Denon 2311 and B&W 685

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I decided to bite the bullet and audition the above home cinema combination with a view to buying. I decided to change the 686 rears for a pair of M1's due to room size (4.5 x 3.5m) and also decided to upgrade the sub to the ASW610.

The setup was fantastic with movies, really immersing you in the sound. However, when it came to music, I thought it was a little laid back. Would this combination be expected to sound laid back with CD's or is this more likely to be down to:

a) a lower end panasonic blu-ray player being used as the source

b) the 685's being a long way from any walls

c) the layout of the demo room (it was a loft conversion so had a low sloping roof)

Any opinions would be great.

 

[chrisup]

I have the B&W 685 Theatre but upgraded the sub to the ASW610 and use my Onkyo 905 for movies via Sony 760 or my Denon 1920. My speakers sound fabulous with music with Sony 760 or via my Arcam system. Do you have carpets and curtains or do you have hard floors as this can affect acoustics in your house. My 685 are a about 4 feet away from the walls and on Atacama Nexus 6i speaker stands. I found the speakers improved with time after I bought them.

Hope this helps

Chris

 

[Anonymous]

Well I guess the shop had used the speakers for demos so would have been pretty well run in. Yeah my room has carpets and I also have the Denon 1920 which I will be using for CD's to start with. Also have the Atacama Nexus 6. Hopefully the Denon will provide better sound than the player I heard. When I mentioned this to the guy in the shop he seemed surprised and said the blu-ray player will probably be missing some detail.

Don't get me wrong, the sound was still very good, was just expecting a more 'forward' sound. I did notice that it came more 'alive' with increased volume but surprisingly this was with the treble and mid, not bass. Maybe I just have unique ears!

 

[Frank Harvey]

The Bluray player playing CD's would be the main culprit. Also, if an AV receiver has been set up for a speaker package using (in this case, Audyssey), it tends to ruin music, I've found. The only way to demo speakers via an AV amp is directly from a dedicated CD player with analogue interconnects, no processing, just straight through. When I was setting up PistolPete's demo earlier today, I couldn't understand why the music sounded so bad - then I realised Audyssey was on - turned it off, problem solved.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Good old 'Pure Direct' mode.....

 

[Frank Harvey]

 

[Boca]

Then are you saying that Audyssey isn't as good a product as we are lead to believe?

or does this only apply to music while audyssey is good for movies. can you explain please

Thanks.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

My Denon AVR2310 sounds much better with audyssey and the other 'sound improvers' switched off........other receivers may benefit from it.....

If you have a cd player connected via analogue connections, audyssey would not be used anyway.