I hooked the B&W towers up to the Proceed HPA2, Transparent Super-bi-wire cable, AR LS16 pre, all in the right position, etc and they did sound a lot better and would definitely stand on their own without a center speaker and maybe even without the su-woofer. But they did not sound anywhere near as good as the Aerial Acoustics towers.
In comparison they sounded a little distant and less full. Bass was okay, midrange was lacking.
An observation: I do not like spade connectors. They work fine on the back of the Proceed amp where there is lots of room. On the Aerial Acoustics the spade connectors twist even when the pole nut is tight. On the B&Ws the pole is wider than the spade and had to be jury rigged in place with one arm of the spade through the wire hole in the pole. On several components like the Onkyo the connectors have a plastic rim that prevents using a spade. It seems to me bare wire would be better all around. I don't know anything about banana plugs but seems like they would be easy to use. The Proceed amp will not accept them though, neither would the B&W speakers.
In comparison they sounded a little distant and less full. Bass was okay, midrange was lacking.
An observation: I do not like spade connectors. They work fine on the back of the Proceed amp where there is lots of room. On the Aerial Acoustics the spade connectors twist even when the pole nut is tight. On the B&Ws the pole is wider than the spade and had to be jury rigged in place with one arm of the spade through the wire hole in the pole. On several components like the Onkyo the connectors have a plastic rim that prevents using a spade. It seems to me bare wire would be better all around. I don't know anything about banana plugs but seems like they would be easy to use. The Proceed amp will not accept them though, neither would the B&W speakers.