slight semi-circle facing my Roland Digital Piano/Synth (cherrywood cabinet) with the Carvers on either side of it and the equipement rack on the far left side and Definitive Sub on the far right side (in case I want to play pipe organ pedal notes or something from the Roland or want room-shaking bass for some reason while listening to music (the Carvers don't really need it most of the time, especially now that they're on the 2nd floor with a wood-based floor underneath. Actually, the bass acoustics in that room are far better than the old house. They really sound excellent in the bass department now (old house had them in the family room downstairs on a carpeted concrete floor). I used to use the sub much of the time at the old house to get the levels/feel I wanted and that did affect the tightness of the bass a bit, but could then shake the walls if required. Here, the Carvers have little difficulty shaking the walls all by themselves.

Actually, I could put a drop-down screen upstairs that drops above the piano and put the projector on the table/stand that's between the left and center recliner. Mounting surround speakers in that room might be slightly tricky (it's a bilevel with the stairs behind the listening position, but probably doable. I can't get it completely dark upstairs during the day time, though like I can in the family room, however and then I'd have a family room I didn't know what to do with downstairs. Besides the bookshelf/framing the window (blacked out with dark drapes) downstairs looks perfect for a big 100" screen. The bookshelves just limit my speaker options (without making the room look crappy). There's also a nice natural gas retrofitted outboard fireplace in that room, which might be nice for watching sports with in the winter or something.

I'm not really trying to replicate the Carvers for music, but I do think that tone/timbre should be accurate. Tori's voice should sound like Tori's voice even if it's not quite eerily real presence-wise. I didn't really think that would be a huge problem when I sat down to listen to B&W speakers (remember I originally wanted to hear the NHT Classic 3's--someone has informed me, however that I was looking on the wrong side of Dressler road in Canton, so apparently Audio Corner IS still there; the place I was thinking of that went out of business must have had a different name and I confused them). I say I didn't think it would be a huge problem because even my Alpine car stereo can do a credible job with her voice. It's no Carver AL-III, but at least it doesn't sound like she's just getting over a cold, which is what the 600 series made me think. The 700 series was much better, but her voice still sounded 'off' to me, like it was slightly grainy and too dark sounding. I figured maybe my Carvers were too bright, but then the 800 series reproduced the tone exactly as I expected it to sound in the first place. Believe me, I wish I HAD liked the 600s. The 800s were at least acceptable sounding to me. They were no VonSchweikert, though (the one speaker I originally heard I liked better than the Carvers, but at around $14,000 a pair I think, a little out of my price range at the time. That was a box speaker, however so I don't think they're all flawed like some planar fans tend to think.

Even though I like the 'cool' factor of electrostatics, I've thus far hated the sound of Martin Logan electrostatic speakers, even the high-end ones. It's a little hard to explain, really. The ones they had there (didn't check model designation as after I heard them, I didn't really care) did sound better than 700 series tonally (imaging sucked and has always sucked on Martin Logans I've heard, IMO), but definitely sounded worse to my ears than the 800 series and considering even the 803 was less than the Martin Logans, I had zero interest.

Now when I did preview Magnepan 10 years ago, I loved the sound they produced, but they weren't really dynamic enough for me at the time nor could they output the kind of loud deep bass I used to lust for (only a sub could do that really and subs are hard to match to Magnepan from what I've read).

I haven't listened to a whole lot of stuff for a long time, though so that's why I was pretty much open to suggestions as I haven't kept track of who made what since then and I'm not really looking to ride all over Ohio and Pennsylvania to audition every last speaker known to man. I just want something I can "like" doing music and that can do a really good job with home theater.

As for home theater soundtrack quality, I'm not expecting miracles, but I still want clear dialogue and dynamic presentation. While soundtrack quality varied a lot on my old system, I was sure I was hearing what was there. I tend to think a really good quality speaker should reproduce accurately and therefore be good with all kinds of soundtracks. If the soundtrack sucks, I don't want to have to listen to a colored speaker to make it sound better. A good graphical equalizer in the tape loop would be easier to do than try to find speakers that provide euphonic distortions to badly recorded sound and music.

Ok, my reply wasn't at all quick.... I've been here an hour. Hopefully, that clears most of the questions/discussion issues up on my end.