B&W 600's a good match for AVR300?

johndon

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I'm looking for a pair of floorstanders as front left and right stereo speakers to go with my ARV300 & CD73.

Are the B&W 600's a good match bearing in mind that I'll be extending the setup to 6 or 7.1 eventually and, when I do this, I'm considering changing the 300 for a 700/1000 combo.

Thanks

John
 
John,

Im using a full B&W 600 series set up.

Fronts 602s3 on Apollo stands
Centre LCR60
Surround & back surrounds 601's
Rel Strata 5 sub

Chord Oddesy Bi wire for fronts and centre
Chord Chorous rca's
Chord Anthem rca's

Obviously it depends what you are wanting from your system but beleive me i have spent a very very long time auditioning speaker cables and rca's and i have found these to work extremely well indeed IMHO.

Get down your dealers for a blag ;)
 
Thanks for that niceguy - is this the speaker setup you've been testing the 700/1000 with as well?

John
 
Hi john,

Yes it is and dare i say it hasnt disappointed me!

So if you are in the market then i would most definately consider or at least demo the 300/b&w combo.



Does anyone know how to post pics on here?

Regards
Jason
 
Hi Jason,

Best bet is to upload your pics to www.imageshack.us. You can then put the links into your posts here to the pics.

By the way, I have a set of 603 fronts, LCR600 centre, 602 rears, and CC6 centre rear with my AVR300 and P90/3 combo. I've got the front/centre wired with rumour bi-wire cable, and it sounds superb. The AVR300 was a big step up for me from my old Sony amp :thumbsup:

Arcam and B&W are a great match for me :smashin:

Cheers

Andy
 
Thanks for the info andy

Check out my other thread for pics of the 700/100 combo i have just gone broke for!!

Jason
 
johndon said:
I'm looking for a pair of floorstanders as front left and right stereo speakers to go with my ARV300 & CD73.

Are the B&W 600's a good match bearing in mind that I'll be extending the setup to 6 or 7.1 eventually and, when I do this, I'm considering changing the 300 for a 700/1000 combo.

Thanks

John

Great Speakers............

Check out my sig :thumbsup:
 
A lot of this depends on how big your room is. I've got 603S2 fronts, 602S2 rears, LRC6S2 centre and an ASW675 sub and they all like to be played loud.... I think there may be more subtle speakers out there if you like to listen quietly or have a small room. 600's like to shout! If you have a smaller room you'll be too reliant on the compression modes in your AVR300 and / or the DVD player. I only just upgraded from a Yamaha RX-V1400 to an AVR300 and I like the way the Arcam sounds in direct mode..... I have a Denon 3910 and listen to a lot of DVD-A and SACD... a really open sound. But I don't care too much on the AVR300 soundstage when using the internal digital conversion. It's too muddled. Why the speaker delays still affect the output when stereo PCM is selected is beyond me??? It sounds awfull, and is something Yahama got right. Personally I the think the Yamaha did a better job of Cinema and PCM.... oh no! I hear you all say... but the Yamaha was not as good in direct mode.. Also, I think the Yamaha had much more punch and you should have seen the cones move! The Arcam can't quite do that in the same way. Where are those real watts? Perhaps this is all hype. As for speakers, I was hoping the AVR300 would be a good upgrade path to better speakers, like the B&W 700 series or perhaps jmlab's 918's or Audiovectors M3I sigs... but I may have to re-think this and go for some serious amplification.... perhaps Classe, Parasoud, or McIntosh. The Arcam is a fine receiver but's it's too expensive when you line it up against the competition. I also think their software is very poor. Why should people be concerned with software upgrades? Arcam should sell a product that works... not one that needs constant maintenance because their software 'gods' can't be assed it right. I'm not surprised there are so many posts of 700/1000 problems.... I think there's a quality issue here that Arcam should take a serious look at.

I think I've said enough..... but truthfully, 600's do work well with the AVR300 if you have the space and tolerant neighbours / wife.

Was that a quick reply????
 
cjohnson6 said:
I also think their software is very poor. Why should people be concerned with software upgrades?
.

You should see the Naim forum, then you would know about software upgrades.

As for the Arcam, it has its own merits and sound, just like the Jap units do.
I. personally, love the sound of the Arcams. Full bodied sound etc etc blah blah blah.

At the end of the day you must be the one who decides what speakers to buy. You need to go to a good dealer who is willing to spend time setting up (as close as practically possible) a set up the same as you have at home and let you audition speakers/amps etc in their dem rooms. You never know, they may let you try them at home in your own surroundings.

Good Luck and let your ears do the deciding, not people like us who have our own opinions!!!!!

Regards
 
PS
Just added a REL Quake along side the front center channel. Damn, my system sounds fantastic! (worth a go if you can afford it, or even fit it in your av setup!)
 
niceguy235uk is right, let your ears do the deciding, with some help from your wallet / bank manager.... Don't pay too much attention to opinionated critics like me. And I like the idea of the REL sub!
 
B&W+Arcam=Match made in heaven :)
 
Now that's interesting.... things are looking good... RumNYC I need to know... can the AVR300 really drive the 804's... you've wet my appetite for some new speakers! I've got 603's etc and really want to upgrade ( I've got some money burning an 'ole in my pocket ).
 
cjohnson6 said:
Now that's interesting.... things are looking good... RumNYC I need to know... can the AVR300 really drive the 804's... you've wet my appetite for some new speakers! I've got 603's etc and really want to upgrade ( I've got some money burning an 'ole in my pocket ).
The bass dept is a bit lacking, but the mids and highs are warm and crystal clear. Honestly half the time when ppl say some amp is underpowered, I don't really know what they mean--the AVR300 is rated 100w/140w (based on configuration) and that seems plenty (the 804 can handle 200w+). I do get good bass at certain areas of my room, so I plan on adding a Velo DD10 sub with room correction to fix that. I have also been eyeing a pair of Nuforce Reference 9 amps and use the AVR300 as a pre/pro, because everyone keeps telling me to drive the 804s harder. One of my friends have a Pioneer Elite driving the 603 and another one using a Sony ES driving the 604+ASW675, both in the 150w-200w range, and while their setup sound punchier, the sound quality is not even in the same league. I don't know if I answered your question, but I am very happy with the setup, but like most ppl here, I am always looking to upgrade :)
 
Thanks RumNYC,

I think I know where I'm headed now. I can upgrade the speakers and get more watts if they are needed... perhaps the P90/3 is a way forward, using it to drive the bottom end of the fronts and centre in a bi-amp'd mode, leaving the AVR300 to drive to top end of the fronts, centre and rears.

That's what I like about these forums... there's plenty of good ideas out there!

Just need to convince the boss.... 'er in doors!
 

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