M-1s as rears in 600 series setup?

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  • P1et
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2006
    • 128

    M-1s as rears in 600 series setup?

    My wife and I just moved into a new home and the living room is a bit smaller than our last house. I currently have an LCR60, two 602 S3s and a ASW 625. No rears yet. I was thinking a pair of M-1s. I am not sure if I have room for 600 S3s or 601 S3s.

    Thoughts?
  • hifiguymi
    Super Senior Member
    • Mar 2007
    • 1532

    #2
    The M1's would work just fine. They are great sounding speakers and since you have DM602's up front you should be fine.

    Eric

    Comment

    • audioqueso
      Super Senior Member
      • Nov 2004
      • 1930

      #3
      Last summer I had a pair of M1s as my rears to match my 805's. They did a really good job. They are very suprising speakers. Yes, they sounded smaller than the 805s, but if you have a multi-channel amp, power the M1s with it. They become very spacious with a good amp, and can really surpass their small looks. I use the M1s now in my bedroom paired with a Denon Premium integrated amp and CD. I would say yes, they will be fine matched with the 600 series.
      B&W 804S/Velodyne SPL-1000R/Anthem MRX720

      Comment

      • alive&amplified
        Junior Member
        • May 2008
        • 15

        #4
        M1's use a 1" aluminum dome tweeter, as do your 602's. The match will be very pleasing. The glossy white and glossy black finish look amazing.

        Comment

        • P1et
          Senior Member
          • Jan 2006
          • 128

          #5
          Excellent feedback everyone, sounds like a winner! And with them being discontinued (according to my local home theater shop), hopefully I can find some bargains.

          Comment

          • hifiguymi
            Super Senior Member
            • Mar 2007
            • 1532

            #6
            The M1 is not discontinued. Maybe they aren't going to stock them any longer but B&W hasn't discontinued them.

            Eric

            Comment

            • alive&amplified
              Junior Member
              • May 2008
              • 15

              #7
              Originally posted by hifiguymi
              The M1 is not discontinued. Maybe they aren't going to stock them any longer but B&W hasn't discontinued them.

              Eric

              ^^^ x2 ^^^

              The M1 is a spectacular seller for B&W. It is still a current model.

              Comment

              • P1et
                Senior Member
                • Jan 2006
                • 128

                #8
                Originally posted by alive&lified
                ^^^ x2 ^^^

                The M1 is a spectacular seller for B&W. It is still a current model.
                Sorry, I stand corrected. You will no longer be able to purchase the five packs. You can only purchase them as seperate items I was told. This information came from two seperate HiFi dealers in the Austin area.

                Comment

                • kmcheng
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2008
                  • 253

                  #9
                  I thought the M1's are always sold as separates speakers. I remember when I bought mine, the dealer discount was applied towards individual speakers, so I would have got the same percentage discount whether I bought two or five M-1's.

                  B&W marketed the MT-10, MT-20, and MT-30 packages by pairing five M-1 speakers with different subwoofers. However, that is pure marketing. There is no "package" discount involved even if you were to buy the bundle.

                  By the way, my M-1's are now rears for my 805S fronts. I also think that the M-1's work very well as rears. They are also physically less imposing in my living room.

                  Comment

                  • P1et
                    Senior Member
                    • Jan 2006
                    • 128

                    #10
                    Originally posted by kmcheng
                    I thought the M1's are always sold as separates speakers. I remember when I bought mine, the dealer discount was applied towards individual speakers, so I would have got the same percentage discount whether I bought two or five M-1's.

                    B&W marketed the MT-10, MT-20, and MT-30 packages by pairing five M-1 speakers with different subwoofers. However, that is pure marketing. There is no "package" discount involved even if you were to buy the bundle.

                    By the way, my M-1's are now rears for my 805S fronts. I also think that the M-1's work very well as rears. They are also physically less imposing in my living room.
                    Hmm, that is odd. Again, I am merely going by what two seperate B&W authorized dealers told me in central Texas. I was wanting a set of five silvers ones and apparantly they told me the package of 5x (without sub) would be disappearing that you could only buy them seperately now. I was offered to purchase (at both shops) to purchase the 5-pack for $666.

                    Comment

                    • kmcheng
                      Senior Member
                      • Jan 2008
                      • 253

                      #11
                      Originally posted by P1et
                      Hmm, that is odd. Again, I am merely going by what two seperate B&W authorized dealers told me in central Texas. I was wanting a set of five silvers ones and apparantly they told me the package of 5x (without sub) would be disappearing that you could only buy them seperately now. I was offered to purchase (at both shops) to purchase the 5-pack for $666.
                      I see. Perhaps it was the two dealers who bundled them together? B&W's website does not really list a package of five M-1s with no sub. In any case, $666 seems quite a good price for five of these. I think the MSRP is around $225 per speaker. Just be careful to not overpay on the stands.

                      I do have to say that the M-1 are very good for HT, but not quite up there for hi-fi. But you already have the 600 series, so this would not concern you.

                      Comment

                      • fordster
                        Senior Member
                        • Feb 2005
                        • 211

                        #12
                        It sounds like the M1s make good rear speakers for a wide range of B&W speakers. Do you think they would match with CM1s? If so that would be quite a space saving although I still need to work out how to fit in a CMC as I guess there is no way having an M1 as a centre would work!
                        Dave

                        Comment

                        • kmcheng
                          Senior Member
                          • Jan 2008
                          • 253

                          #13
                          Originally posted by fordster
                          It sounds like the M1s make good rear speakers for a wide range of B&W speakers. Do you think they would match with CM1s? If so that would be quite a space saving although I still need to work out how to fit in a CMC as I guess there is no way having an M1 as a centre would work!
                          The M-1 (as rears) should match your CM-1 pretty well. The reason it would work is because the rears in general handle less than 15% of the sound information, so you would not notice the difference in timber.

                          However, the M-1 would not work as a center channel. If you have the CM-1 as L/R and the M-1 as center, you are going to have different timbers in the front sound stage. I actually tested this setup at my home and the M-1 drew too much attention to itself. Being the least capable speaker, it also made the dialogues and voices sound "boxed-in". In my experience, I could hear the dialogues clearly coming from the bottom of the TV (where the M-1 was placed), while the ambience noise from the CM-1 sounded open, natural and airy. The contrasts in sound "height" and sound quality rendered a poor sound stage in my test setup, even when I was just watching TV. I promptly disabled the center channel and was much happier with having only the L/R doing all the work.

                          Comment

                          • P1et
                            Senior Member
                            • Jan 2006
                            • 128

                            #14
                            I was actually thinking about switching my LCR60 out with an M-1 as well, and just leave the 602 S3 as my front left and right.

                            Would that be a bad move? I am looking at buying a BDI unit and the LCR60 is too large to be hidden in the middle compartment. However, it looks like the M1 would fit nicely.

                            Comment

                            • hifiguymi
                              Super Senior Member
                              • Mar 2007
                              • 1532

                              #15
                              That would ge a downgrade. Don't do it if you can avoid it. The M1 will work great as rears but not as a center with DM602S3's.

                              Eric

                              Comment

                              • kmcheng
                                Senior Member
                                • Jan 2008
                                • 253

                                #16
                                I agree with Eric. I think the only way for the M-1 to work as a center is to have the M-1 also be the L and R speakers. I had that setup for four months and was very happy with the sound when watching TV and movies.

                                Comment

                                • fordster
                                  Senior Member
                                  • Feb 2005
                                  • 211

                                  #17
                                  Thanks for the advice, guess I'll have to work out some way of squeezing in a CMC. It is about 1 or 2 inches too high to fit in my current rack! I'm not planning on doing this anytime soon though as I don't have the cash so maybe things will have changed by then (speaker ranges, my rack or even my house!).
                                  Dave

                                  Comment

                                  • audioqueso
                                    Super Senior Member
                                    • Nov 2004
                                    • 1930

                                    #18
                                    Are you using an AV receiver?? If you're going to use the M1s as any part of the front setup, use a dedicated amp. With a AV receiver, they sound good, smooth, but still sound their size. After I hooked it up to a dedicated amp, these speakers really came to life. The bass (if any) doesn't really change, the top gets a bit smoother, but the mids become very clear, and the soundstage opens up completely. They sound a lot bigger than their size when powered with a separate amp. What is the size of your room?
                                    B&W 804S/Velodyne SPL-1000R/Anthem MRX720

                                    Comment

                                    • P1et
                                      Senior Member
                                      • Jan 2006
                                      • 128

                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by audioqueso
                                      Are you using an AV receiver?? If you're going to use the M1s as any part of the front setup, use a dedicated amp. With a AV receiver, they sound good, smooth, but still sound their size. After I hooked it up to a dedicated amp, these speakers really came to life. The bass (if any) doesn't really change, the top gets a bit smoother, but the mids become very clear, and the soundstage opens up completely. They sound a lot bigger than their size when powered with a separate amp. What is the size of your room?
                                      I'll be connecting it to my new Sony 5300ES. It's still in the box as the unit is too tall for my current cabinet, so I'll have to buy one of those first!

                                      In any regard, my room is about 25x20.

                                      Comment

                                      • kmcheng
                                        Senior Member
                                        • Jan 2008
                                        • 253

                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by P1et
                                        I'll be connecting it to my new Sony 5300ES. It's still in the box as the unit is too tall for my current cabinet, so I'll have to buy one of those first!

                                        In any regard, my room is about 25x20.
                                        It is great that you have the flexibility to replace your furniture. I got into audio AFTER I bought a slick-looking white cabinet. I later found out that the cabinet is too shallow, too narrow, too short and too light-weight for most of the audiophile grade components. But it is too late, the real authority in the house dictates that the slick-looking cabinet is to stay, even though by now it is the least expensive piece in my audio setup.

                                        Let me just suggest that before you shop for your cabinet, plan ahead on what components you ultimately want to get down the road and carefully jot down their dimensions and weights. That way you won't end up in my situation.

                                        Happy cabinet hunting!

                                        Comment

                                        • fhsun
                                          Member
                                          • Oct 2008
                                          • 39

                                          #21
                                          685 and M-1?

                                          This is the perfect thread that I've been looking for!

                                          I am putting a 5.1 speaker system together. I really like the 685's I demo'd at a dealer and I would like to use them as my front LR speakers along with HTM62 center and ASW608 sub.

                                          My issue is I don't have space around the listening area so I want to use M-1's in the back as surround speakers instead of the bulky 686 B&W recommends for the 685.

                                          I am guessing that if M-1 can match the 805S then I shouldn't have any issue using them with 685?

                                          My room is small at 15ft x 13ft and I'll be using the speakers for HT most of the time but I want to go a little bigger in the front for versatility and music on occassions.

                                          Thanks for any feedback!

                                          Comment

                                          • kmcheng
                                            Senior Member
                                            • Jan 2008
                                            • 253

                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by fhsun
                                            This is the perfect thread that I've been looking for!

                                            I am putting a 5.1 speaker system together. I really like the 685's I demo'd at a dealer and I would like to use them as my front LR speakers along with HTM62 center and ASW608 sub.

                                            My issue is I don't have space around the listening area so I want to use M-1's in the back as surround speakers instead of the bulky 686 B&W recommends for the 685.

                                            I am guessing that if M-1 can match the 805S then I shouldn't have any issue using them with 685?

                                            My room is small at 15ft x 13ft and I'll be using the speakers for HT most of the time but I want to go a little bigger in the front for versatility and music on occassions.

                                            Thanks for any feedback!
                                            The M1 should work just fine. However, I think the 686 is not that much bigger than the M-1, and the M-1 stands are expensive, so other than pure aesthetics I do not see a strong reason to use the M-1 rather than the matching 686.

                                            Comment

                                            • fhsun
                                              Member
                                              • Oct 2008
                                              • 39

                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by kmcheng
                                              The M1 should work just fine. However, I think the 686 is not that much bigger than the M-1, and the M-1 stands are expensive, so other than pure aesthetics I do not see a strong reason to use the M-1 rather than the matching 686.
                                              Height & width wise the 686 is not that much more than the M-1. However, the depth on the 686 is much more than the M-1. That coupled with 686's boxiness will make the 686 look pretty bulky if I have to mount it on the wall.

                                              Yeah, those M-1 speaker stands are pretty outrageous 8O

                                              Comment

                                              • Braddles
                                                Junior Member
                                                • Oct 2008
                                                • 3

                                                #24
                                                I am also looking at using M-1s as rears, as my current 602s2 are too big for my new place.

                                                If you had the choice between in-wall speakers (CWM650) or M-1s, which would you choose?

                                                Comment

                                                • hifiguymi
                                                  Super Senior Member
                                                  • Mar 2007
                                                  • 1532

                                                  #25
                                                  That depends on the in wall. I'd probably stick with the M1 unless it's the CWM650 or CWM800. Those two are more money though.

                                                  Eric

                                                  Comment

                                                  • kmcheng
                                                    Senior Member
                                                    • Jan 2008
                                                    • 253

                                                    #26
                                                    Originally posted by fhsun
                                                    Height & width wise the 686 is not that much more than the M-1. However, the depth on the 686 is much more than the M-1. That coupled with 686's boxiness will make the 686 look pretty bulky if I have to mount it on the wall.

                                                    Yeah, those M-1 speaker stands are pretty outrageous 8O
                                                    If wall-mounting the speakers, then I would definitely go with the M-1. It is much easier to adjust the orientation of the M-1. And yes, I too think that the 686 would look bulky and ugly if wall-mounted.

                                                    Personally I do not like in-wall speakers. I think they look too much like the overhead PA system in my office. Of course, that's just me, and I am not making any judgment based on the sound here.

                                                    Comment

                                                    • kobestonecold
                                                      Senior Member
                                                      • Sep 2007
                                                      • 149

                                                      #27
                                                      M-1 is the best for HT setup but not for Hi-Fi. I have MT20 set up.

                                                      Comment

                                                      • fhsun
                                                        Member
                                                        • Oct 2008
                                                        • 39

                                                        #28
                                                        Originally posted by kobestonecold
                                                        M-1 is the best for HT setup but not for Hi-Fi. I have MT20 set up.
                                                        And that's the reason I decided to go with the 685's & HTM62 up front instead of having M1's all round--to have that versatility to play great music when I'm not doing HT.

                                                        I don't have a big room so having M-1's all around would be a better physical/visual fit, but I'm willing to sacrafice that in the front for better sound. I just simply don't have the space in the back to accommodate bigger speakers.

                                                        Comment

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