B&W 683 vs 685

[james]

Hi all,

Am planning to take the plunge in setting a HT.
option 1: Buy a 685 HT
Option 2: Buy a pair of 683 and later update to 5.1

Room size is regular (by mumbai standard) or small (Delhi standard

How much discount can I expect from B&W dealers (Mumbai) ..
I think MRP was 49K on 685( front) & ~1.1 683 ( pair)
+ VAT

Also which amp should I be looking for these.
What I have in my mind is to spend ~60-70K on amp

 

[afj]

when youre spending that sort of money you should audition a few sets before you decide. any particular reason why only b&w? if its mainly ht then you dont really need floorstanders for your fronts as long as you have a sub in place

 

[ShaQ.Blogs]

Am planning to take the plunge in setting a HT.
option 1: Buy a 685 HT
Option 2: Buy a pair of 683 and later update to 5.1

Room size is regular (by mumbai standard) or small (Delhi standard

How much discount can I expect from B&W dealers (Mumbai) ..
I think MRP was 49K on 685( front) & ~1.1 683 ( pair)
+ VAT

Also which amp should I be looking for these.
What I have in my mind is to spend ~60-70K on amp

Are u looking for amp or receiver? Marantz gives some of the best prices is what i found from my research. I might have missed something . You can have a look at Marantz 6005 / 7005 (7005 is higher end amp).

I believe you should look at other models. B&W are over priced, you can get better for the money.

Room size is regular (by mumbai standard) or small (Delhi standard

Not sure how much it helps to hear such statements. Give an exact or at least rough dimensions.

when youre spending that sort of money you should audition a few sets before you decide. any particular reason why only b&w? if its mainly ht then you dont really need floorstanders for your fronts as long as you have a sub in place

I do agree. Also placing bookshelves is easier, as placing a FS to get god imaging and getting it to perform well with bass is not easy. But audessey can take care of bass issues so it is not that big a problem. Having said that I do have a FS. You can get an equally well performance with bookshelves. But nothing to beat a good FS. If ur budget is below 60K IMHO get BS, else go for a FS . The reasoning is for the same price one needs to build a bigger box for FS and put in more drivers, while a BS is smaller so smaller box with lesser drives equates to usually better quality build. To achieve this in a FS one needs to pay more else why would one just put ion a bigger box and more drivers. So anything below a certain price point, something or the other is compromised!

 

[james]

Couple of my friends in UK have 685 and I really liked its performance.
I listened to 683 and found it to be better than 685 ( for music ) .. I agree for TV it doesn't matter much.
I tried couple of other speaker Focal / KEF /... Honestly each sounds amazing and I am not able to compare as I liskted to them at differnet places.
Also I never read anything bad abt 685 , hence decided to fix my choice to B&W

Am planning to use my setup for music ( 70% ) hence more inclined for FS.

Wouldn't I need an amp to run these ? sorry am new so with very limited knowledge
My room size is 20x15feet ...

 

[dlkanth]

hi,
with ur interests, try the Marantz 6005 / speakers u can go for Paradigms / tannoy will be good combo for 70% music interest .

 

[afj]

you should audition the monitor audio silver series. one of the best speaker packages in its price range. i second shaq when he says b&w's are overpriced

if youre looking for an amp to match the b&w's rotel is the amp to look at. you could also check out marantz, cambridge. nad doesnt pair well. b&w's are very finicky speakers. you got to pair it with an amp that matches.

 

[pdhanwada]

try to audition paradigm studio series.
Studio 60 and Studio 100 are also in the 683 price range. They are awesome for music as well as ht.

Thanks
Pandu

 

[godsdevil]

Hi all,

Am planning to take the plunge in setting a HT.
option 1: Buy a 685 HT
Option 2: Buy a pair of 683 and later update to 5.1

Room size is regular (by mumbai standard) or small (Delhi standard

How much discount can I expect from B&W dealers (Mumbai) ..
I think MRP was 49K on 685( front) & ~1.1 683 ( pair)
+ VAT

Also which amp should I be looking for these.
What I have in my mind is to spend ~60-70K on amp

James

I was in exactly the same boat as you a few months ago till I started my research and found this forum.

I, like many others above, would suggest you audition more speakers and not just get stuck on B&W. They are grossly overpriced in India and are just not worth the money. There are much better speakers at the price range you are looking at.

At your budget, I'd go for Marantz sr7005. It's Marantz's flagship receiver with all the latest bells and whistles and is very musical for an AVR. Compared to Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo its more VFM, more musical and absolutely stunning to look at. It should be available for 65k without bill and ~70k with bill in Mumbai. It has enough power (125wpc) and for a start could work as an amplifier for your stereo setup as well (and you can later on add a dedicated pre/pro and a power amp for better stereo application).

For speakers, I'd suggest you also try Monitor Audio, Swans(brilliant for HT), Martin Logans(non electrostatics versions), Paradigm, PSB, Focals, Anthony Gallos, Dali etc. For your purpose and budget, Focals Chorus (836v or 826v) would be a great fit. Among all these mass marketed brands, I found Focals to be the best at the price range. Monitor Audio RX6 were also brilliant but just a little bright for my taste.

And if you are ready to go the importation route there are much better speakers available. There is guy based out of Mumbai that imports speakers directly from US via sea and sells them much lower than the current market price (he's not a authorized dealer for any but gives you the dealer's warranty for all his products). You can look at some really good Internet Direct brands (Salk Sound, Aperions, Vandersteens etc) and import them ether directly or through him. These brands give you much better sound at the price point than any of these mass marketed speakers. A $2000 speaker from an ID brand will be as good, and in some cases even better than a $4000-5000 branded speaker.

Best of luck for you hunt.

Cheers

ps: a 20x15 room is a large room by Delhi (normal) standards and MASSIVE for bbay standards my dear friend. :cheers: