Where can you get RC-10s shipped for $299? Vanns is already all out...The RC-10 is more than enough for a room of your size. My room is 16 x 12, and they still manage to do extremely well in filling it. I'm currently a student (and also part-time software/tech intern), so I can't afford more expensive gear at this time. Picked up the RC-10s recently, and was very impressed with the sound:
The Energy's are pretty amazing for the price - incredibly smooth, almost sweet sounding high-end, completely uncolored, laid-back midrange, and an impactful, fast bass, extended for its size (down to ~50-55Hz) The RC-10 produce sound that fairly huge, almost like small towers, and they play fairly easily. They actually caught my eye at first because of their gorgeous look, real wood veneer with modern/exotic looking drive units...reminds me of Dynaudio build quality, (but way more neutral sounding, perhaps a touch warm in the bass) but the sound would have blown me away if I had not owned quality speakers beforehand (Polk LSi15). I'm running them off a vintage Onkyo integrated amplifier for right now, hoping to upgrade to a NAD or Rotel integrated amp soon.
Haven't heard the B&W 685s (heard 7xx), but to me, B&W retains that "British" quality, the much more polite, neutral, almost dry sound....which is nice in some situations, but never really musically engaging to my ears...also, the 685s are unlikely to be found at a huge discount, were they to be, they would be a much larger competitor to the RC-10s...
