B&W 603 S3 vs Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 vs KEF Q11 Meta

[adriks1]

Hello Hi-Fi experts!

This is Adrian and I'm looking into buying a decent set of floorstanding speakers.

I'm kind of set on getting them in White as I think it will work better in our living room. With this in mind I have been looking into these three options:

1. B&W 603 S3

2. Wharfedale Diamond 12.3

3. KEF Q11 Meta


Performance
Reading all reviews everywhere feels like the Wharfedale are the "best" out of the three? I'm very surprised that this B&W model doesn't have great reviews. It is very strange knowing the reputation and quality of their products.


Design
Design wise the most beautiful one imo is the B&W but want to make sure also that I get the best option out of these. If I have to go for the Wharfedale one... I'm worried that the sides of the speakers look a bit cheap with the painted wood in white.


Setup
I have an existing Sonos system with a beam and 2 play 1 so these floorstanding will have to be added to the system with the Sonos Amp that I already have. Would this work in your guys opinion?


Any help or tips on any of these topics would be massively appreciated.


Thanks!
Adrian

 

[Integralista]

Hello Hi-Fi experts!

This is Adrian and I'm looking into buying a decent set of floorstanding speakers.

I'm kind of set on getting them in White as I think it will work better in our living room. With this in mind I have been looking into these three options:

1. B&W 603 S3

2. Wharfedale Diamond 12.3

3. KEF Q11 Meta


Performance
Reading all reviews everywhere feels like the Wharfedale are the "best" out of the three? I'm very surprised that this B&W model doesn't have great reviews. It is very strange knowing the reputation and quality of their products.


Design
Design wise the most beautiful one imo is the B&W but want to make sure also that I get the best option out of these. If I have to go for the Wharfedale one... I'm worried that the sides of the speakers look a bit cheap with the painted wood in white.


Setup
I have an existing Sonos system with a beam and 2 play 1 so these floorstanding will have to be added to the system with the Sonos Amp that I already have. Would this work in your guys opinion?


Any help or tips on any of these topics would be massively appreciated.


Thanks!
Adrian

Hi Adrian, thanks for joining this forum!
Sonos amp is very convinient, well equiped with sound not oriented on audiophiles. If you are in this group, just fine. From three proposed speakers will be better match for Sonos just Wharfedale with less "meat" in bass area and not so detailed highs. Both B&W and KEF are more demanding speakers. Mainly Kef overal does not tolarate any shortcomming in the system and will show it exposed. B&W has very detailed and sparkling hights which need to take care for amp/speaker matching. I will recommend to consider also Q Acoustics 3050c which are also in white. They will be more happy pairing with Sonos amp. I have used in the past QAcoustic 3020 in bedroom and they were very good. BR. Juraj