To b&w or not to b&w that is the question

techwizardinc

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hey everybody

i'm currently in the market for a new av system (speakers & amp) had a demo of the b&w mt-30 system and the kef 3005se . the b&w was amplified through denon avr1910 and the kef was piped through yamaha rxv1065 and these were my thoughts

1. the b&w left me really underwhelmed and disappointed i really really wanted this system but it just didnt sound right both with music and movies

2. the kef seemed to be really powerful and authorotative in both dialogue and bass in other words i liked but i didnt love it

so here my question lies are there any other packages out there that would be really good with both music and movies i have a budget of £2000 and want a system that could go loud from time to time as i do have parties as well but nothing to big as the room they will be sitting in is around 18 square metres

any help would be greatly appreciated :thumbsup:
 
anyone ??
 
Have you had a look at Anthony Gallo Nucleus Micro speakers. The speakers look even smaller but I have seen some good reviews on them.
 
I think that part of your problem is going for style speakers--- they will never perform as well as 'proper' cabinet speakers. Are you constrained to style speakers?

If you can't go for cabinet speakers, maybe Monitor Audio Radius HD range will be a compromise?

Coupled with the £500 Yamaha 1065, there are several sets above and below the £1500 left that may fit the bill?

Monitor Audio

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/assets/files/brochures/Radius-HD-Brochure-2009.pdf

The Radius range is mix and match, so you can use all the speakers in the range in all the positions(though the floorstanders, won't work as a centre!)

If you can go with the normal stand mount or floorstanding speakers, you would get even better sound.
 
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@dicklodge

actually I'm not really constrained to style speaker packages I would definatley love to go full size but at my budget I doubt I'll get anything decent for Under £1700 leaving me £300 for amplification cabling etc etc . If you know any half decent full size packages with a price to match I would consider them
 
@dicklodge

actually I'm not really constrained to style speaker packages I would definatley love to go full size but at my budget I doubt I'll get anything decent for Under £1700 leaving me £300 for amplification cabling etc etc . If you know any half decent full size packages with a price to match I would consider them

For £1265, you could get this speaker pack which gives you a full set of speakers (use the drop down). This leaves you £750 for an amp. The ideal amp would be the Yamaha 2065 at £700. You may be able to get enough cabling included for £2000.

You could drive those speakers with the 1065, but the 2065 would bring more out of them.

Quantum Uk is an a Forums assured advertiser, so is reliable and should give you a good deal.

The speakers are heavily discounted, so you're getting speaker that should cost over £2000.


Monitor Audio Silver RS6 AV Speaker Package - Quantum Electronics (UK) Limited
 
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That looks like a very good package must say I'm impressed . I had read about the rs6's but didn't know you could get them this cheap any idea on how they sound ? Plus another thing can the rear speakers be wall mounted ?
 
That looks like a very good package must say I'm impressed . I had read about the rs6's but didn't know you could get them this cheap any idea on how they sound ? Plus another thing can the rear speakers be wall mounted ?

The RS range was discounted becaue of the release of the newer RX range. Monitor Audio decided to clear stocks of the RS series by selling them to Authorised dealers at almost half price. Many took advantage of the big discounts, myself included.

In the above package, you actually get the speaker above the RS6, the RS8. The RS8 has a dedicated midrange driver over the RS6 which adds to sound clarity. The surrounds in the package are the surrounds from the bronze range, which is the range below the RS range. They are dipole speakers and are designed for wall mounting. Because they are surrounds and not as important as the fronts, being from the Bronze range shouldn't be a problem. However, if you want to keep to the silver range, you could buy the package without the surrounds at £1115 and get the RSFX surrounds from elsewhere if you can find some; they've been discounted for quite some time now and are getting scarce.

I effectively have the same setup, though i have the Yamaha 1900; the 2065 is the replacment for the 1900. Also, I have RS1s as surrounds, which you could get from here, but they can't be wall mounted.

Monitor Audio RS1

I love the sound that I get from my setup. Yamaha and Monitor audio work so well together; the warm tone of the Yamaha amps complimenting the bright nature of the MA RS series speakers.

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/assets/files/brochures/rs_brochure.pdf

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/assets/files/brochures/br_brochure.pdf
 
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I've been listening to a Monitor Audio Setup today, as i'm thinking about changing my speakers after buying a new amp.

I thought the RX6's sounded great playing music but seemed a bit bright when watching a section of Star Trek on Blu Ray. Don't know if this was down to the amp (Marantz) or wether the speakers are generally bright.

I also listened to a B&W setup (which would be out of your price range. CM7's, CM1's and a CM Centre.) and they were warmer than the Monitor Audio's and sounded better on films, although i didn't like the centre speaker compared to the monitor audio.

I do really want to hear the RX8's, if they are warmer than the 6's then that's probably the setup i'll go for.
 
@dicklodge

actually I'm not really constrained to style speaker packages I would definatley love to go full size but at my budget I doubt I'll get anything decent for Under £1700 leaving me £300 for amplification cabling etc etc . If you know any half decent full size packages with a price to match I would consider them

go second hand. Poeple who pay that sort of price on speakers tend to love and care for them. Its only after they live with them for a while they realise they made a mistake and are forced to sell at a great loss to them, a bargain to others. shop smart :smashin:
 
@john

have you been reading my mind ,lol , initially getting some kit second hand was at the top of my list only problem was i just could'nt find what i was looking for and i've been searching for 3 months . i think the main problem with av setups is people buy a full package and are not entirely satisfied with one of the components i.e. the front speakers , the sub etc so when you scroll through the classifieds you rarely come across a complete package with the exception of htib systems which means you could find two really good front speakers but to find the matching centre , sub and rears will be complete pain
 
@john

have you been reading my mind ,lol , initially getting some kit second hand was at the top of my list only problem was i just could'nt find what i was looking for and i've been searching for 3 months . i think the main problem with av setups is people buy a full package and are not entirely satisfied with one of the components i.e. the front speakers , the sub etc so when you scroll through the classifieds you rarely come across a complete package with the exception of htib systems which means you could find two really good front speakers but to find the matching centre , sub and rears will be complete pain

what are you looking for? maybe put a wanted ad, you may just push someone's indecision on to sell or not. good luck hope you get something nice :)
 
I have lots of B&W M1 satellites and think they are better than Monitor AudioRadius/Kef Eggs etc. but I never found they gelled well with the Denon - but with my Onkyo 606 and 876 you just can't go wrong - a fantastic setup.

The PV1 that comes with the MT30 package is good but not worth £900 but if you bought a glossblack BK XLS200DF at c.£330 you get virtually the same performance for one third of the price and its new :)

You could even go up the range and spend c.£450 and get the XXLS400 - totally awesome (I did last week which is why I know).

So 5M1'sand a BK sub could cost you c.£1k which leaves lots of budget for an AV amp.

There is a Denon 2909 in the classifieds for £490 or you could look on ebay and pick up an Onkyo 876 for c.£700 from hyperworld (Hyperfi).

As always, have a look at 7oaks and Audio-T clearance sites for some bargain AV amps with warranty - all well within budget and an awesome sytem to boot :)

Here's some Monitor audio good deals from a forum advertiser (I bought some RSFX's from him):

http://www.avforums.com/forums/barg...s-still-available-roy-jowett-home-cinema.html

and here is audio-T's clearance site:

http://www.audio-t.co.uk/?section=onlinestore&display=searchresults&specp=all

Lots of Monitor Audio RS goodies here:

http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/clearance.aspx


Let us know if you need more links etc.
 
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*******update*******

went and had another demo at superfi today this time with F.S.A. aka the missus thats right the big don , the godmother lol :D

had a listen to the b&w mt-30 , kef 3005 & kef 5005 wanted to listen to the b&w 684 theatre but they did'nt all of the components in store so had to pass on that one . and you won't what she fell for the , the tiny b&w's . it was a bit funny as this time round the package sounded a bit more powerful than the last time i demoed it i'm guessing the av man / bastard didn't set it up right the first time round
 
If you want a combination of style and sound -

Canterbury Hifi have the B&W FPM series on offer again (old style new stock) - FPM4 = £260, FPM6 - £350. I have FR/FR FPM4, Cent FPM6 and LR/RR M1's. (can use FPM4 for centre if budget is a stretch) Add a B&K sub and a denon amp and you shoukd get a really good set up for around the 2K mark.

So -

FR/FL/Cent - FPM4 - £780
LR/RR - M1 - £250
B&K XLS200 - £320
Denon avr2310 - £630


If you are in that area the guys there were great and set up a demo in advance.

Best thing is listen to as many combination as possible and then decide. Remeber to take you own dvd/blu ray/cd favourited along to demos.

Alternatively Creative Audio do

Yamaha RXV1065 with Tannoy Arena 500 plus MK Pro50 sub plas cables for £2100.

Happy Hunting.
 
I had a similar challenge when I was looking for my system a year ago.

The MT-30 was good, but I preferred (and opted for) the KEF 3005SE. It seemed to me that there was a premium on the PV1, and that the Kef speakers were actually better than the M1's (my opinion).

I also demoed the 684 and 685 speaker systems, and in short they are better. I thought considerably better, but as has been mentioned, you can't really compare lifestyle with full size. I couldn't really accommodate the full size speakers and keep the wife happy, so settled on the 3005SE's, and have been very happy with them ever since. I have friends who have BOSE speakers etc, and they all think mine sound superior.

My next door neighbor has Anthony Gallo speakers, and they are also nice, but I understand they're a little more pricey than the KEF's also.

Anything you choose will always be a compromise :) There's always something 'better' for just a little extra money, and I'm sure that's true whatever your budget :D

Good luck :thumbsup:
 
one thing i've never really understood is bose speakers i mean why are they so expensive one of the sales staff at comet forced me to listen to a bose setup at first i thought not bad but when she told me the price i was like what the fudge :thumbsdow and to be honest it doesn't even look like a sub £3000 system the components look cheap and nasty more like a £75 offering from china if you ask me

but anyway tomorrow is d-day gonna get the amp first and hold out till the weekend for the speakers

btw does anybody know anyother hifi / av shops in the yorkshire area besides sevenoaks and superfi want to have some more demos
 
:hiya:The best bit of advice i could offer is to go secondhand or look about for clearance bargains and ex-demo, as you find the depreciation on audio and hifi is pretty bad buying from new. You can also be covered with warranty on a lot of the gear so that won,t be much of a problem.And if you are patient you will find some good deals about;).I myself have had a few deals with secondhand and clearance and i have not come unstuck yet touch wood:eek:.And lastly i like B@W speakers because they sound quite good for the money in most of the ranges they do,and the best bit is changing parts if you damage any drivers e.t.c. which are really easy to sauce from B@W and in a lot of the cases you can replace the part yourself if they are out of warranty.And they know there stuff even on the switchboard.(And no i don,t work or have anything to do with B@W lol :rolleyes:). Your choices are many just don,t rush in, as sitting in doors gutted thinking what if, is a horrible feeling when you,ve blown a grand and hav,nt got what you really wanted.I will add a link for some places to search i hope the link works just cut and paste :cool:.,some may be old links but most are sweet:).Hope that was a bit of mindfood for you. And goodluck in your quest. Bye Gary. These are my views only.Not borrowed not Begged Just mine.
 
*******update*******

hi everybody and thanks for the advice finally went out and bought a speaker package and yes yes the winner was the b&w mt-30 i took a lot more audio savvy engineer friend of mine to the demo rooms and we had a play with the speakers ourselves and what we noticed was the sound was completely different from the first audition the sheer amount of bass from the sub was impressive and when we finally got it home it just kept on impressing

i know some people will say that you could probably get better performance for less but the only problem is it's a bit of trial and error with these things and if you can't demo them as a first timer would you be willing to take a £500 gamble online ? i think not . but one thing that gets me is when you demo a system shouldn't the guys in the store actually set it up right in the first place ? because with the first demo there was hardly any bass and the speakers sounded like they were placed in a box and the amp running them was no slouch either (denon avr2310)
 
Hello,

About 2 years ago i had the exact same experience when demoing the MT-30 and 3005SE. I just wasn't happy with either all round for music and films, and was particularly disappointed with the MT-30 for the price.

I ended up getting the Tannoy Arena, so it may be worth tracking that down especially now the prices have gone down a bit.

Great detail, clarity, and musicality, and the integration of the sub is really good.
 
hi there
ive been down this route recently,
the amp i use is a denon 2310 which i purchased along with the kef 3500se speakers i personaly found that they are realy great speakers, in my cinema room i run my movies through a denon 2500 bt bray player to my projector (optima hd 20) not sure if this helps but trying to give you a idea of my set up, anyway i owned the kefs for about 6 months then went out and bought a set of b&ws cm 7s cm centre cm 1s for rears and a velodyne sub, wired them all up and uhh not so sure they sound any better than the eggs, but now two weeks later i have byamped the front cm7s bywired the centre and run audessy about 5 times overriding certain settings to my own taste, the differance is now deff in the b&ws favour i,m not quite there with the sub but close,dont get me wrong the kefs are very good but think what i,m trying to say is they come across as a bit limited thats my own opinion of course ....
 
sorry forgot to add this was obviously based on cinema sound, musicaly the b&ws are in a differant world thks
 

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