B&W 685C's

Gonna need to know more about your speaker placement options. My options for speaker placement are very limited. Mine have to sit on a shelf in an entertainment center. The limitations that you have on speaker placement is going to have an affect on what speakers will likely work for you.

For me, the 685s didn't work very well. Don't get me wrong. They are very good sounding speakers, if you can accommodate them. For me, they were lifeless in the mid range and the bass was messy, due to required placement.

I know that not many people opt for tiny speakers, but I'm running Silverline Minuets with a sub now and I've found them to be very forgiving about placement. Although optimal placement is required to make them sound their best, they always sound at least good no matter where I put them.

I'm running an older NAD C162 pre with an Aragon 2004 amp.

Doggitter,

I wasn't confused at all. What I'm trying to say is that the electronics are only a part of the system and no one can just say that the 685s are going to sound good in your system.

I owned the 685s for a little while and found that the 685s are pretty sensitive to placement to get them sounding good. The 685s also like power. I'm not sure that either of your amps are going to give you what you want, especially playing rock.

In my system, the 685s didn't like being on shelves or close to the rear walls. They much preferred being on stands at least a couple of feet from the rear wall on stands.

If I'm understanding you right, you have a surface that is at about shin height that is 7.5" deep that will accommodate a maximum height of 39" and a maximum width of 11".

If I'm reading you right, I think you have two problems. The first is that your speakers are going to be at about knee height without stands, which leads me to the second problem. I don't think that stands are going to fit onto a shelf that is 7" deep. I don't think that that there are many speakers that will accommodate a 7.5" depth, physically. Even if you were to be able to sit speakers there, you aren't going to get much more than sound coming out of them.

Really, I've heard some fairly expensive speakers that sounded spectacular at the audio shop that just plain sounded like cr@p when I tried to put them on shelves.

As for the 685s, they like to be on stands out away from the rear wall. Their sound quality can range from excellent to horrible, depending on placement. The 685s also aren't the most efficient speakers. They like power. According to B&W's website, they have a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, but are also listed as going down to a minimum of 3.7 ohms. They are also over a foot deep, not counting the wiring.

Keep in mind that I've never had either one of these amps, but based on the specs, I'll take a guess and say that the combo won't be ideal. I don't think that either amp will have the muscle to really bring to bottom end under control.

If you have to put the speakers on a 7.5" deep shelf (essentially), perhaps you should look into some speakers designed to be hung from a wall. One brand that comes immediately to mind is System Audio.

I'd also suggest that you try to add a good sub woofer to the budget.

Doggitter, you may be able to devise a stand to accommodate your needs, but at 6-8" of over hang, your going to have more than half (the heavier half)of the speaker hanging off.

Look, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here and I can only speak from my own experience, but my room is a tad bit bigger than yours. I don't even have a fireplace to work with. I have an entertainment center and my limitations are that my speakers can't be more than 13" tall and they have to sit in enclosed shelves of about 2' wide and 18" deep. I feel your pain.

Now back to not ruffling feathers. Don't get me wrong. The 685s are nice speakers and can sound very good; however, they are more of a speaker that need to be accommodated rather than being accommodating. If you can't set them up at least close to right, they can get bright and the mid range can leave a lot to be desired. The sound stage can have you tearing your hair out looking for a compromise that you can live with. I just don't think that they are good speakers for a guy that has space limitations.

Just based on my experience over the last few years and trying a bunch of different speakers, I'd look for something with a nice silk dome tweeter that isn't sensitive to placement.

During your research reading reviews and such, pay attention when the reviewer goes over what he had to do to get the speakers sounding good. Also pay attention to the quality of the music shifting at different heights (sounding different when you're standing up as opposed to sitting down) and pay attention to the amplification used. Some speakers need a powerful amp to sound good.

Since you can get speakers up to 39 or so inches tall, I really can't make any recommendations. All of my experience recently has been with really small speakers.

Good luck.

I still stand by a lot of what I said. Still, you are looking for speakers that are going to sound good where you need them to be.

The upside is that if you have a Best Buy with a Magnolia in it, you can get the 685s and try them. If you don't like them, you can return them.

Well, getting into an amp with more power and good performance isn't that hard. I feel that buying an older amp is one way to get a good deal on a piece of equipment.

I've seen Aragon 2004, ATI1502 and even a Son of Ampzilla go for under $400 and in many cases closer to $300.

You might want to take a look at the Tekton mLore. Lots of buzz about those right now.