B&W 685 or 686 again...

tomekpel

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I had B&W 685 for week at home. I reckon they sound excellent with most of the music I listen. The thing I noticed though is that when playing certain cds (for example Fun Lovin' Criminals) the bass lingers a bit and gives sort of brief humming effect, I am not sure how to put it. I thought its down to the room size (3.5x6m) and speaker characterisics. I tried the foam blockers supplied with the speakers, which did not have much effect. My solution so far is to lower bass output on the amplifier (pm6002). I also considered swapping 685 for 686. WIll they give less bass? Or maybe the cds that sound bassy will be alike on any equipment? Please, help needed urgently as I must decide whether which speaker to take. Thanks.
 
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Anonymous

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Tricky one. If over a few different CDs you're finding the same problem then I'd probably try:

1) Pull the speakers away from walls at least 30cm, avoiding room corners as much as possible,
2) Make sure the speakers are firmly placed on the stands with bluetac under each corner,
3) Toe them in slightly so you can just see the outside faces

If none of that helps:

4) Try the 685s in the shop to see if the acoustics change things favorably
5) Try the 686s if you really like the B&W sound or try some Monitor Audio RS1s or RS5s on home demo to see if they suit more

CDs vary in production quality and some will always sound a bit boomy and slow. I can imagine that the FLCs CD is intended to sound like that. Let us know how you get on.
 

tomekpel

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Many thanks for prompt reply. That is tricky indeed. Also, I thought the problem I described earlier would show on any cd where bass is more pronounced. But it's not the case. A Jim Hall's bass/guitar duet sound great, deep, low vocals as well. I don't know... I should just live with it and lower bass output when necessary.

The speakers are 30/40 cm off the walls, there's a carpet on the floor and decent, heavy sprakerstands.

From what I remember I did not hear that problem at the demo so it might be my room's acustics.

Tom
 

professorhat

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Hi there

I know this is a really stupid beginner thing but just want to be sure as I felt I had the same issue when I got my 685s home until I suddenly realised the sub was set to +5db compared to 0Db on the two fronts when listening to pure direct sound through my amp for music (set this high as i like a lot of sub in my movies and hadn't really used my living room setup for music till I got these speakers). Once I tuned this (in fact reducing the sub down to -4db) everything made more sense and was more like the demo I had in the store (where obviously the assistant had already tuned this) - clearly the bass was a lot less noticeable!

I don't normally respond to these questions as I'm not a true audiophile, I just I know from my job, sometimes the most obvious solution that specialists forget works!
 

tomekpel

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I understand a 'sub' stands for subwoofer? My system is simple stereo, Marantz PM6002 & CD6002 plus the 685 B&Ws. I am going to experiment with speakers' position first. I just thought that swapping 685s for 686 will solve the problem with no compromise on sound quality. Thanks for help everyone!
 

d_a_n1979

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With regards to this topic, im a big fan of Fun Lovin Criminals also and agree with you that there is a hum

I actually think that it may be the recording as their music is fairly bassy and theyre the only CD's that create this hum on my system.

As people have said above though do try changing your speaker positioning etc and see if that reduces it. Youll find that the B&W 685s will suit the Fun Lovin Criminals and simialr music down to a tee, just remember that you need to let the speakers run in though before you get the full sound stage. The 685's benefit from at least 100 hours running in!
 
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Anonymous

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Honestly, I found no difference between the 686 and 685 when using a Rotel RA-04 and RCD-06. No difference whatsoever.
 

tomekpel

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[quote user="d_a_n1979"]With regards to this topic, im a big fan of Fun Lovin Criminals also and agree with you that there is a hum

I actually think that it may be the recording as their music is fairly bassy and theyre the only CD's that create this hum on my system.

As people have said above though do try changing your speaker positioning etc and see if that reduces it. Youll find that the B&W 685s will suit the Fun Lovin Criminals and simialr music down to a tee, just remember that you need to let the speakers run in though before you get the full sound stage. The 685's benefit from at least 100 hours running in!

[/quote]

Well, they did not have 100 hours run in yet...
 
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Anonymous

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Wiered huh? Perhaps the 685s speakers were a little louder but on that Rotel it made no difference - I was running it at 12 o'clock at one point and that was about as loud as my JVC is at 11 o'clock with 89db speakers.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Cypher"]
Really ? Aren't the 686 much harder to drive because of the low sensitivity (84 db) ?
[/quote]

Yes.I demo'd the 686's twice.They sounded awful on my cambridge amp until the volume was turned to 11 o clock minimum.Then they were not bad, but not as good as Mon Audio RS1's.Seriously.They were awful at mid volume on the cambridge.Boxy dull sound.They practically sounded like they were broken.we had to check connections as we thought we had not connected something!That bad. On the end of a Roksan kandy they were ok at mid volume but brilliant at high.Sounded totally different compared to with the cambridge.They were way better that the Mon Audio RS1s on the end of the Kandy. That told me that they need seriously heavyweight power to drive them properly AND even with lots of power they still are not great at low/mid volume. Just read a review of the 686's in HI Fi world today.Reviewer said practically the same. Think a 500 quid amp with 100w per channel to get them sounding half way decent.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Hughes123"]Wiered huh? Perhaps the 685s speakers were a little louder but on that Rotel it made no difference - I was running it at 12 o'clock at one point and that was about as loud as my JVC is at 11 o'clock with 89db speakers.[/quote]

Did you demo them at about 9.30-10 on the amp? The rotel would not have been close to be able to drive the 686's properly.I suspect from what i read on this forum its a common mistake people make when demoing.They crank the volume big style.Unless you listen at that volume at home its not going to give you any idea of how the speakers sound at low or mid listening levels.Practically any half decent speaker sounds good at blaring volume.
 

drummerman

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It seems to me you have your heart set on the B&W's, be that the smaller or larger of the two.

What I would say is that these speakers/range have been designed with HT as prime objective. Look at the matching subs/centre etc.. They have been voiced to act as front l/r or rear l/rights. The centre will provide detail and thats precisely why a common complaint of the main speakers in isolation is the lack of such (detail). At the same time, the bass driver is not exactly well damped. This will give nice bloom/rumble to movies and is to some extend a blessing as it helps the speakers blend with the matching subs which again, are not really adequate for music but ok for HT. And before all of you jump in, I've heard the range.

I have high regards for B&W but if its predominantly music you listen to move up a range or look elsewhere.

If you're not happy with them now you wont like them in a month or six. That nagging feeling wont go away ok.

If you can I strongly suggest you audition more speakers from Epos, Rega as well as models higher up B&W's range. You will not look back.
 

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