Hello all, New to this forum. I have been looking for a good speakers for a long time. Finally decided to go
B&W 683 floor standing matched with Rotel 1057 Receiver.
They both work under $2500 in the dealer after the discount. My primary focus is Music and it was very clear High ends and vocals with very clean sounding bass without jarring.
Please let me know, if my choice is right here. Or is there a combination, i need to looking at this price point.
Yes, what is Jarring bass? I have heard many B&W / Rotel demo's and all sounded great. They blend well together. There is other brands that come to mind for that price Range such as NAD Masters series with some Paradigm Studio 100's. NAD Masters with some Totem's?? Either way the B&W/Rotel mix will make you happy.
I believe the price point he was talkin' here was $2500. NAD Masters and Totems at that price point = buying them from the back of a pickup shortly after a robbery. Could be wrong and I'm sure someone will tell me if I am.
I mean to say, bass with vibration at very low ends.
Of all speakers i have heard at this price point. B&W 683 were the best for the music.
I listen to Indian classic, Jazz, Blues and Rock. B&W's were good overall on all the aspects.
I really liked the Totems for their clarity and Vocals. But they lacked the Bass, which made them fall apart in some of the tracks. ( Except for Rainmaker book shelf ). But then they were expensive. For the price of $2900, you really have a competetive speaker B&W 805 boof shelf.
I was intially very much for Paradigm, bang for the buck saga. They are more open speakers, fill the room kind of thing. But after hours of listening and comparison with some classical music, instrumentals and high pitch vocals, Paradigm kind of lost the clarity that B&W's have.
Also, felt that B&W's are really power hungry. If you put them up with good power they really come alive and music flows cleanly. Side by Side Paradigm seems to loose.
Pl. correct me if this is a right statement.
NOTE : I have always compared these with only 2 Front speakers without a Sub.
I listen to mix of classical, instrumental, jazz, blues. Some times rock. I listen to 4 different languages. Primarily we listen to Indian Classical music.
The source would be a CD Player. I would probably find a used one around $ 500 - $ 700 range.
Ganesh - Have you bought the gear and asking us if you made a right or wrong choice? Or are you still shopping and asking us our opinions?
Rotel and B&W are a very good combo. They synergize well and are both respectable companies. For the money, there isn't really much better out there, just different.
You sound as though you've heard the combo. If it sounds good to you and is the right price from the right dealer, it should be a done deal. Don't second guess yourself. There's always different, and better, but at an increased price. Forget about at the what ifs. If you've heard the competition and prefer what you've chosen, call it a day.
An iPod through a sound dock - one that bypasses the iPod's internal amp - to a receiver can sound pretty good, so long as you're using Apple Lossless. The compressed formats are a waste of time IMO.
But, a dedicated CD player like the matching Rotel will be far better and maximize what you have. Don't go cheap on the source, its where the music starts. If the source is compromised, everything else downstream will be as well.
The iPod as I described it can be a respectable temporary solution, but for the long term, a dedicated CD player should be a must.
My appologies, I thought he meant 2500 for each speakers and receiver. After reading again, I realise he meant for both. Forums and Working don't mix sometimes.lol.
Nick, No need to apologize. I am trying to find help here with you guys experience. And Sorry, if i have confused the forum. I meant $2500 is the price for B&W 683 and Rotel 1057 both together. The quote i got from the dealer.
I have not bought the gear yet. I want the opinions before making the final commitment.
These are the musical speakers that i liked. I have heard other brand which I dont think were close enough. Again this purely based on my listening ears, accurate sounding and clear tones without considering the bang.
Of the List i like the B&W 805 the best but $3100 /pr for speakers and stands compared to the new B&W 683 at $1400/pr. My dealer has a 3 year upgrade policy within which i can go to 805's or higher and will get back money credit for my 683's.
So after all the research and wife's approval on go ahead.
B&W 683 / Rotel 1057 => 2500 cables => 300 CD Player => 500
Total around $3300 for the gear. To start with, is this a good package or should i use the money differently ? ( Considering, I have little more room to spend money ).
The idea of this plan was one of dealer recommending start with 683 and i have 3 years before i can go for 805's or 804's or eventually 803's or 802's. Thats long term. And I would agree once we are at $5k mark. There are a lot of good brands to compare.
So, I am seeking help here to start my Road map of acoustics in making the right brand choice( Mainly for Speaker and Amps/Power ).
Ganesh- I think you should pick up the Rotel/B&W set up. If you are happy with the sound, then go for it. It sounds like you have listened to a lot of speaker brands, in and out of your price range. The only other amp/receivers you can try out in your price Range are NAD and H/K and such. To be honest they wont match as nicely with the B&W's that a Rotel perhaps will. For 500 dollars though you should maybe look at a NAD cd player. I am not sure if Rotel has one at that price or not? If they do, then stick with Rotel to match it with your receiver.Cheers.
If you have lesser equipment right now, this is an upgrade and a good place to start. As noted Rotel & B&W are a synergistic combination. The price is good and you seem to prefer this combination.
Buy it.
Enjoy it.
Don't worry if there's anything that does something a little bit better. Worrying about whether this would be good for this or that would be better for that is a time waster. You like what you hear, we have no objections and your wife has given the OK. Do something before she changes her mind hearing you talk about the various options. Wait and you'll end up buying a new refrigerator.
After three years you will have heard the strengths and weaknesses of the equipment and will be in a much better position to decide whether you need to upgrade to the more expensive products. Listen to plenty of live music in the meantime.
There are so many components and speakers in your price range that would make for a good combo that it would be difficult for us to advise with any degree of sureness. However that won't stop us...lol!
First I would address the source...Rega Apollo is the best CD player at anywhere near it's price and with your budget a no brainer starting place.
Next an amp/speaker combo that reflects your listening preference. I'm going to guess that the Naim Nait 5i and Totem Model Ones might make a great system with the Apollo. Frank may be along later to recommend a good set of stands for the Model Ones. This is over $2500 but apparently you aren't that firm with the budget.
Is the Rega Apollo only in the 500 dollar range? If so..ahh..why don't I have one yet?lol. Seriously how much is it?
Jan is right, if you like it, buy it, and enjoy it. Hook it up, listen, and come back on here and tell us what you think of your new system. Then tell us if it sounds as good as it did in the audio store. Hopefully it does.
The Apollo is 1k retail...just pointing out the importance of the source in the mix. Ganesh spoke of the source as sort of an afterthought and was not sticking to a firm budget...source first.
Ganesh just burn some MP3 cd's off your computer and play them on a 40 dollar DVD player from Walmart. It will sound great. JUST KIDDING. Listen to Art, he is right. Source is very important.
okay, now that we have a baseline. I saw a couple of options that i found online. I saw a Rotel 1066 pre/amp ( 2 yr used ) on sale for $899. If I marry that with RMB 1075. My cost goes up to $1750 for the powers. compared to
$ 1100 for Rotel 1057.
My options 1066/1075 => $1750 or Rotel 1057 => 1100.
Is that $650 of extra money is going a make a significant differnce of music ?
iPOD-I hear it is actually can be good, as long as you go the route that Stu informed you to earlier on. Give the Rotel and NAD cd players a listen, see which you like better. If it was me though, and I had a Rotel receiver, I would pair it with a Rotel cd player. IMO.
I see a 26 cubic footer and a new dishwasher on the way!
Ganesh! Go buy something! That's what hifi is about. Owning something - then deciding it's not what you want. It's the American Way, for crimmeny sakes! You can't decide you should have bought something else until you buy something in the first place. Yes, $650 will make a difference. $2k will make a difference. Setting the speakers up correctly will make a difference. Buying a used amplifier you know nothing about will make a difference. Everything will make a difference! And soon the difference will be you'll have nothing at all.
However, nothing will make a difference until you own something. Go buy the system and listen to the music. If, tomorrow morning, you want to get something different, I would guess the dealer will swap it out. Or, tell you how to set it up correctly. It's called "sh!t or get off the pot." Buy something, Ganesh. Stop worrying and buy something.
Take your $300 for cables add it to the CD Player, new or used buy an Apollo. If you like Rotel / B&W the Apollo will take to places other sources cannot.
Think of it this way, unless you married your high-school sweet-heart, was there ever this girl you would give anything to be with, but given the opportunity you blinked, and the chance passed you by? I am afraid that if you do not demo an Apollo with the Rotel / B&W you will suffer the same regret.
Send Jan a PM and ask how you you can trade off most of the $300 on cables and still get the most out of your system.
Ganesh, you do not have to 'settle' on any particular player, short of a Linn. As layed out in cd players, I hav both of those that you might be looking at, plus a few others.
B&W 683 speakers. Rotel 1057 AV Receiver. Pioneer Elite DVD-48 DVD Player ( for music and movies ) using this for CD Player for now. Pioneer iPod Docking Station. Monster M Series cable. Biwire from receiver to speakers.
I did not want to compromise on the CD Player. I decided to wait for a few months and buy the Rega Apollo CD Player.
I was able to hook the receiver, dvd player, speakers in a hour after reading the manual and getting some inputs from the store. My system is working now.
I feel that the base is little softer compared to when i listened to the demo's in the shop. I am suspecting the position of the speakers. My entertainment center is placed in the corner of the room like a cross/diagonal view. Any recommendations on how to position the speakers to get the optimal permformance.
Last week I demmed 683s (with HTM61 centre and 686 at the rear)for the first time. I used Arcam DV139/AVR350 electronics. The AVR350 is about as powerful (maybe a bit less) as the 1057. I started with the B&W PV-1 sub and I thought this was a very good combination indeed.
The customer did not! He wanted a bigger, more obvious presentation - a bit like putting the aircon too high so you can feel it. Eventually he went with a Velodyne SPL-1200R. I demmed the 1000 but although he liked it he went for the 1200 because of the 12" driver and is almost the same money. I admit that the 1000R is a better sub, but he wanted it set too high (I did mention at one point that if he couldn't hear it he was deaf! ).
I also demmed the Naim n-Sub to him (this is 60% more). He accepted that this was a lot better but in his view it wasn't so much better as to justify the cost and he didn't like the look. In my view of all the ones we tried I'd have taken the PV-1 or the Naim, while accepting that the Velodyne was very good value indeed.
I've never tried a Sunfire sub in a system I know. I do know Bob Carver's amps. all I can say is his subs better be a lot better than his amps otherwise dey ain't gonna light a candle next to da Velodyne.
Ganesh: The Sunfire subs are decent as far as small subs go, but you have to keep in mind, theres no replacement for displacement. There are any number of subwoofers that will outperform it, albeit at the price of having a larger cabinet.
In the Hsu STF-1 review by Sensible Sound, in terms of measured output, it wiped the floor with the Sunfire Super Junior. The Hsu is all of $299, with a modest 150 watt amplifier. However, its cabinet is over 4 times larger. I'd also daresay that Hsu's reputation for quality of bass exceeds that of Sunfire.
Ganesh - everything makes a difference. Cabinet size, amplifier power and type, drive unit size and weight, number of drive units, sub configuration (downward firing, wall firing, room firing, ceiling firing), ported or not ported...the list is long.
There is no one way to decide that a sub is better than another unless you hear it. Each approach has its compromises. For example, a bigger cabinet allows the sub to breathe more easily, but a bigger cabinet is difficult to brace properly which gives cabinet honk. I know some very small subs which put larger subs to shame and I know large subs which make smaller subs seem pathetic...
CM, nothing seems odd to me anymore. I really want to gather your opinions on the 685. I called the shop around here and he has these coming this week, selling price will be 1500cdn. Remembering that the loonie is nearly at parity, I would like to find out the price that can be negotiated.
If you can try them on a Classe or Rotel power amp with a Rush recording(like Red Barchetta) that would be even better. And yes, I would like fries with that!
They seem to be classier looking than the old 600 series, they got rid of those plastic baffles, but still vinyl clad? At the price B&W charges, you'd think wood veneer be in order, I guess it's whats on the inside that counts. We'll see.
The 300 series has bit the dust, I wonder if they plan to replace it?
They were on at a shop in Dallas with a Rotel receiver, but I didn't listen. They were in the room o' speakers, so not much point. I didn't even look too close. The size looks up from the 6's and a large port, didn't notice anything else.
The 800's in the big room with Classe ca-m400's however...
how about B&W 683's with an integra dtr 7.8. i really like rotel but the integra has dolbytrueHD and all those new lossless formats for hd, and apparently rotel isnt coming out with that for another year? also monster mcx 2's speaker cables, any opinions?
B&W 685 Books shelf's. I heard them when I bought my gear ( B&W 683 and Rotel ).
Trust me. They sound unreal for the price $600 a pair. Now you can't beat Vocal clarity of these at this price period (IMO). Well surely, they lack the bass of 683 ( which you dont expect in a book shelf ). But Sound stage and vocal clarity just blew me away. I have listened to totem's bookshelf. But they start at 2 X times as much money as 685's. And the only model in Totem ( Rainmaker at $2800), i can think was noticable better than the 685's.
so, I am going to buy them myself for my rear's. But I am planning to use the 685 as fronts for music, when I listen to some classical songs with lots high frequency vocals with string instruments. ( side by side with my 683's ).
An Cody, I have B&W 683's with Rotel 1057. After a month, they whole system is broken in and now they sound just fantastic. The bass is phenomenal. I have not heard them with an Integra, so dont how well they would match with B&W 683's. And, I dont have a sub hooked up yet. Yet the bass is unbelievably tight and clean.
Ganesh. Maybe do without the sub if you find the bass tight and clean. I know if I had the 685s I wouldnt get a sub, I completely love the sound of them. And they were hardly used in the shop so god knows what they'd be like if they'd have warmed up. They make music very danceable!
I'm very new to the Hi-Fi world, and I'm currently shopping around for an entry level system, I'm on a budget. I need a CD player, Amp and Pre Amp combo, and a pair of speakers. I've looked at the B&W 683 and the NAD C162 C272. Are these good combo's for the speakers? or should I get some thing from Rotel for the 683's. I listen to a lot of Heavy Metal and Classic Rock. I like good clean high's(Not artifical though) and clean punchy bass. Also if some one can recommend a CD player for under $800 would highly appreciate it. Whatcha think, good choice??? Still in the market shopping, San Diego area.}
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