Mannah Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Hey guys, Just a few little things that I have experienced in recent times that I thought I would share, as they seem to be giving me a little food for thought: PROLOGUE I have been auditioning a few loudspeakers over the last few months to go with my Rotel pre-amp/amp combo, being into fairly heavy rock, and enjoying action movies primarily I need something with some grunt (ie good mid and bass response). Having said that, I would just as soon throw on some of "the Corrs or enigma" as I would some "Seether, Rammstein or Within Temptation", so it is making the choice a little difficult. ENTER 704s Regardless of that, I have auditioned JML Focal, Monitor Audio, Jamo, B&W, PSB, and JBL. Whilst all having subtle differences in their listening experience, the B&W stood out heads and shoulders above the rest when it came to mid/bass response. Myself and my friend honestly thought that there was an attached 10" sub hidden somewhere in the room. Not only this, the tweeters delivered fine and clear highs all the while. As this was one of my first loudspeaker tests it really set a benchmark, which no other loudspeaker has been able to match. HOWEVER, I have since auditioned the B&W 704s again at another retailer and the sound, while still pleasing, was rather flatter, and largely lacked the bass lustre of the previous audition. I questioned the salesman (a reputable one) and he said thats about how they are meant to sound. Given that the original audition had run with a dedicated Marantz CD player and 2 channel amp, and the second audition ran a high end Denon combo AVR and DVD player, can I safely assume this is the difference in pre/amp combo VS all-in-one receiver? Or more so the standalone CD VS DVD player? POWER HUNGRY The second inconsistency is where power conditioners/surge protection is concerned. I have heard a lot of mixed reviews regarding mainstream power conditioners and surge protection, for example Belkin's Pure AV range, and in particular the beafy PF60 unit. While I have heard that users have not noticed a difference when using it, I have two very close friends who work at an audio retailer and whom have a personal interest in home theatre who have been familiar with a pair of Jamo S606 speakers they use on one of their lower end displays. Whilst fairly impressed with their sound for money factor, they decided to hook up one of the PF60 power consoles recently to see what the hype was about after I was asking them about it. We agreed that we didn't think it would make an audible difference, however there was in fact an immediately noticeable improvement in sound clarity, particularly in the higher bands. I am not sure if this is to do with lower priced speakers not having sufficient insulation or what it could be, but i'm sure one of you smart audio heads will help out with an explanation here Either way, I thought I would mention these two things in case anyone is interested. Cheers guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JohnA Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 its the same with all speakers, get the electronics wrong and they can sound bad. When i first auditioned my 703's i was not going to buy them, very harsh sounding. Luckily i gave them another chance with different electronics and fell in love with them. So it definately pays to audition with different combinations but if possible in the same store and the same room as rooms can also play a difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moochy1503560064 Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 totally agree any B&W florstander from the 600 series up really needs 100wpc + of poweramp. B&W/rotel/elektra seems to be a good combination Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannah Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share Posted March 18, 2007 Seems to make sense, so the fact that the original audition (great sound) was through a dedicated 2 channel amp and CD player doesnt play as much of a part as the pre/power amp combo over the all-in-one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JohnA Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 no doubt there will be a huge difference between a pre/pro and quality cd player vs an AVR with a dvd player An avr can never compare to good seperates and a dvd player can never compare to a quality cd player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dlite1503559993 Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Like the others have said the quality of the components no doubt played a part in this. But the think that jumps straight to my mind is that the AVR probably had a crossover set up for use with a sub that was not connected in this instance. Therefore a lot of the signal below the 80 hz or higher was probably not being sent to the speaker. Therefore no bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannah Posted March 19, 2007 Author Share Posted March 19, 2007 Yeah that is another thing I thought of Dlite, that the crossovers might have been set wrong, but apparently they were fine, but another audition with more time to confirm the settings myself might be in order I think And now JohnA, the question to be asked is at what stage in my HT setup do I become dedicated enough to buy a standalone CD player hehe. So many things on the horizon, new fronts, then new centre, then new sub, then Projector, then rears, HD-DVD, etc... lol *sigh* the problem with wanting to stay up to date Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutty Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I'd imagine your Rotel setup should drive the B&W's fairly well. Much better than any Denon AVR in my experience. I found the difference between a Rotel RB1070 and my 120wpc Yamaha to be HUGE when driving a set of Orpheus Aurora 3's. The AVRs just lack that grunt, and it really affected the mid and bass. As for stand alone CD... for a $320 investment, i've found the NAD 525BEE to make another huge difference to my 2 channel listening. IMO well worth the small outlay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannah Posted March 29, 2007 Author Share Posted March 29, 2007 I'd imagine your Rotel setup should drive the B&W's fairly well. Much better than any Denon AVR in my experience. I found the difference between a Rotel RB1070 and my 120wpc Yamaha to be HUGE when driving a set of Orpheus Aurora 3's. The AVRs just lack that grunt, and it really affected the mid and bass.As for stand alone CD... for a $320 investment, i've found the NAD 525BEE to make another huge difference to my 2 channel listening. IMO well worth the small outlay. Yeah I definitely plan on investing on a stand alone CD player in time. But for now my Pioneer DVD will have to suffice. But cheers Gutty, good to know about the dedicated amp experience BTW, does anyone else have any experience with the PUREAV power range, particularly the PF60? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JohnA Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 i just have a normal pure av power board and it does sweet F/A to the sound, i only got it for surge protection and didn't expect it to do anything else i was going to purchase the PF40 purely for the looks but then figured that money would be better spent elswhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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