B&W 684 S2 + Connect:Amp

Wiseman

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Audiophiles look away! In search for some decent floorstanding speakers for the living room my parents chose a pair of B&W 684 S2's to complement a Playbar when listening to music. It is a pretty reasonably sized room (80 m2), other speaker options are welcome. So we went to a shop and the 684's fit the bill. Neither of my parents are audiophiles, they just always have music playing in the background and value simplicity over superior quality. My mom even cares more about the aesthetics, which is partly why they chose the slimmer 684 over the 683 or CM8. At the store they recommended that we pair the 684's with a dedicated amp (Rotel RA-11) and the Sonos Connect. First of all this adds another 'box' which needs to be hidden away somewhere out of sight (yep that's Mom), and secondly (probably most importantly) the amp will have to be manually turned on and operated. This defeats the purpose of getting the Sonos system in the first place.

So my simple question, can we pair the 684's with the Connect:Amp. I know we will probably sacrifice some audio quality but is this noticeable to the plebeian ear. Looking at the specs I feel like it should be, but your opinions are appreciated!
 

The_Lhc

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Yes, you can certainly use the Connect:Amp with those speakers, the only proviso I'd give is that with a sensitivity of 87dbm the C:A won't be able to push them to extremes of volume but from what you're saying I'm not sure that's likely to be too much of a problem is it?

But, yes, other than that they'll work fine.
 

rainsoothe

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isn't this combo rather wimpy for an 80 sq m room? might as well get a Naim Mu-so instead. But if they want stereo, I'd look at Sonos + Q Acoustics, since those are very easy to drive. Or, for better sound, Naim Unitilite + Focal Aria 926 or B&W 683 s2 (the 684 are pretty hard to drive and are pretty bass shy).
 

The_Lhc

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rainsoothe said:
isn't this combo rather wimpy for an 80 sq m room? might as well get a Naim Mu-so instead. But if they want stereo, I'd look at Sonos + Q Acoustics, since those are very easy to drive. Or, for better sound, Naim Unitilite + Focal Aria 926 or B&W 683 s2 (the 684 are pretty hard to drive and are pretty bass shy).

You're probably quite right but as the OP said, it's for background music and they're as interested in the aesthetics as they are the sound quality. Wouldn't be my first choice though, admittedly.
 

davedotco

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The_Lhc said:
rainsoothe said:
isn't this combo rather wimpy for an 80 sq m room? might as well get a Naim Mu-so instead. But if they want stereo, I'd look at Sonos + Q Acoustics, since those are very easy to drive. Or, for better sound, Naim Unitilite + Focal Aria 926 or B&W 683 s2 (the 684 are pretty hard to drive and are pretty bass shy).

You're probably quite right but as the OP said, it's for background music and they're as interested in the aesthetics as they are the sound quality. Wouldn't be my first choice though, admittedly.

Try it and see, the functionality of the sonos is important here, I'm sure it will be fine.

Worse case scenario, swap the Connect amp for a Connect and add a basic (black box type) power amp, though I doubt it will be necessary.
 

The_Lhc

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davedotco said:
The_Lhc said:
rainsoothe said:
isn't this combo rather wimpy for an 80 sq m room? might as well get a Naim Mu-so instead. But if they want stereo, I'd look at Sonos + Q Acoustics, since those are very easy to drive. Or, for better sound, Naim Unitilite + Focal Aria 926 or B&W 683 s2 (the 684 are pretty hard to drive and are pretty bass shy).

You're probably quite right but as the OP said, it's for background music and they're as interested in the aesthetics as they are the sound quality. Wouldn't be my first choice though, admittedly.

Try it and see, the functionality of the sonos is important here, I'm sure it will be fine.

Worse case scenario, swap the Connect amp for a Connect and add a basic (black box type) power amp, though I doubt it will be necessary.

If you read the OP's post his mum doesn't want "another box" involved, which is why they're going for the Connect:Amp in the first place. The OP posted this question on the Sonos forum as well, someone asked why they didn't get a pair of Play:5s, which is a fair point, although they don't fit the floorstander brief.
 

davedotco

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The_Lhc said:
davedotco said:
The_Lhc said:
rainsoothe said:
isn't this combo rather wimpy for an 80 sq m room? might as well get a Naim Mu-so instead. But if they want stereo, I'd look at Sonos + Q Acoustics, since those are very easy to drive. Or, for better sound, Naim Unitilite + Focal Aria 926 or B&W 683 s2 (the 684 are pretty hard to drive and are pretty bass shy).

You're probably quite right but as the OP said, it's for background music and they're as interested in the aesthetics as they are the sound quality. Wouldn't be my first choice though, admittedly.

Try it and see, the functionality of the sonos is important here, I'm sure it will be fine.

Worse case scenario, swap the Connect amp for a Connect and add a basic (black box type) power amp, though I doubt it will be necessary.

If you read the OP's post his mum doesn't want "another box" involved, which is why they're going for the Connect:Amp in the first place. The OP posted this question on the Sonos forum as well, someone asked why they didn't get a pair of Play:5s, which is a fair point, although they don't fit the floorstander brief.

Hence the 'fit and forget' black box type amplifier, and only if 'necessary'.

Few things are perfect, sometimes you have to compromise. If they were still readily available, I would suggest the Adam Artist 6 with a Sonos Connect, ticks all the boxes and no more expensive.
 

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