B&W's success lies in their aggressive marketing tactics...a large number of studios use their monitors...but then again...Mcdonald's is the worlds largest restaurant chain...too many equate "bigger with better"...the majority of their sales is based on name recognition...and I would have to agree with some of the above posts...at their prospective price points...and without much effort...one can always find a speaker that outperforms the equivalent B&W (often for much less)...they are for many....a "safe" choice...like Mcdonalds...for better or worse...you know what you are getting...my gripe is less about their sound...more about their inflated price...to catergorize them as "mid fi" is a bit harsh...
Am I the only one who thinks B&W is mid-fi?
I know that title sounds pretencious. By all means, everyones taste is different and I can grasp that. However, I find B&W loudspeakers to sound extremely Mid-fi ish, designed with sort of a boom and sizzle quality making it not much better than retail quality brands. At price point there is always something better than it, something musical, where the goals of preserving the naturalness and tonal balance of sound is understood. I am getting tired of people buying for the name, not the sound. I find it is letting the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In these times of dying 2 channel, and the ability to buy a complete stereo/home theater at your local blockbuster, all of the brands that should make it don't. Most Hi-fi starts with a retail system and with that type of over-processed, boom and sizzle sound (Boom meaning a spike at 80Hz and sizzle meaning a spike at 10,000Hz). That gives these rising enthuists a false impression of what hi-fi is about. Thus, the people who cater to that falseified sound, those who design audio, forgetting the passion involved with listening, putting aside all love for music just to put a nickle in the pig...Well are doing a good job. Honestly, it is just wrong. Thanks for the read...I feel better. Prehaps I just needed to vent, but I doubt it. Music is a passion of mine, and I don't want to have to battle in 20 yrs to get equipment that sounds like music. Any comments?