B&W 685 & Kef iQ3

[-=PLuKE=-]

I had my mine set on the iQ3's, But after looking at the 685s (£100 more expensive) my heart is in them! I cant say why there is something about them that i really like!. Am going to listen to a pair tomorrow and see what they sound like, Am after forwards firing ports to stop the "booming" in my bedroom from the dry-line walls, But i want something that does sound harsh when the volume is turned up, But i want a good tight punchy base that really drives but doesnt "boom". Can i expect this from the 685s?. I listen to diffrent music, Hip hop, dance, Indie. Pop.

Anybody who has them feel free to explain your thoughts .

Is £380 the cheapest around?.

Luke

[-=PLuKE=-]

Oh, I run my music from my PC most the time, Am using a half decent sound card (Audio Delta 2496) more for music and editing than gaming etc. I dont know if my amp will be good enough, Its only a Teac AH-300 35-40W per channel but i will be looking to upgrade in the near furture i would think.

Thanks

Luke

[jack667]

The 685s are definitely a competitive option at this price. Out of everything I heard, I was most impressed with the 685s, having gone from a speaker that was much more expensive, I found the 685s to beat it in almost every area.

One complaint I read though in WhatHiFi is they might be too bassy for smaller rooms.

I haven't found them to be that bassy and my room isn't that large (3x4m) - they sit around 30cm from the rear wall too!

It's the B&W effect!

Interested to hear your opinion on them

[jack667]

Oh and that's a great soundcard - I used to run a similar PC set up to that a few years ago before switching everything over to Mac.

And of course, whatever speakers you buy will benefit from a better amp than your Teac - but for now, you will notice a massive improvement regardless.

[-=PLuKE=-]

Well went and had a nice listen the 685's and the iQ3s (second listen) and the 685s sound so much nicer, The vocals on the iQ3 sound as thought they come out to much and the bass did sound alittlr "boomy" which i defo dont need in my bedroom!. The 685s sounded really nice, clean and everything went togeter just nice, with deep, punchy base. They was hooked to to a CYRUS 6VS2, The 685s didnt like the amp at all, It sounded TBH crap! no real bass or anything to stand out. They guy said he would hook the Teac AH300 up (which i have) as he said the Teac have more drive (i thought ye right an amp is an amp) HOW WRONG!!!. He hooked it up and WOW they base was very good, really deep and punchy really tight sounding!. Both amps was set to flat base and treble. So i went for the 685s and got £30 off so they cost me £350 with some cable, Am picking them up next Saturday, As am gutting my bedroom out with new everything.

AM EXCITED!!!!.

Luke

[jack667]

Congratulations!

You will have a lot of fun with the 685s

[Ted]

Luke,

Cangrats on the new 685s!! I'm sure you will enjoy them!!

... and the bass did sound alittlr "boomy" which i defo dont need in my bedroom!.

I guess I was always under them impression, a little "boomy" in the bedroom isn't a bad thing... :W

[-=PLuKE=-]

Ye am happy!. I was told that after some use they sound better after they have ran in. Am also will be using the QED Silver Anni which also takes abit of burning in time, Well am almost finished my bedroom now cant wait to see what everything looks like and what the 685s sound like at home .

Luke

[-=PLuKE=-]

Cantt wait till tomorrow now!, Get the 686s from the shop and hopefully new cables should be here aswell aswell. Almost finished my new bedroom/cinema room, Done plenty of work in there with wires and cables running in the walls and ceiling, Will post some pics up soon.

Luke

[Briz vegas]

Hate to rub it in Pluke but here in Australia it is already tomorrow. Hmmmm those speakers do sound nice. Shame you have to wait to get here.

:rofl: :rofl:

[Ted]

Hate to rub it in Pluke but here in Australia it is already tomorrow. Hmmmm those speakers do sound nice. Shame you have to wait to get here.

:rofl: :rofl:

Briz, harsh, very harsh way to rub it in on the man!! :W :rofl:

[-=PLuKE=-]

:F , Cables came this morning, So am off down to the shop soon to pick them up, Just need to hook everything up as i was working late last night in my room to get things sorted out. Cant wait now, Get some hours into them and see what they sound like!!.

Luke

[-=PLuKE=-]

Well picked them up on Saturday late afternoon, And havent stopped listen to them since!, They sound bloody good!! much better than my Kef Cresta 2's i had. Even with bass/treble on flat there is plenty of base there and the highs sound pretty nice aswell, Still going to give them a weeks worth of listen to get them run in and give the QED Silver Ani cable abit of burn in time (so i have been told). But overall am really happy with them!. Will post some pics up later on today .

Luke

[emig5m]

Well picked them up on Saturday late afternoon, And havent stopped listen to them since!, They sound bloody good!! much better than my Kef Cresta 2's i had. Even with bass/treble on flat there is plenty of base there and the highs sound pretty nice aswell, Still going to give them a weeks worth of listen to get them run in and give the QED Silver Ani cable abit of burn in time (so i have been told). But overall am really happy with them!. Will post some pics up later on today .

Luke

I know this is an old thread, but I'm a little late to the show here and stuck home out of work with a broken foot and enjoying some reading through this forum. Anyway... it's amazing when I read comments on the same speakers I bought that the general experience is IDENTICAL to mine! I bought the 685 to compliment my 683's for rears sound unheard - didn't care - mainly wanted matching surround speakers for the first time from the same company and also lineup.

When I got them home and unpacked them, I had this undying urge to not send them to rear surround duties right away and try them as front mains. So I unhooked the 683's and sat the 685's on top and plugged them in. First song I played - WOW! Just like the original poster said, even with all tone controls flat, the sound is superb and surely doesn't sound 'flat' (flat as in flat tasting soda compared to freshly opened and sparkling) - you don't need to add tone to it for them to sparkle. These speakers have to be the best buy in true hi-fi! I could easily be happy with just a set of 685's for 2-channel music. The bass output, clarity, and bigger-than-they-look soundstage is absolutely amazing!

It's funny to say now but coming from someone who used to run rather huge and over the top floorstanding speakers - Cerwin Vega with 15" woofers, efficiency rating of 102dB 1w/1m and frequency response of 28Hz to 28,000Hz and a top rated output of 128dB (I personally measured peaks of 125db in my room with a SPL meter), how the hell could I be blown away by such a little and less efficient bookshelf speaker!? I mean look at them! They look like almost nothing! They look they wouldn't even be an appetizer to the taste buds of the Cerwin Vega! LOL! :E But the little and rather unimpressive looking (compared to huge over the top floorstanders) beat out the bigger speakers in every way imaginable except flat out volume which isn't even a issue at all because the 685's play plenty loud enough - the top volume of the Vega is more novelty-like than of any real use.

One might assume that a dinky little 'hi-fi' speaker like the 685 bookshelf is for the 'audiophile' type people and is meant to play certain special types of music (some other Cerwin Vega lover on another forum referred to it as "wine and cheese" music) but this isn't true at all. I mean, my all time favorite CD is Metallica - The Black Album. I listen to all types of music (probably a wider range then anyone on this forum) from Heavy Metal, to Rap/Hip Hop, to Pop, to Classic Rock, to even some Orchestra type music (Telarc The Great Fantasy Album to The Dark Knight soundtrack) - just about anything BUT 'wine and cheese' music as that one poster put it (I love cheese, just not wine, hehe :rofl: ) and no matter what type of music, they performed better.

But anyway, the 685 is easily the most impressive speaker I've ever heard before. Ya the 683 outperforms it (with some deeper and stronger bass and a slightly clearer and more open midrange) but the 685 isn't that far behind in sound quality and knocks you off guard because it's so small and un-intimidating looking. :lol: ;x( I read that this speaker won some awards, I can clearly hear why! And for a two way speaker, it surely doesn't sound two-way to me. Heck to me even much larger Klipsch floorstanders has that two-way sound (like a missing gap in the midrange) but the little 685 doesn't sound like it has any gaps at all - just perfect output, clarity, and detail throughout it's entire bandwidth range! I can set the 685 on top of the 683 and I bet most people wouldn't be able to tell what speaker was playing with most music!