603 series and magnetic field

[Ut Pictura]

Hello, everyone. Please can someone advise me. I have 603s floorstanders (absolutely LOVE them). My room is a bit cramped and have no option but to put them on each of the sides of my study desk. I want to put my iMac on my desk but am scared that they will either damage speakers or visa versa may be damaged by speakers. I say this out of ignorance because I am not conversant in electronics at all. All I know is that in documentation it is mentioned that these speakers are not magnetically shielded - but I am not sure exactly what the implications are.

Can someone explain to me what this all means, what the dangers are, and whether i can put my computer there without fear of any negative effect on either of the two. Even a link or two would be most helpful.

The distance between the two speaker is 140cm. and Mac is 48 cm wide - which means if I placed Mac exactly in middle of desk the distance between closest sides of speaker and computer would be 46 cm.

Thanks in advance ...

[audioqueso]

Really? I thought all the 600 series were magnetically shielded.
If they are not, that means having the speakers too close to the laptop's screen can damage the LCD cells. Do you remember the CRT tube monitors and big tv's? Ever put a magnet on it? It kills the colors in that area and it turned purple or black. One would have to press degauss to fix it. Well, that's about the same thing that would happen to your Mac's screen. The edges of the LCD closest to your speaker may start to burn out. So... don't do it.

[htsteve]

Deleted.

[wgriel]

Really? I thought all the 600 series were magnetically shielded.
If they are not, that means having the speakers too close to the laptop's screen can damage the LCD cells. Do you remember the CRT tube monitors and big tv's? Ever put a magnet on it? It kills the colors in that area and it turned purple or black. One would have to press degauss to fix it. Well, that's about the same thing that would happen to your Mac's screen. The edges of the LCD closest to your speaker may start to burn out. So... don't do it.

I thought LCDs were immune to those effects: in fact I'm fairly certain that only CRTs are affected by stray magnetic fields.

[audioqueso]

Nope... maybe not as much... but it still does it. I just tried it. ha ha

[wgriel]

Nope... maybe not as much... but it still does it. I just tried it. ha ha

Thanks - I had no idea!

[Ut Pictura]

Thank you gentlemen.

Once your advice ruled out the possibility of placing mac on desk, we had to reconfigure the entire room, and now I have a bit over 70cm between monitor and speaker, which I understand from documentation would be okay. i really appreciate the input!

It just leaves one more question: I now have a situation where the speakers are backed up against the wall - obviously bringing in some unwanted extra base. I will have to live with it so long - but would like to try out the foam plugs I heard all about. I only have one problem: nobody at the place I bought B&Ws from told me about the plugs at the time. So when I opened the box, they did puzzle me, but I could only think of them as being part of the packaging! So stupid me threw them out about a year and a half later. Are they easy to get? Does one just go to any shop that sells B&W - or can one just do a hand-made thing from any foam?

[esaleris]

Does one just go to any shop that sells B&W - or can one just do a hand-made thing from any foam?

If you have a good relationship with your dealer, they will just give you them. They probably have a lot of them laying around, or as excess.

[wgriel]

If you have a good relationship with your dealer, they will just give you them. They probably have a lot of them laying around, or as excess.

This is what I did a few years ago when I misplaced the plugs for my 600S3's. I asked at my dealer and they had several pairs kicking around (probably from demo speakers). They just gave them to me.

[Ut Pictura]

I have just arrived in Berlin, so I don't have "my dealer" here - but will go to a b&w dealer here and see how they respond ...

thanks for that

It is quite amazing how the sound changes when you move things around in a room!

One thing I am absolutely sure about, is that B&W floorstanders, require a minimum 2½ m perhaps even 3m between them - and i imagine with 8 series it should be even more - for a true sound experience. I have seen quite a few setups on the club's picture gallery with some very expensive equip. (inc. 8 series speakers), where speakers are placed very close on either side of the hifi system often along the shorter wall of a rectangular room. I know there are a number of factors to consider, and there are also formulas involved and talk of the sweet spot. My personal view is to forget about the sweet spot and keep those speakers as far as part as possible! Max. the side spatial factor and minimise the distance of the facing end.

I know i would probably get shot here, but I would probably prefer speakers to be on opposite ends of room facing each other then together with sound tunnelling toward listener.