New B&W 685 s2 bit too bright

[paulselwood]

I just replace my epos epic 1 with b&w 685 s2. I now feel these are a bit too bright, they are great with movies and tv. I have them link up to arcam a19. I just love the sound so clear more detail than epos, but too bright like said before. Not toe in any more, grills on.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

The tragic thing is if. I suggest a pair of QED performance 2 interconnects all he'll could break out.

Does the A19 have tone controls?

Problem is some may suggest change of speaker if detail is not your thing-but the speakers will mellow with time.

Try turning the amp down a notch - listen to music at a lower level than normal - you may find with time you'll get use to the sound or the speakers will calm down or swap them.

Not sure what for.

 

[Happy_Listener]

All B&W speakers sound a little bright to my ears. It's their metal domes. The Epos Epic 1 uses a soft dome tweeter. I feel that most metal domes hype up the highs frequencies. They make them sound more open, clear, and bright, but I don't think you necessarily get any more actual detail from the metal dome. It only seems that way upon first hearing. Some people like that added zing a metal dome brings and others do not. While I can appreciate the metal dome sound on a short listening sessions it does bother me over long periods. There are very few metal tweeters that I could live with. The Focal Aria 906 might be one of them as it was surprisingly smooth sounding, also the metal dome tweeter in the Vandersteen 2 Signature speakers sounded non-irritating to me.

There is not much you can do as those B&W's will continue to sound bright to you. However, you can minimize the brigtness. You can change speaker and interconnect cables to smoother ones. Also, get rid of those metal jumpers on the back of the B&W's. Cheap Metal jumpers just make speakers sound brighter and harsher. Try to bi-wire the B&W's or replace the jumpers with high quality cable jumpers. I use Cardas jumpers on my Proacs and it's a good smooth choice.

 

[CnoEvil]

Any chance you can exchange them at this early stage....maybe try Kef R100 or Sonus Faber Toy

 

[Blackdawn]

The CA cd player is not known for its warmth, do you have another source you could try before changing the speakers? Or how about the Epos K1 as an alternative speaker pair?

 

[Vladimir]

The B&W CM1 have the same aluminium dome tweeter and sound warm and pleasant in the top end, even too docile and dull for many tastes. I've owned several soft dome tweeters that wanted to pierce my brain with bright sibilants. I'm affraid it's not as simple as metal=bright/hard and silk=warm/soft.

The 685s2 and now the CM1s2 are voiced to be 'brighter' in the upper midrange to please a larger buyers pool than before. This accents details but also sounds sibilanty and unforgiving with bad recordings.

Solutions where tone controls are absent would be putting the masks back on. If those are transparent and don't help, taping a layer or two of tissue paper on their backs in front of the tweeter will certanly help with this.

 

[JoelSim]

All B&W speakers sound a little bright to my ears. It's their metal domes. The Epos Epic 1 uses a soft dome tweeter. I feel that most metal domes hype up the highs frequencies. They make them sound more open, clear, and bright, but I don't think you necessarily get any more actual detail from the metal dome. It only seems that way upon first hearing. Some people like that added zing a metal dome brings and others do not. While I can appreciate the metal dome sound on a short listening sessions it does bother me over long periods. There are very few metal tweeters that I could live with. The Focal Aria 906 might be one of them as it was surprisingly smooth sounding, also the metal dome tweeter in the Vandersteen 2 Signature speakers sounded non-irritating to me.

^This

 

[TrevC]

All B&W speakers sound a little bright to my ears. It's their metal domes. The Epos Epic 1 uses a soft dome tweeter. I feel that most metal domes hype up the highs frequencies. They make them sound more open, clear, and bright, but I don't think you necessarily get any more actual detail from the metal dome. It only seems that way upon first hearing. Some people like that added zing a metal dome brings and others do not. While I can appreciate the metal dome sound on a short listening sessions it does bother me over long periods. There are very few metal tweeters that I could live with. The Focal Aria 906 might be one of them as it was surprisingly smooth sounding, also the metal dome tweeter in the Vandersteen 2 Signature speakers sounded non-irritating to me.

There is not much you can do as those B&W's will continue to sound bright to you. However, you can minimize the brigtness. You can change speaker and interconnect cables to smoother ones. Also, get rid of those metal jumpers on the back of the B&W's. Cheap Metal jumpers just make speakers sound brighter and harsher. Try to bi-wire the B&W's or replace the jumpers with high quality cable jumpers. I use Cardas jumpers on my Proacs and it's a good smooth choice.

There's a lot of mythology there. Jumper nonsense, biwire nonsense, metal tweeter nonsense and interconnect nonsense.

Has the room got carpets and curtains? They can make a huge difference.

 

[Reijer]

Hi Paul.

Yes, the 685 s2 are bright and I like them.

What Vlad suggest is an option. Never tried it, but could work for you.

Another option is to take your gear to you local shop and try different speakercables and replace the brackets between the speakerterminals for some good speakercables. Also play with connecting the cables to the upper or lower terminal. See for yourself what is best to your ears. Bi-wiring, as Happy-Listener suggest, could work for you. Just try.

 

[Vladimir]

In the old days tweeters were tuned by stuffing felt or foam in front of them. In headphones using foam with various density and thickness is still used for fine tuning sound. There are no crossovers in most headphones.

If a small bit of tissue paper gets me the sound I want, I certanly wont rush changing speakers and selling at a loss.

 

[Freddy58]

In the old days tweeters were tuned by stuffing felt or foam in front of them. In headphones using foam with various density and thickness is still used for fine tuning sound. There are no crossovers in most headphones.

If a small bit of tissue paper gets me the sound I want, I certanly wont rush changing speakers and selling at a loss.

Makes sense to me

 

[Reijer]

+1. Maybe I try it, if the sounds is to bright for me.

 

[paulselwood]

I phone the shop the morning, and had a chat with them. They were great, I explain that the speakers were too bright. So they said bring them back and we do Iexchange. So I swap the b&w 685 s2 for monitor audio silver 1. These speakers are so much better, not bright at all. Detail is still there too, also much better fiinish. Should of got the first time round.

 

[CnoEvil]

I phone the shop the morning, and had a chat with them. They were great, I explain that the speakers were too bright. So they said bring them back and we do Iexchange. So I swap the b&w 685 s2 for monitor audio silver 1. These speakers are so much better, not bright at all. Detail is still there too, also much better fiinish. Should of got the first time round.

Good outcome....and why it pays to use a good dealer, who are into building long term relationships with their customers.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Great outcome. *clapping*

 

[Vladimir]

Sorted. *good*

 

[goodman]

If the new B&W 685 S2 are bright, I think a solution is trying to change the cables. For example, a Van den Hul The Name for the interconnect and a Van den Hul CS-122 Hybrid for the speakers can to make a less bright sound.

 

[Bromiley]

Sorry for jumping in here, but I've just read this thread about the B&W 685 S2's sounding bright and I'd like to know if you can (or if it is even possible) to explain what a 'bright' sound is to a novice when it comes to speakers? I'm considering the B&W 686 S2s, so any expanations would be really welcome for a newbie.

Many thanks.

 

[paulselwood]

Bright sound. Well here goes. It sound like, there is very little bass and mid range. So there lot of treble there, but the treble does not sound right, due to lack of mid range and bass. What I would do, if I was you. When I go for a demo ask the sales rep to but some hifi separates together, that sound bright. Then you wil find out. I sure there someone on here who can explain it better than me.

 

[Bromiley]

Thanks. Your explanation helps. When you first listened to the 685 S2s, did you also listen to the slightly smaller 686 S2s? There are not many reviews of the 686 S2s online and therefore no speakers listed as competitors/alternatives (as you have in reviews on this site) so I'm looking for opinions.

If anyone can comment on:

1. what they think of the 686 S2s

2. which speakers would be good alternatives in the same price range

I'd be grateful.

 

[paulselwood]

Yes I did listen to the B&W 686 s2 . But the 685 s2 had more about them. I got Monitor audio sliver 1, these to me sound much better with my system. There are lots of speakers out there. Buying hifi is like a minefield.

What have you listen too, with what amp, source, cd etc.

 

[Bromiley]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, you're right. Buying Hi-Fi is like a minefield, especially when you're a Brit living in Germany where the Hi-Fi stores don't stock all of the speakers available in the UK.

So far I've listened to the 686 S2 and 685 S2 with the Rotel RA-11 and RA-12 amps. The 685 S2 are over budget and the smaller sized 686 S2s are a better fit in my livingroom. The Rotel RA-12 sounded great but it's pretty expensive!

For now (due to budget) I would connect the speakers to my Denon AVR 1610 so that I can use my Bluray player for movies/music and my Apple TV. I'd rather have stereo for music and movies than surround sound.

A new stereo amp (with optical and USB-B) will have to wait for a while. A local dealer did suggest that a Marantz PM6005 or PM7005 would compliment the B&W 686 S2s very well due to the amps being 'warmer' in sound.

Any thoughts?

 

[Happy_Listener]

All B&W speakers sound a little bright to my ears. It's their metal domes. The Epos Epic 1 uses a soft dome tweeter. I feel that most metal domes hype up the highs frequencies. They make them sound more open, clear, and bright, but I don't think you necessarily get any more actual detail from the metal dome. It only seems that way upon first hearing. Some people like that added zing a metal dome brings and others do not. While I can appreciate the metal dome sound on a short listening sessions it does bother me over long periods. There are very few metal tweeters that I could live with. The Focal Aria 906 might be one of them as it was surprisingly smooth sounding, also the metal dome tweeter in the Vandersteen 2 Signature speakers sounded non-irritating to me.

There is not much you can do as those B&W's will continue to sound bright to you. However, you can minimize the brigtness. You can change speaker and interconnect cables to smoother ones. Also, get rid of those metal jumpers on the back of the B&W's. Cheap Metal jumpers just make speakers sound brighter and harsher. Try to bi-wire the B&W's or replace the jumpers with high quality cable jumpers. I use Cardas jumpers on my Proacs and it's a good smooth choice.

There's a lot of mythology there. Jumper nonsense, biwire nonsense, metal tweeter nonsense and interconnect nonsense.

Has the room got carpets and curtains? They can make a huge difference.

The only mythology here is that you might actually be an audiophile. You better get your ears checked, or perhaps try a new hobby.

 

[obiwan kenobi]

Very strange. Because just MA Silver series has harsh highes.