Hi everyone,
I'm a newbie both on Audioholics but also new to the not-so-bottom-of-the-barrel audio game and I need some help with my speaker setup.
I've got a pair of B&W DM603 (series 1) main speakers, a B&W CC6 (series 1) centre, some old DTX digital speakers for surrounds and a DTX digital 15" subwoofer. My receiver is a Yamaha RX-V1073.
I bought the 603s recently and as I was so pleased with the sound of them that instinctively I figured the ideal matching centre would be the one that belongs to the same series so I hunted around and picked up a CC6. When I got the centre home the tweeter seemed rather weak and made the whole speaker sound really muddy. I pulled the tweeter diaphragm apart, looked ok - measures around 5 ohms DC resistance, no burnt smells or charcoal. The crossover looked ok but I decided to replace the original 16 year old electrolytic caps with some new ones this evening of the same type and values. The tweeter has more presence than before, it's definitely working but it still sounds ordinary.
I've hooked up one of the 603s to the centre channel and it sounds great so it's not the amp. I made up some new speaker cables but this made no difference either. FWIW the cables are 15AWG OFC and the centre cable is only 1.5 metres in length. The room accoustics aren't ideal, I have a timber floor and no heavy drapes on the windows, just verticals. The centre sits on the floor under my entertainment unit and is being used to prop up the middle of the entertainment unit. I'm sure this sounds like a nightmare but the centre sounds just as poor if I sit it on top of the entertainment unit on some clothes or cushions to get rid of any vibration or resonance or even hold it in the air.
So now I'm at a loss. I have read mixed opinions about the performance of the CC6 speaker, some people seem to like them, others find them muddy. As the tweeter does seem to be working to some extent, I'm after clarification from others who have had or still have a CC6 what the listening experience should be like, particularly if it was mated with 603s, so that I can ascertain whether my tweeter is underperforming because something else is wrong with it and therefore it needs to be replaced or whether in fact the whole speaker will always be as it is no matter what I do to it and therefore should I look at replacing the whole speaker with something else.
In the case where something else will perform better, I'm interested in people's recommendations for a centre that will blend in nicely with the 603s, particularly the warm but not too bright top end.
Not sure how relevant it is, the lounge room housing the equipment is 4m wide x 5m deep for the main section plus it has a 3m x 3m dining room attached to it so the whole room is L shaped. Total area 29 sq metres. Ceiling height is 2.6m.
I apologise in advance if none of my rambling makes much sense. I'm more than happy to clarify any points if necessary.
Cheers,
Dave
