B&W MT-20 and Receiver HELP!

[Ambrose]

Hi,

I recently (sadly) sold my prized Naim/Spendor Stereo setup and taking 1st plunge into Home Cinema. I have 42" Panasonic PX42 Plasma and old Pioneer 565a dvd player with SKY HD.

Looking to get room friendly sub/sat and MT-20 with stands are looking best bet although bit pricy with 4 stands! Budget £1500 now with view to upgrading DVD player later. Thinking of either Marantz DV6001 as sound important to me. One concern is how good is upscaler DVD player compared with say Blueray player with my TV vs sound quality for playing CDs?

Receiver needs to be slim as TV shelf only 17.5cm high and not room for Onkyo 605 (17cm) which looks good. Presume need some breathing space!!! Would the Onkyo 505 be good match with MT-20's?

If this sounds like a bad match or others better then would be really helpful to get some opinions please?

Open to all options!

Cheers

Ambrose

 

[Gerrardasnails]

The 505 would not get the best out of the B&Ws. The Bluray machines will definitely look better on your screen and they normally upscale DVDs too. As for CD sound, whatever you buy will not sound as good as a proper CD player. I would therefore save your sheckels for a bluray player. As for the receiver, you will struggle to get a really good machine that is going to fit in your cabinet. It might be that you have to change your shelf. By the way, the MT20s look pretty good wall mounted and would then save you money on stands.

 

[Ambrose]

Thanks for your advice. I will carefully consider getting a blueray later this year and this certainly seems the the sensible choice over HD DVD.

However, I am stuck with TV stand and limited to getting a slim receiver (max room is 17.5 cm which includes space for ventilation).

Would either of these be a good match with the B&W MT-20's?

Panasonic sa-xr700, Cambridge Audio 540r V3 or 640r or Yamaha RX-V461DAB? or know of any others old/new?

Also, I am demoing the B&Ws Friday but have heard the SUB AS2 isn't the best. Is there another B&W or other SUB for around £300-£500 that would be a big improvement and good for music as well as film?

Thanks again

Ambrose

 

[Gerrardasnails]

The Denons 1908, 2308 and 2808 are 171mm tall. That would give you a little room. I would go for them over the ones you mention but only the 2808 will give you HD audio from Bluray. As for the B&W subs. The one that comes with the MT20 is good. The one that comes with the MT30 is superb. The MT30 is exactly the same system but just the different sub which at £950 is £500 more than the one that comes with the MT20. You will still be blown away with the sound from the MT20. I don't know about mixing subs with different speakers but the Monitor Audio sub that comes with my system is an award winner and priced at £650. I reckon that is the only way you will get an improvement.

 

[Ambrose]

Thanks again for your advice. I didn't know about the new denons. Has anyone heard or seen a review of the 1908 or 2308 as I can't find reviews of these?

I read on a web site The AVR 1908 is also HD ready; capable of handling 1080p video and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD from Blu-ray/HD-DVD...

Does this mean it will handle HD audio?

Thanks

Ambrose

 

[Gerrardasnails]

You will have to go up to the 2808 to get TrueHD audio and the rest. I think that the 1908 and 2308 are hdmi 1.3a compatible so they will handle Bluray audio but bring it to down to Dolby Digital or DTS. I've seen the entry level 1508 in action and it's very good. I'm sure they will be excellent. When I heard the MT20 demo'd, the 2308 was used and it sounded amazing.

 

[Anonymous]

Would you recommend the B&W MT-20 over the KEF 3005 SE? I'm trying to decide between the two. The sales person says I should get the B&W pack as the KEF sub isn't as good.

Any truth in that?

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="leonblair"]

Would you recommend the B&W MT-20 over the KEF 3005 SE? I'm trying to decide between the two.

[/quote] No. We've tested the two packages head-to-head, and the KEF 3005SE took the MT20 (a previous Award winner) down to four stars.

[quote user="leonblair"]

The sales person says I should get the B&W pack as the KEF sub isn't as good.

Any truth in that?
[/quote]

The upgraded sub in the SE KEF package is a match for the one that comes with the B&W MT20.

The sub with the B&W MT30 package (the Award-winning PV1) is in a totally different league to either, though - which is why the MT30 is the next-step-up Award winner over the KEFs.

To summarise? If you've got £1000, buy the KEFs; if you've got £1500 buy the B&W MT30.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your quick reply.

The Sales person also said that the build quality is better on the B&W, is that true? And that the sub isn't as accurate on the KEF set. He's selling both sets for £750 each so I'm just choosing between the two.

Is it worth buying the B&W MT-20 to upgrade the sub at a later date?

And does the fact that their over 2 years matter from a money perspective?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Clare Newsome]

I'd say the build quality is good on both - the B&Ws may have a slight edge, but then they also have one of the most fiddly speaker-cable-connection methods known to mankind!

Buying the MT20s then upgrading to the PV1s isn't particularly cost effective - the PV1 costs £950 on its own, whereas the MT30 package costs £1500 (only £750 more than your MT20 package)....

I'd buy the KEFs and enjoy better listening today - or save up more, buy the MT30 and enjoy even-better listening!