[AbMagFab]

I've been trying to decide on a set of speakers. Unfortunately I can't easily listen to the Axiom's, but I can get more for my money there.


I'm planning to get an SVS PB-13 Ultra as my sub. And I can't listen to anything with this sub, so it's making this even more difficult.


Any advice/opinions on even what to pair?


- The B&W 600's and 700's seem good, but do I want the floor standing, or bookshelf (given the PB-13)?


- The Paradigm Studio 100 set also looks nice, but would the 80's be better with the PB-13?


- The Axiom's overall seem nice, and get great reviews, but I hear they are a little bright overall. But the price is like half of the others. I know I can try them out, or find a person somewhere, but that's just a pain...


I currently have a little Paradigm Cinema 7.1 setup, and it sounds okay, but I want to do an upgrade.


Any advice? Is there another brand I should be considering?

Thanks!

-Mark

 

[6SpeedTA95]

I think the Studio 60s are a better deal for the money.


I think the B&W 703/704 would be the best sounding out of your list. Thats my personal opinion.



edit: If you're interested in going ID, consider av123 and swan. You can get swan from www.theaudioinsider.com and www.ozhometheater.com . I hear OZ is great but I have been unable to get a response from anyone there. Which is very discouraging. But I did purchase some Swans from Jon Lane at theaudioinsider.com. These are pretty fantastic speakers especially for the money. I put them on par with the paradigm studio series or a little better, overall sound is better IMO. Although I am a bit disappointed with the imaging of the speakers it is pretty good and my room layout is really pretty crappy for good imaging so I imagine that has something to do with it. Compared with the paradigms though I think the paradigms sound better at low volumes. By low I mean anything less than -35ish on my particular reciever. The paradigm's have a brighter sound which at lower volumes tends to help bring out some details that may get slightly recessed. At normal volumes and moderate to high volumes the Swans are substantially easier on the ears, more natural and very accurate.

 

[KY Colonel]

Only thing that different between floorstanding and mini-monitor is the bass extenstion, roll off and where you set your speakers to large or small in the speaker set up in your receiver. I prefer monitors since they disappear in the soundstage better. Floorstanders have more bottom bandwidth. Remember the mid-range and mid-bass punch are the most important aspects of your L&R speakers. The SVS sub will take care of the bass.


B&W has a better pedigree than the other two you have mentioned. I have not heard Axiom speakers but they get a great punch per buck in this forum. I feel they may be too bright for my taste do to the hard dome tweeter and metal woofers.


Paradigm make good speakers but in the last years have been designing more expensive lines to compete in the audiophile market. Their studio line is probably the best performance per dollar on any speaker.


Vienna Acoustics are very warm speakers and popular do to the WAF. You can't go wrong with the Haydn monitors and the Maestro center. Waltz's make great musical surrounds. My local Best Buy has them in their Magnolia Audio division.


Mirage OMD-15 is a nice fullrange omnipole style speaker, nice in rosewood. OMD-c1 center and OMD-5 surrounds works great. Also at Best Buy.


LSA Group makes a beautiful monitor and floorstanding speaker but is ID. I bought these over a used pair of B&W 805's. Check their site, they are chinese made in the Von Schweigert factory.

 

[AbMagFab]



Quote:
Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95 /forum/post/12939910


I think the B&W 703/704 would be the best sounding out of your list. Thats my personal opinion.

Even with the PB-13 sub, or would you recommend the 705's?

Quote:
Originally Posted by KY Colonel /forum/post/12940230


Only thing that different between floorstanding and mini-monitor is the bass extenstion, roll off and where you set your speakers to large or small in the speaker set up in your receiver. I prefer monitors since they disappear in the soundstage better. Floorstanders have more bottom bandwidth. Remember the mid-range and mid-bass punch are the most important aspects of your L&R speakers. The SVS sub will take care of the bass.

So are you saying, for the B&W's, I should go with the 705, or the 704, if I have the PB-13?

 

[KY Colonel]

I would definitely go for the 705 first over all the others, B&W for the quality and resale value and the 705 for mini-monitor. Monitor is a personal preference. If you like to Rrrrrock! you may want the 704 or the 703. Any of these choices will be great with the PB-13. It's all in the set up and calibration.

 

[Mr. Brownstone]



Quote:
Originally Posted by AbMagFab /forum/post/12940296


Even with the PB-13 sub, or would you recommend the 705's?

For music, integrating satellites with a sub can be tricky and continuous. I prefer floor-standers, which are more "homogenous."

Quote:
Originally Posted by AbMagFab /forum/post/12940296


So are you saying, for the B&W's, I should go with the 705, or the 704, if I have the PB-13?

For what it's worth, I own 703s (fronts) and 705s (surrounds), and I'd choose the 703s for the main channels any ol' day. Cost is a big issue, though, as floor-standers are more expensive. On the other hand, consider that 705s would require proper heavyweight stands (additional expense) and, on those stands, the 705's real-word footprint and space consumption are the same as for a 703 or 704.

 

[6SpeedTA95]



Quote:
Originally Posted by AbMagFab /forum/post/12940296


Even with the PB-13 sub, or would you recommend the 705's?




So are you saying, for the B&W's, I should go with the 705, or the 704, if I have the PB-13?

The 705 is an excellent speaker. Do you plan on crossing them out at 75 or 80hz?


Assuming you have the room in the budget you might serious consider the 704s. Personally I prefer a speaker with a dedicated midrange, this becomes particularly important at moderate and higher volumes. Having said that the 705 is a fantastic speaker that doesn't suffer from many problems you find on other speakers that lack seperate drivers for the bass/mids.



If you can swing the 704s that might be your best bet. They are a great sounding speaker and with the pb13 I dont really see the need for you to step up to the 703's with the dual bass drivers.


Also what are you going to use these for? 50% movies/50% music? or what?

 

[6SpeedTA95]

Also AbMag, how is your SVS sub? any issues? how's their service? SVS is on my short list of potential subwoofers, I'm looking at the PB12 for my system.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Of the three the Studio 100 or Studio 60's (v.4) and the CC-690 center would be the best sonically IMHO. The B&W's have not impressed me lately. Very dry and pinched dynamically. Not a lot of imaging either.


I have the Studio 100's and I'm still impressed with them after a few months. Piano music is spectacular and the Dave Matthews Live Blu-ray with its 24 bit TrueHD track is jaw droppingly realistic!!!


The CC-690, my next purchase, is a beast and needs two speaker stands for stability, but is extremely clear and clean and integrates well with the rest of the package (that's a rare thing in a horizontal center speaker). It's as big as a Studio 60 on its side!

 

[6SpeedTA95]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman /forum/post/12940701


Of the three the Studio 100 or Studio 60's (v.4) and the CC-690 center would be the best sonically IMHO. The B&W's have not impressed me lately. Very dry and pinched dynamically. Not a lot of imaging either.


I have the Studio 100's and I'm still impressed with them after a few months. Piano music is spectacular and the Dave Matthews Live Blu-ray with its 24 bit TrueHD track is jaw droppingly realistic!!!


The CC-690, my next purchase, is a beast and needs two speaker stands for stability, but is extremely clear and clean and integrates well with the rest of the package (that's a rare thing in a horizontal center speaker). It's as big as a Studio 60 on its side!

Interesting, I'd have to ask have you heard the 700 series and not the 600 series? Big difference between them IMO.

 

[Dan Hitchman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95 /forum/post/12940884


Interesting, I'd have to ask have you heard the 700 series and not the 600 series? Big difference between them IMO.

I went right down the line including the big 800 Series. This was using the same music I used to listen to the Paradigm speakers just a few hours earlier.


The 800's are impressive, but uber expensive, so they were right off my list. Why would I want to have to spend $$$$$$ to get sound reproduction that I like?


Dan

 

[6SpeedTA95]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman /forum/post/12941378


I went right down the line including the big 800 Series. This was using the same music I used to listen to the Paradigm speakers just a few hours earlier.


The 800's are impressive, but uber expensive, so they were right off my list. Why would I want to have to spend $$$$$$ to get sound reproduction that I like?


Dan

Yeah the 800s are just sick!



I found the 700 series to be fantastic for the money, makes me wonder a little about the differences you may have heard...or maybe your ears just prefer the paradigms and mine the 700s

 

[AbMagFab]



Quote:
Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95 /forum/post/12940631


The 705 is an excellent speaker. Do you plan on crossing them out at 75 or 80hz?


Assuming you have the room in the budget you might serious consider the 704s. Personally I prefer a speaker with a dedicated midrange, this becomes particularly important at moderate and higher volumes. Having said that the 705 is a fantastic speaker that doesn't suffer from many problems you find on other speakers that lack seperate drivers for the bass/mids.



If you can swing the 704s that might be your best bet. They are a great sounding speaker and with the pb13 I dont really see the need for you to step up to the 703's with the dual bass drivers.


Also what are you going to use these for? 50% movies/50% music? or what?

I can probably make some room in the budget if they sound better (depends how much room in the budget, of course!). If I can detect a sound difference, I'll probably do the 704s (especially since it sounds like the 705s can't be wall mounted anyway).


Can the surrounds/center be wall mounted?


I'm probably more like 75% movies & TV/25% music (pop and classical).

 

[AbMagFab]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman /forum/post/12940701


Of the three the Studio 100 or Studio 60's (v.4) and the CC-690 center would be the best sonically IMHO. The B&W's have not impressed me lately. Very dry and pinched dynamically. Not a lot of imaging either.


I have the Studio 100's and I'm still impressed with them after a few months. Piano music is spectacular and the Dave Matthews Live Blu-ray with its 24 bit TrueHD track is jaw droppingly realistic!!!


The CC-690, my next purchase, is a beast and needs two speaker stands for stability, but is extremely clear and clean and integrates well with the rest of the package (that's a rare thing in a horizontal center speaker). It's as big as a Studio 60 on its side!

I wish I could audition both in the same place. Unfortunately the closest Paradigm dealer is like an hour away (I live in MD). B&W dealers are all over near me.

 

[AbMagFab]

Crap... Just went and listened, and I really liked the 803D and HTM2D. Crystal clear sound, full, everything...


I listened to the 804S's, and they sounded a little hollow. I think the guy said AVS forum people pushed in the tweaters? Weird...


Anyway, am I crazy, or do the 803D's sound amazing?


And, what should I expect to pay for the 803D's and HTM2D?


And finally, are they worth it, or is there something else I should be looking at?


Thanks!

-Mark


(Edit: meant 803D)

 

[KY Colonel]

It hard to say whether it's worth the price increase going up to the 800 series. My opinion is yes and I base this upon having a basement full of old equipment, mainly speakers. I'm a consultant and working next door to Barney Miller in Lexington KY, a big B&W dealer in KY. After the post I take a break and walk into Barney and listen to the speakers. I believe there's some synchronicity because I heard the 803D,s through the Classe Omega Mono Blocks. Outstanding! The speakers are so transparent I could hear the grain in the generic speaker cables (I wish they would use Cardas or another audiophile cable). I also listened to the 805s which was outstanding. I noticed they faired much better with classical music, the soundscape was huge and soundstage was very large and even through out the bandwidth. The down side I felt they lacked mid-range warmth that I liked in the Harbeth, LSA and MM de Capo speakers. I always test the mid-range with a female alto voice. I used Patricia Barber Mythologies and Jane Monheit singing Besame Mucho on the second Frank and Joe CD. On the song "Moon" (Mythologies) the mid bass punch was so good I would never consider a sub with the 803d's for fear of cancellation of freq on the mid bands. These are definitely Audiophile speakers and would not end up in my basement.


They have the both the 803 and 804 "S" series but in a chorus line of many speakers and without proper set up and spacing the soundstage is good but heard to tell. I wish these places would have more featured set ups rather than the 803D and the 805S's.


The 805S are great but expensive for the end product.


The HTM2D is the center channel speaker with the 803D's. The soundstage was seamless between them. The salesman told me they worked even better with the 803S and 804S.


I think you are moving in the right direction and will have speakers that you'll enjoy for many years and not end up in the basement. The 700 series aren't bad either just not in anyway equal to the 800 series.


Actually all the post on this thread are good and valid experience with various speakers. I would consider all. I'm having fun on this job, I read a post and walk over to Barney and listen to the products within the posts. Unfortunately they sell only B&W and Thiele speakers in the top line. The electronics are Classe, Rotel and Sony. Great time, my two cents.

 

[Nagthragarthoth]

PMC totally destroys these guys. You have to listen to the speakers you listed at a certain volume to hear the right freq. spectrum. Even low volumes, any PMC will amaze with its well defined soundstage. The best part about this aspect though, is that image is retained even when blasting at 105db. I really don't think any other speaker can don that. With the speakers you listed, you are really just paying for the aesthetic. Check the reviews for PMC, look at who uses them, and the difference will be made perfectly clear.