Flash
Well-Known Member
800D at Abbey Road Studios
805s used as near field Monitors in Studio 2 Abbey Road
805s used as near field Monitors in Studio 2 Abbey Road
The B&Ws have arrived in Chennai!
- Thread starter Decibel
- Start date
Probably 2 power amp used as mono/bridged mode.
The B&W 68X series is still regarded as 'entry level/ first time buyer' speakers on forums abroad.
Aren't there speakers which work their best even with a decent amplification rather then spending a ton on amplification?
Flash
Well-Known Member
Yes true. the 600 series is considered entry level in the western hemisphere and competes against the likes of KEF Q series, Monitor Audio Silver, Dali etc.
However B&W's are known to be power hungry. Quantity followed by Quality.
Get amplification correct and they usually outperform higher priced speakers.
An example that can be noted with a FM several months ago who bought the 685 and paired it the Marantz PM6004.
Well it would seem like a possible mate considering the price of both the components. However it turned out quite the opposite and in short unlivable.
The FM had previously auditioned them with Rotel Pre + Power
I have an Arcam A70 which I tried pairing with the 685 as well. and the results were pretty substandard.
Amps that seem to mate well with B&W are
1. Marantz Pm7004 / Ki Lite
2. Rotel Ra-06 , RA-1520
3. Naim Nait XS
etc etc etc
Ravi, everything depends upon the intended application and the way you buy your equipment. If you buy an amp first, then you have to look for speakers that match that amp well. If you buy or choose speakers first, then you have to look for amp that match the speakers well.
B&W are special speakers that, when played well, disappear completely.
Cheers
I am also interested to know, which amp will be good enough to drive this 685. The reason i am asking is to plan for budget, Hope you are having suitable amp for this 685 in your show room. Please mention price for the budget planning of Amp/Interconnects.
yahoo0212
Active Member
Is Marantz PM6003 a good match for B&W 685.. Powerful enough ?
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2chFreak
New Member
we slapped a Pass Labs XP-10 | X 350.5 onto the 685 with XLO Sig3 5.4(biwire) & the speaker was CRYin - :lol:
varma_vikas
Active Member
Hi Decibel,
Congrats for being the dealer of most reputed brand B&w.
My only concern is , u have not answered anybody- why B&W are being sold at exhorbitant prices?
I have been looking for either 683 or CM9. I auditioned CM9. when I asked for price , dealer told me 2.7 lakhs. I think the price for CM9 is approx $3000.
No reason to go for unreasonable prices.
The Marantz has a max output of 45W into 8 ohms.
The B&W 685 has a power range of 25-100 watts at a nominal impedance of 8 ohms. It also has a (relatively) low sensitivity of 88db.
So if you are asking can the 6003 drive the 685s? - yes they can. Are they a good match - I am not very sure as the leeway left with the amp is barely 15-20 watts, and it could start clipping when there are some power hungry clippings in the music. What really happens is the need for sudden power when there is a huge drum, a crescendo, a peaking of music. It is in such places that the amp has to show it's muscle, and have enough reserve to drive the speakers.
I will be more comfortable with an amp that has a specification of about 100 watts into 8 ohms. As I said before the B&Ws are power hungry.
One of our prospective clients listened to the 685s at our place and was very impressed with the sound. He was also very keen to hear the FS version of the speakers - the 683/684s that unfortunately we could not demonstrate. Hid did listen to the FS in some other place and came away very disappointed. My guess is that the FS speakers have not been matched well there.
Cheers
Just read the previous post. Any good amp that has a output of about 100 watts into 8 ohms will be able to drive the 685s well. If you come to our showroom, we can demonstrate the 685s with amplifier from Arcam, Advance Acoustic, and Parasound. We can also, if you so desire, drive it with AVRs from Denon and Pioneer.
Plan for a amp around 50K and you will be good to go.
Cheers
I am at a loss here to understand you. I have already answered this question many times. There will be a difference between the prices you read on the Net, and the prices you get in India of the same product through a legal and registered distribution. There is transportation, customs, and taxes to be taken care of. We follow the law of the land very clearly and faithfully.
If you can pick up the CM9 for $3000, why don't you simply do that and enjoy a good set of speakers?
Cheers
gilfredpaul
Active Member
Hi
First of all Congrats for taking B&W dealership.
My humble request to B&W dealers, Don't except your customers to come only in BMW Car to audition these speakers. I know this sounds irrelevant to this thread.
I had bitter experience when i went to B&W dealer in Bangalore to audition subwoofer. The Dealer showed me 608 model as demo. When I asked about the other higher end model 10" or 12" he said its in another room and hesitated to show demo.
Finally when it comes to pricing, he said (x) amount plus taxes. He was not even interested to say the final amount.
My humble request when some one shows interest on your product, try to show that back by giving enough details with interest.
First of all Congrats for taking B&W dealership.
My humble request to B&W dealers, Don't except your customers to come only in BMW Car to audition these speakers. I know this sounds irrelevant to this thread.
I had bitter experience when i went to B&W dealer in Bangalore to audition subwoofer. The Dealer showed me 608 model as demo. When I asked about the other higher end model 10" or 12" he said its in another room and hesitated to show demo.
Finally when it comes to pricing, he said (x) amount plus taxes. He was not even interested to say the final amount.
My humble request when some one shows interest on your product, try to show that back by giving enough details with interest.
varma_vikas
Active Member
If you can pick up the CM9 for $3000, why don't you simply do that and enjoy a good set of speakers?
Cheers[/QUOTE]
Ofcourse, I will do the same & will not pay unnecessary money imposed by the importers here in India.
Cheers[/QUOTE]
Ofcourse, I will do the same & will not pay unnecessary money imposed by the importers here in India.
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Agreed with gilfredpaul to the max... I myself have have had some experiences and also heard of similar stories from people too, Simply put the cars and cloths don't make the person, The character/atitude does... and any person who has developed an audiophilic interest & liking towards B&Ws which are revered in this audiophilic world should be considered of being of a sensible character (Audiophile wise)ergo a worthy and attention payable customer.
Personally I ve given such assistants an earful and walked away taking my business elsewhere..
content may be for teaching a lesson, but am not glad doing so. .On to the topic related note: Gratzies to decibel for procuring the dealership rights... They are one of my favorites. Hope to see more varieties in your display.. though I am in Hyderabad would very much like my audiophilic friends to be able to audition them whenever possible.; ) Kudos!!!:clapping:
2chFreak
New Member
Horror stories abt this B&W Dealer in Bangalore is not new.
5 months back, a frnd of mine keen to build a quality system paid a visit to this showroom & the best speaker there he could demo was the 804 Diamond. However, he was keen on the 800 Diamond-II.
Thereafter, quotes for the same were sought from them but they just failed to offer any. Almost 3 months later, they frantically tried to get in touch with the customer (as if they heard from somewhere that this sale was slipping out of their fingers) & sent a Quote for a System "that they called a matched one to do justice to 800 Diamond-II".
It comprised of the 800 Diamond-II, a lowest base model of Jeff Rowland preamp, an under-powered stereo Classe power amp & an absolute entry-level Rotel CDP.
And they expect such a system to do justice or call it a "matched system" ? complete jokers !!
Soon after, however, B&W 800 Diamond-IIs came from abroad (hence AVI & their clans have nothing to do with it) & my frnd is happy abt the fact that the Indian B&W chaps aren't involved with his speaker b'coz the service backup is another story !!
There's also an equally horrifying similar story of another B&W customer for his "Original Nautilus" - the super expensive model that looks like a snail & requires 4 Stereo amps or 8 monoblocks to drive it. Again - all imports !!
gilfredpaul, rud3dawg, 2chFreak - thank you for your comments. At the same time, it is not fair to generalize based on your experience with someone.
The doors of Decibel are always open for anyone interested in listening to any of the products that we have on demo. I have personally demonstrated the 685s to many people without any prejudice. In many cases we have clients coming back for a 2nd or 3rd demo after they audition other products elsewhere. Only yesterday I patiently switched over 3 pairs of heavy floor standers for a gentleman from Coimbatore who wanted to decide between three speaker brands for a HT he is building.
If we do not have the products that a client is looking for we clearly say that in the beginning.
Irrespective of where you are from, you are always welcome to come to Decibel to audition any of the products we have. Bring your own music and even movies to make the audition even more meaningful for your own ears and eyes.
Cheers
The doors of Decibel are always open for anyone interested in listening to any of the products that we have on demo. I have personally demonstrated the 685s to many people without any prejudice. In many cases we have clients coming back for a 2nd or 3rd demo after they audition other products elsewhere. Only yesterday I patiently switched over 3 pairs of heavy floor standers for a gentleman from Coimbatore who wanted to decide between three speaker brands for a HT he is building.
If we do not have the products that a client is looking for we clearly say that in the beginning.
Irrespective of where you are from, you are always welcome to come to Decibel to audition any of the products we have. Bring your own music and even movies to make the audition even more meaningful for your own ears and eyes.
Cheers
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corElement
Well-Known Member
Wow congrats on getting the 685! You should show us a few photos of the store with stuff on display =)
SatMumbai
Active Member
Congratulations on getting the dealership !!
One word For the potential buyers:
B&W makes good speakers. I ownedd their older 3xx series and then 686, 685 later moved on to cm7 & cm9 and then finally 804s.
During all this time I was just going by the brand name and it gave me enough happiness. The only problem area is their metal dome tweeter which is not so good for people who care quality high end.
IMO, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 perform better than 685.
686 is the black sheep in the range.
So please do not go to the auditioning that all B&W speakers are great. In fact any thing below 8 series has serious competition.
Nothing against B&W as I am still a big fan of the brand but some particular products / range of speakers are positioned beyond their performance riding on the brand name, IMO
Once you are clear before the audition, then it will help you to have the audition purely on performance and not on brand (I admit, I bought the speakers in the beginning, just on the brand name)
My 2 paisa!
One word For the potential buyers:
B&W makes good speakers. I ownedd their older 3xx series and then 686, 685 later moved on to cm7 & cm9 and then finally 804s.
During all this time I was just going by the brand name and it gave me enough happiness. The only problem area is their metal dome tweeter which is not so good for people who care quality high end.
IMO, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 perform better than 685.
686 is the black sheep in the range.
So please do not go to the auditioning that all B&W speakers are great. In fact any thing below 8 series has serious competition.
Nothing against B&W as I am still a big fan of the brand but some particular products / range of speakers are positioned beyond their performance riding on the brand name, IMO
Once you are clear before the audition, then it will help you to have the audition purely on performance and not on brand (I admit, I bought the speakers in the beginning, just on the brand name)
My 2 paisa!
2chFreak
New Member
I too am disappointed with the new 68x series & also the CM-series which I'd say are waaaayy too bright & needs 'very careful matching' with ancillary equipment.
Their pre-1998 models in this area were much superior. Pity the company decided to heavily commercialize 'post-1997' thus tilted the tonal spectrum balance towards the brighter side of life & making the speaker more forward sounding .. from their traditional house sound of the 1986-1997 era that earned them the title as the Industry leader for Classical music monitoring.
In the 600-series, their series-2 were relatively well done. So were their CDM-series.
Most disappointing was their newest 800 Diamond-II which lack superior damping even after mating it with several amplifiers costing twice the spk's value. :sad:
Competitively, the ATC SCM 100 Anniversary would eat it alive !!
Coming back to B&W pricing in India, I'm afraid its waaayy too skewed towards high profits by the distributor/importer, AVI. Until & unless they wake up & make the necessary adjustments to pricing it correctly, the sales figures will stay low whilst many would seek to continue importing them from out of the country as a better route.
Its all in the hands of AVI & doubt what dealers like "Decibel" can do.
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