Im missing something here

Visited Acoustica in Chester yesterday for a B & W day and I left cold. Aside from the fact if its not Naim or Classe its not worth listening too but thats dealers for you. But, I just couldnt get on with the set-ups. The 804's sounded so bright and forward it hurt, the 803's did sound good and I was very dissapointed with the 802's (for the money that is). Maybe it was the Classe stuff but whatever I just didnt get it. Everyone else thought it was the best thing going but I left hugely dissapointed in what amounted to literally thousands of pounds worth of stuff. Maybe I need to be educated in what sounds good

Best quote came from a saleman who called my mates Pioneer AX10i (£3300 AV amp) and claimed a £250 Rotel would poo all over it for 2 channel stuff......Indeed.

 

I am not a fan of B&W either, but I think the N803 (old series I am talking about) has the most potential for good sound. Well-driven, it can be a good speaker. Classé doesn't really cut it for me.

 

Say what you like about Classe and B&W but the best sound I've ever heard from a system was a full house B&W and Classe setup at the 2004 Lisbon Audioshow:




So far the only system I've ever heard that was really able to transmit the weight and scale of a big orchestra in a concert hall. Very impressed.

Michael.

 

Horses for courses. Personally I found the Audio Research/Wilson Watt Puppy combo at the SAS Radison show the best Ive heard closely followed by a Krell/Sonus Faber combo and of course the Wilson benesch set-up at the afore mentioned show. Maybe it was room combo's etc.

 

Every time I've heard the Audionote set up it's left me smiling! It does so many things wrong, yet what it does well it does better than anything else I've heard.

 

Agreed...

 

Its musical.

 

Audio Note are always saying that the best audio systems show big difference between recordings. Strange thing is I have heard this from their systems, as well as the Lyngdorf/TacT 2.2 system I heard a few days ago. They are totally different systems however!

 

b&w's need loads of running in and go off very quickly if left unused for a time - also they need to be really abused volume wise before they wake up. most audiofool demo music will sound bland and boring through them - mahler, motorhead or hardcore dance wicked up to 11 is what they like to be playing. or at least that's been my experience with them.
cheers


julian.

 

In fairness we were given a free hand with the test discs. In fact Acoustica were excellent in this respect, they just left us in a demo room and swapped the speakers for us. The room was uncluttered except for some room correction items, this is the best Ive seen at a dealer. We concentrated on Led Zep, we both know there recording very well and some of the early stuff leaves alot to be desired, CD quality wise. Looking back I think the 803's might get a further demo but not the others.

BTW Ju, we've not has an S5 update for a while, hows the beasts doing??