Thoughts inspired by Arts Totem adventure: B & W 685: Priced the same at $600 as used Totems. New vs classic. In my case would be powered by the Mira 3 or Rotel 1070. My BW dealer is also a Rotel shop.
I wonder how these compare to the Totem Rainmakers at the same price? I have never heard Totems. I went to the BW dealer to buy some stands for my ancient Rogers L3/5A. I got the same the metal stands that my Quads are on. Filled w/sand they did improve the speakers.
I was not speaker shopping but curiosity drove me to audition the BW 685 "Entry level speaker of the year '07" Absolute Sound Mag. and their "Golden Ear '08" Award. My conclusion is that they are too close in quality to my own 3 pair of speakers to consider. I would want to move up to something significantly better. I am not saying they sound like mine but are in the same "class". But to be competitive or even comparable in class to the Quads and Rogers is amazing for $600 new. Some day I will try some Rega speakers on my Apollo/Mira3 set. .........Right Art
By the way, my Mom came to visit and slept in my "vinyl room". In the morning I would put on an LP, music that I know she likes. She kept exclaiming in amazement how great it sounded. "like live music". Don't laugh, she has heard more greats than all her grandkids combined! I take her to see music often (Patricia Barber, Marcia Ball, Freddie Cole, Hank Jones, Monty Alexander, Harry Belefonti, Sergio Mendez, Cesaria Evoria, Maceo Parker, Suny Ade, Taj Mahal, Pinetop Perkins, Paul Simon, John Prine 3 times, Corey Harris, Henry Butler, Zydeco, Haggis Bros, Pearl Django, and more plus local Seattle bands). I don't know if it is the vinyl or the Rogers or the combo that make that system so natural.
I really like the B&W 685...but it doesn't sound anything like a Totem...I have actually been considering the 685 for my office since the Totems unseated the Rega's in the living room. Easy on the ears is how I would describe the the 685's. Challenging to the ears is how I would describe the Rainmakers. They are enough different than any of your other speakers that you would know that you had a different kind of animal. That said, they are so different as to make me wonder if they are even the kind of sound you would enjoy as they are a bit edgy.
Kevin, I'm driving my Totems with a Rotel 1070 and I find it compliments the Totem's attributes nicely. Mind you, I have the Sttafs, which I believe are a different beast than the Rainmaker.
