B+W choice

[stevee1966]

B+W 685's on a pair of Soundstyle Z2 stands at £350, or the 684 floorstanders at £530.

Are the 684's worth the extra cash? Would be used with Marantz SA7001/PM7001 amp and cd combination.

 

[Simon Lucas]

What size of room will they be going in? What sort of stuff do you like to listen to? Does the price for the 685s include the stands?

 

[SHAXOS]

Room size is critical. The 685s are excellent for smallish to mid sized rooms.

 

[Clare Newsome]

It's also worth noting that although the Soundstyle stands are an excellent budget option, the B&Ws thrive on sturdier stands (eg Partiingtons)

 

[Don Jr]

How about speakers for $2000 us dollars or less for a room size of 12x24 (feet)? Paired with possibly a Cambridge Azur 840a integrated?

 

[manicm]

Also note, from my experience, the 685s need some space too - at least 30cm from walls.

 

[Lost Angeles]

stevee1966:B+W 685's on a pair of Soundstyle Z2 stands at £350, or the 684 floorstanders at £530. Are the 684's worth the extra cash? Would be used with Marantz SA7001/PM7001 amp and cd combination.

If your room is big enough get the 684s, they sounded superb with a PM7200KI sig when I borrowed my mates amp. I did not use in Class A though as they need more than 25w of power.

 

[SteveR750]

I audtioned both not so long ago, and the 684's are IMO a much better speaker, smoother, better balanced less shouty when pushed a bit, plus they have a impressively extended bottom end, deep and tuneful.

 

[stevee1966]

Simon Lucas:What size of room will they be going in? What sort of stuff do you like to listen to? Does the price for the 685s include the stands?

Not a particularly big room. Total size is 8 metres by 5 metres, but the room isn't rectangle shape - it's an 'L' shape. So if you can picture my room as 2 seperate rectangle areas to make up the 'L', the listening area for my hifi is around 3m wide by 5m long (sitting on my sofa puts me anything between 5 metres and 3 metres away from the speakers), while the remaining space is 5 metres wide by 2 metres - hope that makes sense.

Listen to mainly guitar based indie / rock / metal music, with a fair bit of dance music as well (so like a bit of bass).

Price of £300 is inclusive of the Soundstyle stands.