B&W 805 or Monitor Audio Silver for Creek 5350SE?

I have an older pair of 805s and I would think that the Creek would work very well in a room that size. I have found that the 805s will take quite a lot of power, I have driven them with my Meridian 605s which have 150 watts a channel. But they are now in my wife's system being driven by a 50(?) watt NAD integrated and will easily fill a room your size.

Get the 805S. It's a better speaker overall compared to the Monitor Audio. I've heard the MA silver series few years ago and those speakers have thin midrange and lacked body, hence the perceived brightness. Answers to your questions:-

1) It is sufficient unless you are looking to crank up the volume to serious head-banging levels

2) With the Creek there may be listening fatigue. In the long run you would be better off with the B&Ws.

Thank you, Stanwal and Ryder, for your input. I suspected that the B&W might be a better speaker for my tastes, but that glowing review for the RS6 (powered by the same Creek amp that I own) got my hopes up.

Is anyone else out there running the B&W 805n or 805s with a Creek 5350SE, and if so, have you a preference for speaker cables that will bring out the best of both components?

I have listened carefully to all this gear, but none of it together.

Here are my impressions.

The Creek is a neutral to dry sounding SS amp. It does what you ask without fuss and has a surprising amount of power.

The RS6 is a very nice speaker for the money, no question about it, and can sound very good driven by even modest electronics. But it is NOT overly warm - more exciting.

I was frankly surprised when I read that RR loved the Creek/Monitor Audio combination. Dryish amp with mid-fi metal tweeter? I can't question what he likes, but I think RR has a love thing going with Creek gear.

The 805s are very, very detailed. Beautiful looking and sounding when properly driven and sourced. A classic. They can also push the resolution of your gear upstream. For example, I have heard them sound very unflattering when driven by an Arcam Solo, where the B&W 705s sounded great with the same. Sometimes too much information is not a good thing.

With that said, the Creek should have plenty of zip and finesse to run the 805s and the Marantz CD should round things out nicely. I would go with the 805s because they will sound very good now, and give you even more enjoyment if you decide to upgrade your electronics at a later date.

Try the Home Depot wire for starters - but I would lean away from silver wires with this set up.

Thanks for the silver wire tip: I'd come to the same conclusion myself.

As another speaker option, how about Dunlavy Audio Laboratories SC-IV loudspeakers? According to what I've read, they're pretty neutral, have decent bass, and they're in the same price range as used B&Ws. Will 85 watts per channel be enough to drive them?

I can't help you there. They are pretty sensitive (92dB/W/m), but will 85 watts command two 10" woofers?

Update: I finally bought the MA RS6s from a fellow Agoner last week (for a third of the price of 805n loudspeakers), and love them. I'd switched from Home Depot speaker wire to Anti-Cables a year ago, and was disappointed with the sound, so of course I switched back to them when I set up the RS6s.

Knownothing, those metal RS6s tweeters don't sound bright at all when paired with the Creek, so RR can be forgiven this time.

Next step? Maybe the MIT interconnects RR used in his RS6 review, too...

Fair enough, glad you are enjoying the RS6 - Creek combination.

The RS/6 can perform AMAZINGLY well if you pair them with high-end products, especially Ayre and Linn products -- which is what I heard them on when I first fell in love. I'm still chasing that sound trying to get away with using lower priced gear. I'm not there yet, but getting closer with every new purchase and tweak.

Try using all Morrow cables. I've used the RS/6 with NAD and now Creek. Using all Morrow resolved music better than Anti-Cable, Transparent, Audioquest, Kimber and Tara Lab cables. The higher up the chain for Morrow, the better it gets; even the low priced Morrow cables are good - but don't expect miracles at this level. I'm really loving the MP3, SP3 and MA3 level right now.

Also, to really make the RS/6 magical, toe them in very slightly, and try various wall treatments on the first reflection points at the side walls (if you have a smaller room) to reduce reflection, or put them in a fairly large room. You'll hear what you've been missing because these speakers can perform very well if given a good environment.

Thanks for the tips, 4hannons. I'll toe them in, and I'll have to check out those Morrows, too.