B&W 705's or 703's as fronts ?

[nmain]

Hi All,

I recently had the chance to demo some B&W 705's bi-wired and using the bi-amp feature on the arcam avr300, in a room about 4*5m's. I was happy with the two channel and surround sound, but thought that the 705's didn't quite have the volume I am after, at 80% of the arcam's volume level the 705 B&W's started to struggle, and I didn't think it was that loud.

I am not sure what to do now. Should the 704's or 703's provide me with that little extra volume, or do I need to consider the 800 series. If I go the 800's then I have the issue of finding an amp to drive them without spending a small fortune!

I have the option of purchasing some second hand 705's at £450, so if the 703/704's will do the job with the arcam avr300, then I think I might pick them up.

What do you people think?

Thanks

Nath

[Aussie Geoff]

Nmain,

The 703s will go much lounder before stugling than the 705s and would be my choice. The 804s don't go any louder than the 703s and (as you point out) require a more demanding amplifier.

Go listen to the 703s. If you need more - run them with a subwoofer - much of the power is used up for bass peaks and a sub will take that strain away

Geoff

[csuzor]

My vote goes for the 704 (and my money has already).

I was not convinced with the 705, they were simply insufficient without the subwoofer, and with it I found myself looking at the sub to "locate" the deep bass... without the sub the 704 really helped to "locate" the true position of the bass... the 703 was just not worth the extra money relative to the 704, there are other purchases to come (like the sub, for sub 40Hz, where true location of the sound becomes irrelevant)

Christophe

[nmain]

Thanks guys,

I am going to demo some 703's this week, my dealer doesn't have any 704's.

Thanks again.