Amp to match B&W 685 S2

SSS_F1

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Jul 6, 2016
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Hi All,

I am a new to the world of HiFi, and am pretty set on getting the B&W 685 S2's, but to drive them am tossing up between the Marantz PM6005 and the Arcam A19 + IrDAC. I have read that both amps have good reviews for what they are, but here in Australia, the Arcam combo is double the price of the PM6005. I am wondering if the Arcam combo is really worth the extra money, given my speaker choice. I am going to try and listen to the combo's in-store, but it would be great to people's opinion on which option to go for, considering the price + speaker choice, and also get an insight into the sonic characteristics of both options. Soundstaging is important to me. Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

SSS
 
SSS_F1 said:
Hi All,

I am a new to the world of HiFi, and am pretty set on getting the B&W 685 S2's, but to drive them am tossing up between the Marantz PM6005 and the Arcam A19 + IrDAC. I have read that both amps have good reviews for what they are, but here in Australia, the Arcam combo is double the price of the PM6005. I am wondering if the Arcam combo is really worth the extra money, given my speaker choice. I am going to try and listen to the combo's in-store, but it would be great to people's opinion on which option to go for, considering the price + speaker choice, and also get an insight into the sonic characteristics of both options. Soundstaging is important to me. Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

SSS

Welcome to the forum.

Can you actually get to audition anything where you are? If you cannot you are just buying on other people's opinion and this can be dangerous, particularly on the wallet.
 

SSS_F1

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Al ears said:
SSS_F1 said:
Hi All,

I am a new to the world of HiFi, and am pretty set on getting the B&W 685 S2's, but to drive them am tossing up between the Marantz PM6005 and the Arcam A19 + IrDAC. I have read that both amps have good reviews for what they are, but here in Australia, the Arcam combo is double the price of the PM6005. I am wondering if the Arcam combo is really worth the extra money, given my speaker choice. I am going to try and listen to the combo's in-store, but it would be great to people's opinion on which option to go for, considering the price + speaker choice, and also get an insight into the sonic characteristics of both options. Soundstaging is important to me. Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

SSS

Welcome to the forum.

Can you actually get to audition anything where you are? If you cannot you are just buying on other people's opinion and this can be dangerous, particularly on the wallet.

Thanks Al ears.

I believe I can, and I intend on doing so, but am interested to see what people's thoughts are in this forum before doing so. No doubt, the dealers are going to try and push what they want to get out the door. I just want to be prepared and be aware of the characteristics of the two options, based on people's experiences with these setups.
 

NS496

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If starting from scratch I would look at a Rotel amp, famous for synergy with the B&W, look at RA12 perhaps? Also look at NAD 356. I drive the 685s2 with a NAD D 3020, which does a good job, but ideally need a bit more power for these speakers, but still, eapecially with a subwoofer, the amp works well enough for me.
 

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