B&W 603 S2 (AE) or KEF Q750?

[WildArticuno]

Hello all,

I am buying my first pair of speakers ever to start a home theatre setup. I will be starting with simply a receiver and 2 floor standing speakers, with the intention of adding a center channel and sub later next year. My budget is $1,000 per speaker.

The two speakers I like (based on aesthetics and reading reviews) are these:

Bowers and Wilkins 603 S2 Anniversary Edition

KEF Q750

Is one of the choices clearly better than the other? Are they comparable speakers? I noticed the KEF has 4 drivers and the B&W only has 3 - but I don't know what this means. Unfortunately, I am not able to try out the speakers because the places near me do not have these models on site. I am simply going to pick one and stick with it, because honestly I will not know any better.

Also, I plan to buy the Denon AVR-S960H for the receiver. Is this receiver sufficient for the two speakers above? Or should I buy the X2700H? Is the price difference worth it for these speakers?

What do you recommend? Please advise.

Thank you.

 

[mazersteven]

The Anniversary Edition B&W's are supposed to be really nice. I have not heard them myself. But everything I've read and heard have been positive. New material for the Drivers. Better Tweeter then older model 600 series. Here is a review on them

This deal is ending soon. Don't know if your in the States

Canton 596.2 in White. Free Center

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[Movie2099]

Hello all,

I am buying my first pair of speakers ever to start a home theatre setup. I will be starting with simply a receiver and 2 floor standing speakers, with the intention of adding a center channel and sub later next year. My budget is $1,000 per speaker.

The two speakers I like (based on aesthetics and reading reviews) are these:

Bowers and Wilkins 603 S2 Anniversary Edition

KEF Q750

Is one of the choices clearly better than the other? Are they comparable speakers? I noticed the KEF has 4 drivers and the B&W only has 3 - but I don't know what this means. Unfortunately, I am not able to try out the speakers because the places near me do not have these models on site. I am simply going to pick one and stick with it, because honestly I will not know any better.

Also, I plan to buy the Denon AVR-S960H for the receiver. Is this receiver sufficient for the two speakers above? Or should I buy the X2700H? Is the price difference worth it for these speakers?

What do you recommend? Please advise.

Thank you.

I own B&W speakers so I will always recommend those if someone is interested. I've heard the new Anniversary Edition of the 600 series is very nice. KEF is also very nice. I don't think you can go wrong with either. But if it was me, I would lean more for the B&W's.

Also, If you can, jump up to that X2700H or see if you can find the X3600H. I think you'll like those more than the S960H.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

KEF has a much better reputation among audiophiles because KEF (like Revel, RBH, Focal, Dynaudio, Monitor Audio, and few others) make speakers that are accurate in measurements.

B&W get some bashing because even their $30,000 speakers have on-axis and off-axis measurements (from Stereophile and S&V magazine, not from consumers) that are WORSE than some cheap Infinity Primus speakers.

Of course, measurements don't guarantee better sound. But a lot of people talk about on-axis and off-axis measurements. So if a $30,000 speaker has a +5dB peak at 10kHz, it will raise eyebrows among audiophiles.

So it depends on how you feel about this perception. Do you care how your peers feel in general about certain brands?

I used to own the B&W 802D2 and I thought they sounded just fine.