Just bought the 683's

[sunshdw]

...and having the patients to break them is sucks!! :rofl: Everyday they are sounding better and better. When I first fired them up Monday night I was a bit shocked on how bright the FST and tweeter sounded, but now it's calmed down and starting to sound killer!! I sold my 602's, 601's and lcr600 to buy these 683's. No I'm not comparing my 602's to the 683's but around this town there isn't much for brand options. Paradigm and Klipsch are the closest to B&W. Anyways, I'll through out my finall opinion once I get them completly set up and broke in. :T

[PewterTA]

Nice to hear!!! I'm sure they will definitely sound great in a few more days of listening!

If you mod them with upgraded wiring inside and silver solder all the connections they sound even better. Just something to think about if you get the time and courage to do. :T

[audioqueso]

Just put on some heavy metel or hard rock with deep bass, and leave it on repeat. Go away somewhere. Just never turn it off for the weekend. That's what I've always done.

[emig5m]

If you mod them with upgraded wiring inside and silver solder all the connections they sound even better. Just something to think about if you get the time and courage to do. :T

Is this something you've personally tried?

[beden1]

Is this something you've personally tried?

Just enjoy your speakers and forget about re-wiring them internally!

[PewterTA]

Yep, I even have a thread on it, and it made a HUGE difference. Noticeable to everyone that's heard the "moded" vs. non "moded." versions (these were 602s that I had 2 sets of).

I do agree with Beden though, enjoy the speakers! If you ever feel that there is something missing I highly recommend looking into at least soldering all the connections, this is where the real benefit is gained.

And to all those that will tell you there is no difference... well, it's basically their loss.

[wkhanna]

Yep, I even have a thread on it, and it made a HUGE difference. Noticeable to everyone that's heard the "moded" vs. non "moded." versions (these were 602s that I had 2 sets of).

Dan brought both his modified and stock speakers to my place. There was no marking or visual difference on any of them. Even Dan did not know which set were the stock and which were modded.

Once hooked up to my system, it took us each less than 15 seconds to hear the obvious improvement re-wiring the speaker made.

[videophile]

I would think re-wiring the speakers would void the warranty..

[emig5m]

Dan brought both his modified and stock speakers to my place. There was no marking or visual difference on any of them. Even Dan did not know which set were the stock and which were modded.

Once hooked up to my system, it took us each less than 15 seconds to hear the obvious improvement re-wiring the speaker made.

Wow! :E Wouldn't you think B&W would want to gain that extra performance? Or they don't want to compete with themselves against their higher end models? I'm going to give PewterTA's thread a read... hey the better sound performance I can afford, the better, right?

[sunshdw]

Yep, I even have a thread on it, and it made a HUGE difference. Noticeable to everyone that's heard the "moded" vs. non "moded." versions (these were 602s that I had 2 sets of).

I do agree with Beden though, enjoy the speakers! If you ever feel that there is something missing I highly recommend looking into at least soldering all the connections, this is where the real benefit is gained.

And to all those that will tell you there is no difference... well, it's basically their loss.

Im interested in the thread you made about this mod??

[sunshdw]

Well they're broke in and sound MUCH better than before. Now I've been work on getting a good sound stage.

Quick question about that, why is it with different vocal tones the center image goes up and down?? I had my wife come and listen to make sure I wasn't nuts nad she said the same thing. A lower tone voice actually sits in between the speakers and a womans voice is up like you're looking to a stage from the floor seating.

[atchudy]

Im interested in the thread you made about this mod??

whats the link?

[PewterTA]

Yes I'm sure it voids the warranty. So if you aren't comfortable with that, don't do it! :T

Basically what this is doing is soldering all the contact points and making a better "connection" for the signal to travel. So more power actually makes it to drive the drivers.

The main reason B&W doesn't do this is because it makes the speakers a lot harder to service and takes more time to actually build. If you are good with soldering, you can get a set done in an hour and notice the differences immediately.

The wiring is not "as important" as soldering the connections directly to the drivers...but it also doesn't hurt and does help. If you take a full 100% of the upgrade, the wiring change makes up maybe 20-30%, the rest is the soldered connections.

My link to the upgrades

[Briz vegas]

Well they're broke in and sound MUCH better than before. Now I've been work on getting a good sound stage.

Quick question about that, why is it with different vocal tones the center image goes up and down?? I had my wife come and listen to make sure I wasn't nuts nad she said the same thing. A lower tone voice actually sits in between the speakers and a womans voice is up like you're looking to a stage from the floor seating.

Curious observation. If you think about it the woofers are down the bottom and the tweeter is on top. I have not noticed this myself (very different system and room obviously). I will certainly listen for it, although my gear is different.

[PewterTA]

I get the same thing with that. Actually most speakers that aren't a MTM type of design will cause that because of the Hz of the voice and which drivers are reproducing what parts of the voice.

I've always noticed that female voices "seem" higher in the sound stage than the male counterpart. Not by a whole lot, but it's there. After a little bit you hardly even notice it.

[sunshdw]

Well here's the finished product of my set up. I spent a long time with the dimensions and the toe. I'm really happy with how it turned out with the overall imaging, focus and sound. I still need to figure out my sub cross over point so they blend well. I have the Paradigm X30 xover which goes to 35Hz on a 12db slope. I have it set at approx. 60Hz right now and they still seem to high. I also have the sub level down to 1/4 volume to help. Using a frequency generator my peak SPL is around 23-20 Hz. At the frequency I can quickly peak my 130db meter at will. lololol

I sat and listened to a bunch of music to evaluate the overall performance vs. what I've heard in it's class (Paradigm, Klipch, JBL, cheap Martin Logans etc.) and I gotta say.......bang for the buck there's a strong argument for the 683's being near/at the top IMHO. I listened to many ranges of music from Charlotte Church (one of my fav's) to godsmack/alice n chains. I listened to them with and without the subs going and realized very quickly that they need a sub. Playing a good kick drum song (like kick start my heart by motley crue) they did ok by themselves but with the subs going made a HUGE difference to me. It seemed like they liked anything above a good midbass frequency. Sound stage seemed to have a decent depth and imaging when using an acoustical male/female perfomace. On a track with lots going on (i.e. "Spies - passages through the world") they seemed to get lost a bit with the overall stage/image. The 703's do much better with that IMO.

More to come, but here's a couple of pics:

[newguy987]

Nice picks, and very nice speakers. I'll have to post mine soon when I get a chance and figure out how to do it. I tried by 683's on the plynths, but didn't like the looks of it. Are yours in a high traffic area(kids, pets)? I'm still in the holy shit, I can't beleive what i'm hearing stage. I can't wait until I get my theater room done. Then i can properly set my gear up and really test them out. What are you looking at for upgrades if any? (and I don't mean speakers)

[sunshdw]

Nice picks, and very nice speakers. I'll have to post mine soon when I get a chance and figure out how to do it. I tried by 683's on the plynths, but didn't like the looks of it. Are yours in a high traffic area(kids, pets)? I'm still in the holy shit, I can't beleive what i'm hearing stage. I can't wait until I get my theater room done. Then i can properly set my gear up and really test them out. What are you looking at for upgrades if any? (and I don't mean speakers)

THe hallway leads to the other half the house so yeah its somewhat high traffic between my wife, her 6yr old and myself. Part of the reason I used the plynths is my carpet is kinda thick so I didn't want them to be tipped over if someone bumped them.

I hear ya on the holy shit phase. Nearly everynight I come home from work and just sit and relax listening to them.

Next upgrades will be to Rotel. I'm headed towards the RC1082 stereo preamp, a pair of RB1080's and the 1072 cd player. I chatted with my stores B&W/Rotel rep to get the ball rollin.........