I am building a system from scratch, starting with a clean slate. I have been looking at B&W 685s and 683s at Best Buy, along with a Marantz SR5010 receiver. For about the same amount of money, I could get 685s, stands, and a subwoofer, or the 683s. Either way I might eventually get a center speaker and rear speakers for movies, but in the beginning it will only be the 685s with subwoofer or the 683s. If I started off with the 685s I could even use those as rear speakers some day and either get another pair of 685s for front speakers or get 683s. I would rather have a good hi fi for music rather than a theater system if I had to have one or the other at this time.
My livingroom is about 18 ft X 17 ft with a flat 9 ft ceiling. The kitchen/dining room is right beside it. There is a 5 ft wide full height opening between the two rooms, and the wall that divides the two spaces is only 4 ft high, so there will only be reflection on part of the partition between the living room and dining room. The other end of the living room actually extends beyond the 17 ft but narrows towards the front door. I have a ceramic tile floor. I don't have a rug yet, but will probably get one. I currently have bare sheetrock walls, but will eventually put some art up. There would be quite a bit of reflection from the walls and floors the way it is now.
The way the room lays out, I can't see having the speakers more than a foot from the wall. The front door lines up with the wall that the speakers would be on, and that is the path to the kitchen. Moving the speakers further from the wall would disrupt the flow of traffic through the house. Bummer. The salesman told me that since the 683s are ported on the front rather than the rear of the speakers, that isn't an issue. Is he correct about that? I wonder if the 685's would be more forgiving being placed close to the wall than the 683s would be.
Considering the size of the space, would the 685s or the 683s be a better fit? How does that answer change if I needed to place the speakers closer to the wall than what would otherwise be optimum? How does the port being on the front rather than the rear of the speakers change things?
My livingroom is about 18 ft X 17 ft with a flat 9 ft ceiling. The kitchen/dining room is right beside it. There is a 5 ft wide full height opening between the two rooms, and the wall that divides the two spaces is only 4 ft high, so there will only be reflection on part of the partition between the living room and dining room. The other end of the living room actually extends beyond the 17 ft but narrows towards the front door. I have a ceramic tile floor. I don't have a rug yet, but will probably get one. I currently have bare sheetrock walls, but will eventually put some art up. There would be quite a bit of reflection from the walls and floors the way it is now.
The way the room lays out, I can't see having the speakers more than a foot from the wall. The front door lines up with the wall that the speakers would be on, and that is the path to the kitchen. Moving the speakers further from the wall would disrupt the flow of traffic through the house. Bummer. The salesman told me that since the 683s are ported on the front rather than the rear of the speakers, that isn't an issue. Is he correct about that? I wonder if the 685's would be more forgiving being placed close to the wall than the 683s would be.
Considering the size of the space, would the 685s or the 683s be a better fit? How does that answer change if I needed to place the speakers closer to the wall than what would otherwise be optimum? How does the port being on the front rather than the rear of the speakers change things?
. I have to use 685's due to a concrete component shelf prohibiting use of floorstanders, but 683 would probably be a better match for a very big room. That being said, the 685 do a remarkable job. It is a really 'big sounding' small speaker to my ears. Great with stereo especially. The 685 comes with a 'port plug' which turns it into a sealed enclosure for close to the wall operation, I don't know if the 683 have same capability. Remember to get the most out of 685's you need to get quality stands as well, so plan for that as well. The B&W DS3 dipole dedicated rear speakers work especially well in my space, much better than regular speakers for me. In short, I would actually think 683 will be better in large space, but if not possible 685 + sub will also probably work well. If you can, get a home demo. Speakers have room interactions which might be difficult to predict.
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