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General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Concur: No one ever got fired for bying IBM (read: B&W)

202.2.59.50

I concur with everything said by xenon101.

Bashing B&W speakers seems to be a common habit of 'seasoned audiophiles' who ironically often blame them for sounding too 'hi-fi', whatever this means :)

Regardless of my personal taste or choice I admit B&W makes wonderful speakers.
(I should say that I do not and never use to own a B&W, as well as a BMW :).


When I was embarking on my audiophile boat (or in other words was in the early stages of 'the disease':) one of the first speakers I heard were the B&Ws.
Then after years of going circles and hearing tens and tens esoteric brands of which many an audiophile raved, including here on AA, I have come to the conclusion that B&W in fact makes great speakers and many (but not all!) specialist brands are overhyped, sold to people who for some reason want to buy anything but the popular brand (just to be different?).

On the other hand, I must admit that unlike many other speakers that can seduce you immediately, B&W speakers are much more finicky.
Unlike many others (which sound more or less the same in different contexts), B&W speakers require more attention and effort to get the best sound out of them - room, positioning, electronics etc.
I found the B&W speakers to be very chameleon-like in character.
This could explain such polarized opinions on their sound.
It's easy to reject a B&W speaker after a short audition at dealer's and walk away saying - 'this Nautilus is a piece of shit, my ears were bleeding! How come they got all those good reviews?'
But if you persevere you'd be rewarded.

My conclusion - it is (relatively) safe to buy a speaker from B&W at any price (hence my IBM analogy).
Especially if ones starts his/her system from a speaker end this might be a good way to start
I regret I did not do it when it was appropriate, too late now - I want a 802 but have no money to buy it and a room to put it in :).
If you want to seriously improve the sound, you could do so by choosing proper electronics and treating your room, but B&W speakers won't let you down.
Basically, it's safe to build a system around any given B&W speaker.
I am talking about general requirements to the speaker, not some extreme lust for something very very special and very very different.
That's where one might resort to some esoteric brands.

olpot


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  • Concur: No one ever got fired for bying IBM (read: B&W) - olpot 23:44:35 07/23/02 (0)


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