B&W 600 series vs Wharfedale XARUS5000

lersince1991 · 10-03-2010, 9:49 AM

Hi I'm looking for some advice and help on choosing speakers.

I like all sorts of music, mostly bassy tracks and i'm after some quality speakers with good bass.

The speakers will be in a small bedroom most of the time and also in the lounge/kitchen which is a very decent size for parties.

The trade off is either getting some second hand B&W speakers, which may be hard to get with delivery for my budget or buy some Wharfedale xarus5000 floor standing speakers new for £150 here (they have been in and out of stock the last few months)

I've heard some B&W 685 hifi speakers on stands in a sevenoaks store in the sound testing room and they sound good. I would like to hear them with my equaliser played from my macbook though as I would have liked more bass at a lower volume, as it was they had to be very loud to get the bass I wanted but at that volume they did produce a good amount. Very pleased with the quality of the sound of course. I did believe they lacked a bit of middle/low sound though.

The other set I haven't heard but they look like they will have a stronger mid/low range and bass. The quality won't be as good but at high volumes hopefully they will be less likely to blow compared to the B&W 685's. These will be easier to get delivered and faster. I cannot hear them first hand so these I would just have to hope I can be pleased with. Also £150 less than the price I would pay up to for 685's.

Amp wise I'll start of using a high end kenwood amp which is now about 20 years old. 56W power rating with about 0.04% harmonic distortion so should be pretty good.

Any help and advice please?
Thanks in advance!
Luke.

lunarwolf · 10-03-2010, 3:26 PM

i doubt you will blow the 685 with a 56w amp tbh. 685 are rated 100w at 8ohms.

the 685 have plenty of bass. mine do at least. speaker placement can also influence bass (ie close or far from walls). if you still don't have enough bass since afterall these are bookshelves, you could add a sub.

cannot comment on other speakers since i have not heard them. anyway go listen/home demo (ideal) and decide for yourself.

scorpion88 · 10-03-2010, 4:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunarwolf

i doubt you will blow the 685 with a 56w amp tbh. 685 are rated 100w at 8ohms.

the 685 have plenty of bass. mine do at least. speaker placement can also influence bass (ie close or far from walls). if you still don't have enough bass since afterall these are bookshelves, you could add a sub.

cannot comment on other speakers since i have not heard them. anyway go listen/home demo (ideal) and decide for yourself.

I would go for the 685's as they are a fantastic speaker.

I was in a similar dilemma and went for the heavily discounted Mordaunt Short Mezzo 2' s which are also good.

Howver the whareferdales may suit your situation perfectly - out of interst what amp have you got although 56wats as stated above should be adequate to drive any of these speakers although I use 80w to drive my Mezzo's.

Best of luck.

Scorpion

mossym · 10-03-2010, 4:59 PM

B&W like a bit of oopmh to hot their sweet spot, they like being played loud and will handle anything your amp can throw at them with ease. don't confuse cabinet size with ability to throw out more sound or handle more power. Bookshelves are usually said to be more in need of a sub than floorstanders, but for music use i reckon the B&w's are a better investment

BlueWizard · 10-03-2010, 8:06 PM

It is extremely rare to virtually non-existent for a person to be considering these two speakers. They are very different speakers both in very different classes.

The B&W are expensive and refined, and the Xarus 5000 are low cost, loud, and heavy.

So, you need to ask yourself, exactly what it is you are looking for? If you really want to rock the house and raise the roof, then the Wharfedales are probably right for you. But, if you want a more sophisticated, refined, and expensive speaker that will still have fair bass, but is not likely to demolish the house, then the B&W 600 series are for you.

The smaller speaker will do a better job in a smaller room for more casual listening, and still accomplish a fair party. The larger speaker will make some serious ass kicking parties, but will likely be somewhat overbearing in a small room for casual listening. Though still functional. But rarely does one speaker do both equally well.

In theory, you might be able to find some USED B&W 685, but I wouldn't hold much hope for it. A quick search of Ebay-UK only turns up one pair, and they are £319/pr. So, unless you specifically know of someplace that has a good used pair of B&W 685 for sale for an extremely modest £150/pr, you really don't have the choices you thought you did.

Now, if you can raise your budget to £400 more choices open up.

Amp wise, 56watts is enough to get the job done with either speaker. We all want 100's of watts, but for practical and financial reasons, we all settle for 10's of watts.

Do you specifically have a a pair of B&W 685 lined up for roughly £150/pr?

Steve/bluewizard

Davieg10c · 14-03-2010, 10:58 AM

Didnt think this warranted a new thread, so i'll just ask in here.

Im thinking of buying some b&w 685's, but would my amp (yammy 763) be good enough to power these speakers? I'd want a HTM62 centre too!

lersince1991 · 14-03-2010, 6:58 PM

Thanks for the help

I was offered some 683's for £400, think I've decided it's too much for me to pay for speakers, and too big for my small room.

Decided against the xarus's

I'm listening to some 685's with my amp and my macbook with my eq set to what I like. Then I'm going to decide.

How do people think the 602 s2 's compare to the 685's?
685's second hand are about 2.5x the price

It's a kenwood amp, no specs online but kenwood sent me the below attachment pic of the specs

Davieg10c · 14-03-2010, 9:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davieg10c

Didnt think this warranted a new thread, so i'll just ask in here.

Im thinking of buying some b&w 685's, but would my amp (yammy 763) be good enough to power these speakers? I'd want a HTM62 centre too!

Anyone?

BlueWizard · 15-03-2010, 7:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davieg10c

Didnt think this warranted a new thread, so i'll just ask in here.

Im thinking of buying some b&w 685's, but would my amp (yammy 763) be good enough to power these speakers? I'd want a HTM62 centre too!

Define "good enough"?

Will it power the B&W speakers? Yes.

How will it sound? Good. Good amp. Good speakers. What's not to work?

Is this the ideal combination? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on what you want.

Personally, I think all amps and all speakers are meant to work together. Though there is a little room for fine tuning.

So, what if we say it is not a good combination? Are you going to not buy some excellent highly acclaimed speakers at what I assume is a very good price? Are you going to get rid of your amp?

The only advise I can offer is, start from where you are at and keep going until you get to where you need to be.

Steve/bluewizard