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?
mikez

Showing 2 responses by shubertmaniac

CDC:
I just heard the Totem Wind. They retrieved more info off the ESQ's Schubert's 14th String Quartet CD, then any other speaker I have heard including my beloved Acoustat 2+2. The soundstage and imaging where right up there with Avalon.
A slight veil and a little dynamic compression, but much better than I expected from such a small box speaker. Hey, they even did a credible job on Nirvana's Teen Spirit. A little pricey for $6500.00, but the fit and finish were first rate. Also, I actually liked the NAD silver series
amp/preamp/cd combo they were played with.

Highly recommended from someone who usually hates box speakers!!!
I heard the B&W N series at a NYC dealer while visiting my daughter at grad school. I did not listen to them for more than 5 minutes before I gave up on them. Their bass was boomy, the integration with the midrange was lumpy at best, and the highs were harsh. If you like bass thumping then these are the speakers for you, not refined at all for the price. They were matched mostly with MacIntosh electronics both ss and tube. Do not understand why they are so popular with the Audiogon crowd.