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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
dannylw's avatar
dannylw
172 posts
 
I have listened to various B&W for over twenty five years, including the original 800's 801's, 802 etc. I also listened to the one that looked like, and it may have had an electrstatic element in it. Most of the systems I have heard that had B&W in them sound veiled and cloudy; this observation included WFMT's system in Chicago.

Then I heard a friend's 801 system that consisted of Roland Amps, Basis Table and Cal CD Player. This system had depth, imaging and transparency. it sounded like no other B&W system I had ever heard. It was truly impressive. I Have subsequently only heard one other B&W system with the new 801 Series or whatever its called sound spectacular. This system was an all Meridian system.

I have heard newer systems that again had the veiledboomy and cloudy sound. I can only say these speakers must be very picky about electronics. The sound was that dramatic from great to mid-fi.
viggen
838 posts
 
I agree with Danny. I've heard the Matrix series powered by cheesy amps like Sunfire and other hometheater amps. They were definitely veiled.

I also heard them powered by Nakamichi PA-5 and PA-7, Rowland... dunno model, and White Audio. The Matrix(es) sounded damn good. Still not as good as the Von Schweikerts that we were comparing them to head to head though.
groundsource
6 posts
 
Ok, I'm new to the chat room, not the classifieds but I had to tell you, I have owned the 801 matrix 2 for 11 years and have had them with Threshold SA1 , Krell KSA 250, CJ EV 2000 and now the CJ MF2500A solid state amp with the Premier 17LS pre, XLO cables and I can't tell you how good it sounds. I have been through so much gear over the years and the 801's are the only thing to stay around. They really are system dependent from electronics to especially cables believe me I have tried a lot and it does make a BIG difference. The only bad thing is B&W no longer is supporting making replacement parts and speaker replacements. I just blew a woofer and it cost me $500.00 to replace it. (rock and hard place) I still don't know what I can get to replace them however. I have checked out Theil, Spendor, Dynaudio, Totem but still from top to bottom on ALL types of music I just love these things!!! Anhybody got replacement cone repair kits out there??
spluta
58 posts
 
It funny you asked that question.
I am looking to upgrade speakers. I have middle
of pack Infinity's they have done a great job
for price point but im looking to get to next level.
I specifically had four speaker brands in mind
before i heard the B&W'S now i have three. Revel,
Martin logan and Infinity MTS series.
I recently had a chance to listen to the 801's
they were being driven by a Macintosh something
i was told about 200wpc. The first thing i noticed
was a Velodyne sub parked between them so i asked
the salesman to turn off sub and re-direct all bass
to 801's. I was shocked how they sounded. The only
thing that stands out in my mind was a haze that seemed
to cover music and a real lack of low end. It took me
a total of about 60 seconds to take these of my short
list. VERY DISSAPOINTING. I will say that the room
was not ideal and I would guess my Bel Canto EVO6 would
do a much better job of driving them but there was just
nothing that appealed to me about them. Sorry i dont
mean to flame anyone who has purchased B&W's just my
opinion.
loose
239 posts
 
Without a doubt, B&W speakers are FAR from top notch sound.

I have been on the lookout for a new set of speakers to replace my NHT 2.5i's (which sound pretty darned good, but somewhat sterile) I'm replacing them b/c my current room is actually too small for them (they need room to breathe).

Listened to B&W's (804's, I think) with a variety of amps (bryston 4bst, musical fidelity (not sure which), anthem). While I was certainly able to distinguish sonic attributes amongst the amps, the speakers were very, VERY disappointing. Sure, they are able to set up a semi - 3d soundstage, but overall the sound was flat, lacklustre and veiled. These speakers lacked in dynamics and overall performance left me wondering why anyone would spend so much money on the B&W line.

Maybe it's just my taste (which I admit is very likely). But in my opinion, I can find much MUCH better sound at a fraction of the cost.

And no, I'm not new to the audio game. I've been fiddling with this stuff for 17 years, so I do know what I'm looking for.
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