I am setting up my new B&W based surround system paired with a NAD T752 receiver. I have used a SPL meter to balance the speakers and yet I am having some volume problems. In stereo and surround my front speakers sound quite light when playing music (video not completed yet as I will shortly upgrade to a LCD TV which can fit in the same cabinet). This is most noticable in stereo which actually sound worse (and significantly lower in volume) with the addition of the sub and receiver than before the change. Click over to surround music and the center channel takes over and magic happens (not to mention a doubling of overall sound volume). The fronts still sound weak even in this setup however. Any ideas what is going on?
Setup: Front: B&W 610i (10 years old and 4ohm impedance) - which by the way have always sounded great. Center: B&W LCR 60 S3 (8 ohm) Sub: B&W ASW CM Surround: B&W DM600 S3 (8 ohm)
Gary, I am curious about this speaker set up. I am trying to put together a B&W surround system as well, and I am thinking of matching it with either the NAD T752 or the T762. I just bought a used pair of B&W 610i speakers---are they really good? I hope so since I first thought I made a mistake buying them given the 4 ohm rating. Do they sound better than the B&W DM600 S3 (which go for much more money)? Does the LCR 60 S3 seem to do a good job with the 610i setup?
I am a newbie, but let me take a stab at your problem--is there any chance that you just need to set the receiver to 4 ohm output? Or does that NAD allow you to set each channel separately? Keep me posted since I am in the middle of trying to set up something similar to your setup.
sean, i have loved the 610i for the last 10 years. once i get the set up figured out i am sure i will love them for another 10! as far as i can tell there is not a 4ohm output setting on my NAD (i am a newbie as well though). there are speaker level presets for different modes (stereo vs DolbyII vs other surround, etc.) and i may need to create several presets if all else fails or i have not made an error (more likely). when i finalize my setup i will be in a better position to comment on the DM600s vs the 610i.
the LCR 60S3 sounds great and is very well matched. i would not waste money upgrading to the LCR 600S3, but did not really audition it. i think your $$$ would be better spent upgrading the sub or fronts. gary
Based upon your description, I think you may have one of your front speakers wired "out of phase". This is when you have the wires reversed on one speaker, which will cause phase cancellation of the lower frequencies, causing stereo to sound weak in the bass and diminished volume. When you switch to surround sound, you now have four speakers correctly wired and they can overcome the phase cancellation caused by the one speaker out of phase. So, check your wiring to be sure that the positive wire from the receiver is going to the positive terminal on the speakers. It sounds like one front speaker has the wiring reversed.
There is noticeable improvement going from LCR60 to LCR600 center & IMHO not a waste of money. But it depends on what setup you have & whether you listen to alot of 5.1/6.1 music & watch DVDs.
The short answer is, use LCR60 if you have bookshelf fronts, and LCR600 for tower fronts.
BTW using 603/601/LCR600. I compared both centers side by side, then had the LCR60 for 2 wks, and finally swapped for the bigger LCR600. Never regretted spending the extra $150 or so.
Sean and Hawk, Unfortunately, the speakers are not wired out of phase (thanks for the tip though!). I find that using EARS (NAD exclusive surround music algorithm) that the fronts sound very weak and the center quite strong. Maybe I just need to get used to the different surround music patterns and adjust my ears or select one more to my taste. In any case, EARS surround music pushes much more overall volume than Stereo mode for some reason. If I turn up the Receiver, Stereo sound is loud enough, but seems out of balance with the subwoofer volume. I think I will need to change the Speaker settings specifically for Stereo (versus my base Surround setting) to get the Sub / Front levels correctly matched.
610i vs 602 will have to wait awhile while I play and can state a more informed opinion, but I don't think you can go too far wrong either way.
each will have his own taste in speakers, that is probably why we have so many glorious options to choose from!
that said, even if you are using the system for A/V 90% of the time, i don't think many people would recommend allocating $500+ to the center if you have a overall budget that dictates a choice between ~$150 (used 610i) to $300 (DM600S3s) on the fronts. i believe the LCR60 would be an excellent match for sean's setup.