Despite my abhorrence for tone controls, I have found that the smaller B&W's sound tremendous with some bass boost.
Recently I sold one of my many sets of DM 14's to a buddy who has a Marantz 125 wpc, 1970's receiver. The bass control made a such huge difference in the sound that we brought his receiver to my house to hear my B&W 803's. That we were thrilled with the sound is an understatement.
Does the Marantz sound as good a my separates? Of course not, but I would not hesitate to use the B&W 685 with about the same power, even from a receiver with a smallish power supply.
Next, we hooked up a set of DM 1400's (virtually identical) along with the Dm 14's, a combo I enjoyed for decades as my party system, and the Marantz power supply did as I had predicted, by losing the bass at high volumes.
Recently I sold one of my many sets of DM 14's to a buddy who has a Marantz 125 wpc, 1970's receiver. The bass control made a such huge difference in the sound that we brought his receiver to my house to hear my B&W 803's. That we were thrilled with the sound is an understatement.
Does the Marantz sound as good a my separates? Of course not, but I would not hesitate to use the B&W 685 with about the same power, even from a receiver with a smallish power supply.
Next, we hooked up a set of DM 1400's (virtually identical) along with the Dm 14's, a combo I enjoyed for decades as my party system, and the Marantz power supply did as I had predicted, by losing the bass at high volumes.