B & W or DYNAUDIO PLEASE HELP

[Unregistered]

I am looking to buy a home theater/ music surround sound package. Equal emphasis being place on both music and movies. I am going to buy a Rotel 1056 receiver, and have looked at the Dynaudio Audience 72, and B & W 603 S3's for my mains. I want something that is not to taxing, but will not be too relaxed in soun. I have also looked into the Sonus Faber Concertino's, but they seem to be out of my price range. Is it adivisable to spend the extra money on the Sonus. Please any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

p.s. i will be pairing these speakers with a KEF sub.

 

[jeff/audioman]

Try This Option Realize The Differance You Are Missing

Vandersteen and Thiel are your best bet for speakers. Dont buy the other crap. Visit [url removed] and [hi, I'm trying to promote my websites] . You,ll see why, and your ears will know the differance, trust me.

MY SUGGESTION : ARCAM AVR-300: $2,176 with tax (surround processors and amps built-in). Arcam is the best build and sounds better than Rotel . Rotel is going down hill and is a mass market product. It is no longer hand made like it was years ago. Arcam is hand made. Also Arcam sounds a lot superior than Rotel. For your source components, also use an Arcam product. They start at $1,000 (DVD,CD) and the flagship (DVD/CD) is $3,000 and has better sound than $11,000 products like Krell and Mark Levinson. For speakers, the best for the money is Vandersteen ($1600/pr). The wire for Vandersteen (solid core): use Alpha-Core . The Arcam AVR 300 drives these like a king ! Vandersteens flagship is $16,000 . If you choose Thiel , the other truly correct speaker, you need to use a different amp like the Arcam flagships, but with Thiel it costs a lot more ,and you need a differant wire like the Audioquest . I have spent the last 6 months doing an in-depth study of the industry. If you go this way, you will be pleased. It's worth the extra expense. I wish I had this knowledge years ago, but the market is notorious for mass-market dumb sales people who just want money and want you to buy the crap. I suggest you visit [please click on my site, please] and learn from him. He knows the ins- and-outs and the way things really are. Take magazine reviews with a grain of salt. I went through [hey, let me try to do it again]. Let me know if you need more info.

Jeff (aka "I got banned because I only post links to my sites")

[Edit: new user only interested in creative ways of promoting his sites and the brands he sells]

 

[Unregistered 2]

I'm not the world's foremost authority on audio gear, but my suggestion to Unregistered (the original poster) is to carefully weigh the advice of folks who say, in essence, "Buy what I recommend; everything else is crap." To suggest that Vandersteen or Thiel speakers are the only good speakers out there is silly. There are dozens of excellent speakers in your price range. BTW, I must admit I am baffled by the term "truly correct speaker."

B&W and Dynaudio are very reputable companies that make some fine speakers. I've not heard the Dynaudio Audience 72 but I have heard the B&W 603 S3. While it's a nice sounding speaker, I think that in the B&W 600 series, their bookshelf 602 S3 sounds better, but that's just my ears. I don't know much about the Sonus Fabers, but if you're done shopping and they sound great to you and you can afford the extra cash, go for it. However, if you are still auditioning speakers, give a listen to the Paradigm Reference Studio series speakers. When I was speaker shopping, of all the speakers I listened to in the $800 to $1200 range, the Paradigms sounded the best to me. They are easy to drive and, in my opinion, are not "too relaxed." For my money, a couple of the best audio bargains out there are the Paradigm's Studio 20's and 40's, both of which are in your price range. Just a thought.

It has been suggested that you spend an additional $877 on an Arcam receiver. If I were you and I was going to put additional money into my gear, it would be in speakers; not a receiver. You'll get more improved sound for your money in speakers than in electronics.

While Arcam makes a great receiver, there's nothing wrong with Rotel. At that price point, the 1056 is a very nice piece of gear. BTW, if you went to the Advanced Audio Systems website as suggested, I'm sure you noted that, in addition to Arcam, they are an authorized dealer for Rotel. Hmmmm.

Jeff/Audioman may well be correct in saying, "If you go this way, you will be pleased." I'm sure the gear he's recommending is excellent. It is one way to go but by no means the only way.

Good luck!

 

[Unregistered]

B&W versus Dynaudio

Speakers are a highly subjective issue to my mind. No two models really sound alike and everybody's likes and dislikes are going to be different.
I have just been through that exact problem you mentioned and found the following advice very helpful:
- Dynaudio suggest that in any case, you should FIRST choose your speakers, and THEN buy the amp, otherwise you do not have any way to find out which piece of equipment works best for you, as you necessarily have to hook any amp or receiver up to speakers to make any choice. That's excellent advice and should be obvious, really.

- To test-listen to speakers, decide on ONE demanding and favourite piece of music you know really well to carry around with you, otherwise you'll go nuts and drive everyone else up the wall as well. If you want to buy a music-suitable home theater setup, make sure not only to listen to the whole speaker setup, but also to each speaker pair individually - taking care to make direct comparisons, one after another, with the different models or brands, using the exact same setup, same music, same amp, etc. That's the only way to really find out what you are looking for in a speaker and what you individually respond to. Once you have chosen your speakers, ideally you should take them home and allow them some running-in time, before looking for a new amp. Any reputable dealer will allow you to take an amp home to test-listen to it with your setup, if you're serious about buying. However, if necessary you can drag your speakers back to the studio (which is what I did) to choose your amp. I'm glad I did, as the AVR I had picked from the specs sheet sounded nowhere near as good with my speakers as the one I finally ended up with.
Best Regards,
Sim

 

[Westrock2000]

It has been suggested that you spend an additional $877 on an Arcam receiver. If I were you and I was going to put additional money into my gear, it would be in speakers; not a receiver. You'll get more improved sound for your money in speakers than in electronics.

Or a use that to buy powered Sub. I think you'll get more satisfaction from that then trying to find sound differences in amps.

I agree that spending more on speakers is the best bet...they have the toughest job to do.

 

[tgrisham]

In reference to the original post, just briefly, I have owned Dynaudio 70s for a couple of years. I recently helped a friend get into audio and he bought B&Ws. They are very different speakers. I have yet to find a pair of speakers that better mine, to my ears, without spending about $2800. I couldn't listen to both side by side because they were in two different stores across town. I was able to take my Dyns home for the weekend, maybe that is an option for you. Your room is different from the store's room. I would describe the B&Ws as detailed, articulate, unforgiving of bright recordings, more critical of position, and slightly less bottom, but very very realistic, especially of live recordings. I would describe the Dynaudios as having a forgiving high end (even "sweet"-sounding), very well-defined bass and midrange, a slight "bloom" in the bass with certain bass-heavy material (rock), and very listenable all day long, especially with classical and jazz. I couldn't listen to the B&Ws all day long, but that is just my ears. If you can , take them home, also. If you plan on a home theater and don't have a subwoofer yet, the 72s might let you hold off on the purchase a little while. I hope this helps. By the way, the Dynaudios are less efficient and might need more amplification for playing very loud. Good Luck!

 

[cornelius]

If I may add..

tgrisham summed up the comparison very well. I sort of categorize speakers in 3 ways: 1 they draw you into the music (dynaudio), 2 they put the music in front of you (b&w) with great detail, 3 something in-between (most designs). Now, I don't think this approach will work for everyone, but it helps me. I prefer #1. I feel the most emotional attatchment to the music - I forget about the equipment. I think this is a good basis for home theatre too. I believe in having a great music making system before adding dialogue and sfx.

Yes, it's true that one design cannot work for everyone, but my belief is that on paper, the time coherent designs make the most sense. Actually, they really do work. Unfortunately, in the real world, they do not work for me. The sweet spot is too small, and most designs are too large to fit into my listening area. At work I listen to a pair of time coherent Sequerra Monitors all day, and because I AM sitting in a specific spot they provide an accurate, non-fatiguing listen for hours.

One last note. I really do believe in trying out some of the smaller designers. For the next couple of weeks I'll be waiting for a pair of speakers to arrive - ordered factory direct. They're hand-made, I can actually talk to the designer, I don't have to pay for their marketing/advertising, I can try them at home, they'll upgrade/fix them for the lifetime of the product, and if need be, they'll fine tune them for your home.