Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

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Because...

12.86.29.219

Posted by xenon101 on July 23, 2002 at 17:49:29

In Reply to: Why such negative vibes on B&W's posted by bmullin on July 23, 2002 at 10:07:38:

1.) You show your intuitive "audiophileness" by dispariging B&W's (a reference standard) while touting a brand that you personally like as beinn 2000% better because YOU like them.

(Really, if you're truly an audiophile, you'd own a pair of speakers made by a recognized "speaker genius" who died after hand-making only the pair that you own. That way, no one could claim that they've heard other speakers that sound better. And why don't you??- snob on brother.)

2.) As was pointed out previously, most B&W speakers don't seem to be setup correctly in an audio showroom situation. (Why? we don't know, it's just the facts - OK - deal with it.)

3.) They need A LOT of current from a soft/smooth amp to sound "right" (to my ears).

4.) They are room interactive and, again as was pointed out previously, it takes a lot of time to set them up correctly (see #2).

5.) Despite what you want to believe or calculate, they take a LONG time to break in. If they are not broken in, they sound like shit...(see #2).

6.) They are brutally honest. If the CD has no bass, they don't make any extra. If the electronics driving them are unstable or wicked-bad - that's what they reproduce (see #2).

7.) B&W has an engineering philosophy about how they want their speakers to be built and sound. Personally, I don't like their lower end speakers, but, the N800 series are really hard to beat at the same price point when driven and setup correctly.

SOAP BOX COMMENTARY: Bail out now if you don't want to be offended -

They have invested and inordinate amount of money in R&D associated with the speakers, including having the only true anechoic chamber and laser interferometer owned by a speaker manufacturer. They have 30 research engineers who work on their products, and to lightly write-off that they make the speakers sound -

"Looking objectively...they are voicing for what sells...a very flashy, hi-fi sound. Furthermore, gimmicks really sell (nautilus tweeters, kevlar cones, flowports etc.) so B&W incorporate as many as possible into their designs"

is to discredit the amount of work that went into the choices made by the engineers, who in fact, redesigned many of the "gimmicks" not as gimmicks but to solve, what they feel, are real acoustic problems. When you have YOUR physics PhD and can refute the choices made - and can prove it - get back to me.

That "GIMMICKY" claim alone is specious given the low volume of the N800 series speakers that B&W actually expects to sell. They are privately owned and do not have to answer to investors, stock brokers, etc., and basically have the luxury of doing almost whatever they want. They don't sell speakers by the truck load, and as most of you know, don't give price breaks ("Wally Woofer has a truck load sale this weekend so come on down").

They are however, the 3rd largest speaker manufacturer in the world and the largest in Europe. They are not "boutique speakers" and do not have that cachet which is soooooooooo important to many "audiophiles" to impress their audiophile friends, so that they can prove that they are part of the select few who can "really hear the difference." Pardon me if that sounds snobby, but it's not far off the mark given the quotes about B&W only wanting to make flashy, gimmicky speakers - etc.

Lastly, if you compare the B&W N800 series to speakers in the same price range, and all of the caveats have been met (setup, electronics, etc.), they will either match or surpass the speaker being compared - UNLESS, of course, you expect them to sound like an electrostatic or horn loaded speaker - but of course, we're all way tooo smart here to be that dumb - aren't we?

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