Is the B&W 685 theatre pack the right choice for me?

[Oldboy]

Hello all,

I'm getting a new amp in a few weeks time and have gone for the Onkyo 609 so i've now been looking at upgrading my speakers early next year and have my heart set on the B & W 685 theatre package once xmas is out of the way but i'm concerned they might be overkill for the size of room i have.

My living room is relatively small (4.5metres x 4metres) and i'm just concerned that the 685 package is better suited to larger rooms, is there any sort of recommended size of room for this package and will it suit a room of my size?

I am of course open to suggestions of more suitable packages but i do want to upgrade from the QAcoustics package i have now but i'm not concerned about it being 7.1 like my current system as i presume that bigger speakers with superior quality will fill the space more easily than the QAcoustics i have currently. I only went to 7.1 with these as there seemed to be to large a gap in the surround from the rears which i think is just down to the speakers as they have been accurately positioned on brackets mounted on the wall.

Any advice would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[Big Aura]

I've got the 685 in a room that's 4 x 5 and it fills it perfectly well, currently with a Denon 1909 (soon to appear on ebay, as I'm going to get my new Denon 3312 early next week!).

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi again Oldboy..... If you remember we spoke a bit about Q Acoustic speakers 18 months ago, as we have the same receiver etc....

Firstly, why are you going to replace your Denon with the Onkyo? I have never heard the Onkyo, but I'd imagine the Denon would be a better receiver in terms of SQ??? (£800 vs £500 receiver)

As you will see, I moved away from the Q Acoustic speakers since we last spoke. I spent a great day at Frank Harvey's listening to the B&W 684's, Kef Q500 and Q700's and the MA RX6 speakers. As you will see by my equipment list below, I opted for the KEF speakers, and added a pair of eggs at the back due to space limitations. I found the size of the KEF speakers to be ideal in my lounge, and to my ears they sound superb!! I real step up from your current speakers.....

Saying that, my room is a similar size to yours.....

I'd spend some time listening to a selection of speakers at your local dealer!! All the one's I heard were very good, but they all differed slightly in sound presentation, so a demo is a must when spending this kinda money...

Here are some links for you.....

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/home-cinema/demo-day-resultsbw-684-ma-rx6-kef-q500-q700

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/your-system/the-evolution-of-my-av-system

 

[Oldboy]

Hello Pete,

Yes of course i remember talking to you a while back about the QAcoustics!

Firstly the reason i am changing the amp is because i've bought a new tv and bluray player that are both 3D...although the player has twin hdmi outs i want full 3D compatability across all sources such as my PS3 so a new amp is a must i'm afraid, i'm sad to say goodbye to the Denon 2310, i truly am, but i've demoed quite a few amps over the last few weeks and the Onkyo 609 is easily as good with surround sound and has a great stereo performance so i've opted for that.

Ideally i wanted to get the 709 but the mrs has put a limit on my spending after recently buying a new tv and bluray player but i'm more than happy with the prospect of getting the 609, it will make my 3d life so much easier i can tell you!

To the speakers then...what i plan to do is spend a good few months researching and getting to listen to all the contenders as i get a list into shape (i'm off to listen to the Monitor Audio Bronze BX2 system today) but after a quick listen to the 685 theatre package i knew they would be hard to beat, it was setup with a Onkyo 609 amp and just sounded fantastic and a true all rounder.

Many thanks for the links to your threads, the evolution of your system was a great touch! It's amazing how far you have come in such a small ammount of time...your Kef front's are very impressive indeed and i must say i'm not happy about the idea of losing floorstanders as my front speakers but time will tell what i eventually decide to do.

More demos and research are needed in the coming months as i near a purchase but i have to say that my heart is set on the 685 theatre package despite losing floorstnders at the front, the sound that produced sent shivers down my spine and got the hairs on the back of my neck going....it will be very difficult to beat but i will enjoy trying!

Many thanks for your input Pete, as ever, it's very much appreciated!

Best reagrds

Oldboy.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi again.....

That's a fair enough reason to move to a new receiver......I've not been overly interested in 3D, but one day I may change my mind about it....

Just out of interest.....what are you doing with the Denon 2310???

If the Onkyo 609 is as good as the Denon, then Onkyo have really 'up'ed' their game! I had the Onkyo 606 originally, and the Denon blew it out of the water...

I didn't hear the B&W 685's as I wanted floorstanders again (big dog with a strong tail lives here too!!), but obviously they are well respected and have been for years.

If the KEF's are on your demo list (And they really should be, IMO), please note they have a 20% off deal going on until the end of the month, which actually saves you a lot of cash if your interested in a full 5.1 system. For example, my Q500's RRP is £700....but they are being sold for £560 at the moment, which is a complete bargain.....

Have fun in the demo room, and thanks for your kind comments about my thread....

 

[Anonymous]

dont forget you need to trade in your old speakers for that offer...lol i traded in some aiwa speakers worth about a pound :rofl: well worth it when you consider i saved £140.00 on my fronts and £70.00 on my center channel..and it gave my dealer a chuckle!!

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Forgot about that....thanks for the reminder...

A look on our favourite auction site should sort that one out if you don't have any to trade in.... :type:

 

[Anonymous]

got mine from the charity shop for a quid...

 

[chrisup]

Hi Oldboy,

I have an Onkyo 905 and have the B&W 685 Theatre but upgraded the sub to the ASW610. My room is smaller than yours and even my wife thinks they are fantastic with movies and music. You will not regret buying the B&Ws why not compare the ASW 608 and ASW 610 subs whilst you are demoing?

Best wishes

Chris

 

[Oldboy]

Hi again..... That's a fair enough reason to move to a new receiver......I've not been overly interested in 3D, but one day I may change my mind about it.... Just out of interest.....what are you doing with the Denon 2310??? If the Onkyo 609 is as good as the Denon, then Onkyo have really 'up'ed' their game! I had the Onkyo 606 originally, and the Denon blew it out of the water... I didn't hear the B&W 685's as I wanted floorstanders again (big dog with a strong tail lives here too!!), but obviously they are well respected and have been for years. If the KEF's are on your demo list (And they really should be, IMO), please note they have a 20% off deal going on until the end of the month, which actually saves you a lot of cash if your interested in a full 5.1 system. For example, my Q500's RRP is £700....but they are being sold for £560 at the moment, which is a complete bargain..... Have fun in the demo room, and thanks for your kind comments about my thread....

Can't say i was overly interested in 3d either but i was buying a new tv and the best tv i found for my budget was a 3d one (panny 42gt30) as seems to be the case with almost all 2011 tvs, i bought a new bluray player with 3d in mind as it seemed stupid to not take advantage but i have to say that it was more a matter of a bonus rather than going looking for a 3d system.

I'm selling my 2310 receiver on a well known auction site (bidding currently at £265) but i'm hoping it gets to nearer £300...i think that's wishful thinking mind you. I did consider using it in the bedroom and building another surround package in there but that would have been overkill or even just boxing it up and keeping it as i like it so much but the prospect of softening the blow on a new amp swayed me in the end.

I demoed the MABX2 5.1 on saturday....very, very impressed with it! Perhaps i'm just not used to the leap in sound quality that superior speakers bring because these also sounded lovely, the only difference i could find between these and the B&W package was that the B&W's were slightly better with stereo music and i think that's to do with the physical size of the fronts as they are much bigger than the BX2 fronts...although i could add BX5 floorstanders if i wanted to.

The KEF's are on my list and i'm currently trying to arrange a demo but my normal dealer doesn't have any stock so i'm looking further afield but i do intend to get a thorough listen to them asap, many thanks for the recommendation!

Best wishes,

Oldboy.

 

[Oldboy]

Hi Oldboy,

I have an Onkyo 905 and have the B&W 685 Theatre but upgraded the sub to the ASW610. My room is smaller than yours and even my wife thinks they are fantastic with movies and music. You will not regret buying the B&Ws why not compare the ASW 608 and ASW 610 subs whilst you are demoing?

Best wishes

Chris

Many thanks for the feedback chris!

It's good to know i won't be going into overkill with the 685 package the only problem is that my list of candidates is growing by the day and the demo i had of the MA BX2 package has really got me thinking...they really were a revelation for the money and the dipole/biploe rears were so convincing as surrounds that it really surprised me, they were oustanding and made the surround so convincing that for the first time in years i was looking over my shoulder with surround effects.

That has convinced me to not simply dive in this time and demo as many packages in my budget as possible.

Many thanks again for your input,

Oldboy.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Has it sold....can't find it on a well known auction site????

 

[Oldboy]

Indeed it has...the winning bid was £285 and i'm happy with that. It makes a dent into the cost of the Onkyo amp which i will now buy at the weekend at represents a good return on the cost of the Denon as i only paid £500 for it about 14months ago.

Oh by the way Pete i have a demo for your Kefs lined up for the weekend which i'm looking forward to...just hope i'm not too tempted or i may upset the other half and get them there and then, i've got some rubbish speakers i could trade in and keep my QAcoustics to sell on at my leisure if atall

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Sounds like a plan...... :cheers:

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Had that demo yet?? :dance:

 

[Oldboy]

Yes i had the demo saturday afternoon!

I have been mulling it over ever since but i have to say that i wasn't blown away by it like i was with the other 2 systems, the problem is that there are pros and cons for every system and that's what i am weighing up at the moment. I'm in no hurry to buy this time so i'm planning to have another listen to the MA and B&W systems this week now that the Kef is fresh in my memory and see how they stack up but i must admit that currently i'm just not as impressed with that set up as i was with the other two although there could be many reasons for this.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Fair enough......

I listened to the KEF speakers in a local shop, before demo'ing them at another shop. They sounded awful in the local shop, but when the assistant left the room for a while, I looked into the settings and it was clearly not set up properly at all.

While watching a blu ray disc, we were using non HD sound decoding!!! :O

When quizzed, I was told it was the best way to demo the speakers....

Should ahve guessed the experience would be a poor one, when he told me they had no centre speaker stand so angled it up from the floor with what seemed like a toiletries bag.... :shame:

Anyway, sounds like your getting close to a decision though..... :?

Let us know what you end up with.....

 

[Oldboy]

Yes i think i am nearing a decision.

The speakers were all correctly set up with the amp i am buying at the weekend which may be where the differences lay as i have tested each package with the Onkyo 609 i am getting so i think it's down to how well each package performs with the amp?

In each demo i have listened to the dark knight bluray, a multi channel music bluray of Queen in Montreal and Kings of Leon on cd all of which i take with me as i'm familiar with all of them and currently i'm swaying towards the MA BX2 package but that may just be my wallet speaking as the saving is significant when compared to the B&W 685 package but as i say i'm in no rush so i will mull it over some more....in the meantime i'm looking at further candidates to demo

Many thanks for your input Pete, it really is appreciated so thank you for taking the time out to help.

Regards,

Oldboy.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

No problem......

Which ever to end up with, they will be a good improvement over the QA's....

All three speaker systems are great packages.....

If you can, I suggest demo'ing the Tannoy Revolution compact 5.1 (see Dec 2010 WHF)

or/and

Tannoy Rrevolution DC6T (WHF Oct 2011, if your budget can stretch that far....

Both have great reviews.....

 

[Oldboy]

Curse you Pete!

Another two systems to demo then if i can, not sure my budget will stretch to the Tannoy Revolution DC6T but i will add them to the list and see if i can get the price down.

Funny you should mention the Revolution compact though as this was going to be my next demo if my dealer hasn't grown tired of me by now but i'm not sure they stock it so i will ask and see if i can have a listen at some point, if not i will go elsewhere as i want to audition as many packages as i can before i settle on one.

I want to make sure that the package i buy is a significant step up from the QAcoustics that have served me so well and that i will be happy for years to come which is why i'm taking my research more seriously this time around, i know that once i buy the Onkyo amp my speakers will be the weakest link in my system and that the rest of my set up demands higher quality speakers to complete the system.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Sorry!!!! :rofl:

Thought you loved demo's now....hehe

Your right though......demo all that you can, so you can make the perfect decision for you.

That was the way I moved to the KEF's......

And I will not be changing them for some time........

Enjoy.....

 

[Oldboy]

I do love a good demo! :rofl:

Got in touch with my dealer yesterday and more demos don't seem to be a problem, he had a joke with me asking if i was going to bring my wallet this time but they are more than happy to demo as much as i like which was good news but the bad news is they don't have either Tannoy package to demo at the mo as they are very popular but i'm assured they have a demo set of compacts coming soon.

I was shocked to see just how small the compact speakers are....they are dinky when compared to what i have seen so far and i'm concerned they won't fill a room in the same manner of bigger boxes, i'm sure i will find out when i hear them.

I'm planning on some more window shopping at the weekend as i have to go and buy the new amp so i'm hoping i see some more speaker packages to tempt me