My day of speaker hunting

[Jonesiani]

Hi all.

Spent today auditioning speakers in a few shops in Nottingham. I had my budget in mind, and wanted to stick to it.
I used my Marantz pm6004/cd6004.
The demo CDs I used were:

The Cure - Disentegration
Limp Bizkit - Significant Other
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

First up was B&W CM1

Lovely, room filling sound, that to me was very smooth, but lacked high end sparkle. I felt that the bass lost its detail at points too.

Next up was Monitor Audio BX5

Wow, amazing detail, bass was punchy and clear, trebles just how I liked it, has a sparkle. They actually made the cm1s sound very sorry for themselves (in my opinion of course)

Next was b&w 684

Holy midrange batman! Nice and detailed, but the bass got muddy and actually overpowered one of the demo tracks to the point where I wasn't enjoying it at all.

Then we tried the Monitor audio bx2

Very nice sounding, not as detailed as I thought they'd be however. Bass was nice and controlled, but they just didn't have that 'thing' that their bigger brothers has.

We finished with the Kef Q300

I was expecting a harsh high end, but never got it. Infant they had a lot more bass than I expected.
They were a very deep speaker however, and I thought they'd look out of place in a smaller living room.

So I ended up with the MA BX5s in the end. Very very happy with my purchase

 

[matthewpiano]

Good choice. The current BX range is very talented and they work well with Marantz.

B&Ws do have a habit of adding bass and I found the same as you when I heard the CM1s. I actually feel the 685s are a much better speaker, although I've never been fond of the Marantz/B&W combination. B&Ws always work better with Rotel or NAD in my experience.

 

[Jonesiani]

Well my new speakers have been delivered.

Just putting the bases on now.

They look fantastic, and I know that, after finding their sweet spot in the living room, they'll sound fantastic too!

 

[MattSPL]

What finish did you go for?

Enjoy

 

[Jonesiani]

I went for the walnut finish

Had them singing for the last few hours. Got Elbow - Build a rocket boys! Playing now.

Very happy!