ASW600 or ASW675

[kiki]

Which of these 2 5.1 package do you prefer?

603, 601, LCR600 and ASW600

or

602, 601, LCR600 and ASW675

Driving by Rotel 1068 + 1075

[sikoniko]

I have not heard either, but was told that the 675 is a big upgrade over the 600.

[kiki]

if I get 603, 675, 601, LCR600 cost AUD$700 more than the ASW600 pack

[DrBoom]

Can I also vote for "none of the above" ? :B

Why not get the 603, 601, LCR600 and an ASW650 ?
The only reason I can think of is that you or your significant other find it too large, because it's better than the ASW600 and better value than the 675.
It's not that much more expensive either, I'm sure you have $150 US (don't know how much $ AUS that is) lying around somewhere

[jlee]

I'd like to vote for none of the above. I've demoed the 600 series, CM series, and 700 series... for a negligible amount more, u can have the CM series, which is a big step up from the 600 series... any more you pay will be recovered upon resale so you won't really lose anything. I consider the CM the absolute minimum to get audiophile sound. The 600 series drivers are very slow and you will get muddy and "boxy" base. You will also get a closed in sound like you are listening through a door instead of being at the event. This is not to say the 600 series is bad... it's still a good speaker in it's price range and category... just that for me, for a little more, I'd go CM.

[kiki]

My budget is around AUD$3000 for speakers.

603, 601, LCR600 and ASW600 = AUD$3300
602, 601, LCR600 and ASW600 = AUD$2600
602, 601, LCR600 and ASW675 = AUD$3300
603, 601, LCR600 and ASW675 = AUD$4000

or I should think about the 700 series and spent less on amp? (budget for amp/receiver = AUD$3000, thinking of the rotel 1075+1068 for AUD$3000)

or AUD$6000 for you to spend on HT+Music, what will you get? I can get good deal on B&W and Rotel only.

[alkalay]

hey kiki,

I'm not gonna give you easy time either....

ASW600 and ASW675:
I had the 600 for some weeks and found it too slow and not so responsive. The 675 on the other hand, is a GREAT sub. It's fast, tight and very responsive. Highly recommended.

Don't know how to tell you this but I wouldn't cut down on the pre/pro and power. I find the Rotel 1068/1075 as a great combo.
If you're tight with your budget why not get 704 (given that you really like'em) and add a center and rears at a later time? Don't think that spending more on speakers, as you suggest, and cut down on electronics will do the trick as it works the other way around (too bad for us...).

Go and give the CM and 700 an audition.

I have the 1068/1075 feeding B&W CM4's, LCR60, 303 and a 675.

Oh, and I agree the CM's do sound better than the 600's.

Itai.

[kudeta]

Hey Kiki,
Ive got 602,601,LCR60 ASW600 with a Rotel 1055. If anything I want some better fronts for stereo listening, I am planning on upgrading them to some 700 and using the 602's as rears. IMO the 603's are not worth the extra over the 602's. Id either get some better fronts or use what is left from the 602 and asw600 and get yourself some decent cables

[gostan]

kiki:

I vote for purchasing in stages. I started with 601's for fronts and added a LCR60 several months later and then two 602's for fronts (moved the 601's to rears about four months later and then a ASW2000 subwoofer about one year later. By purchasing separately I was able to accelerate the completion of my system. Purchase the best that you can afford, but do not feel like you have to purchase all at one time.

My dealer allows full credit trade-ups if you double your initial purchase and do so within 3 years from initial purchase. FYI. I upgraded to the CDM series and now to the Nautilus series. Patience and some good business deals are a virtue, especially for your music and ht tastes.

Find a good trustworthy audio dealer/salesperson and trust his/her advice. Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Stan

[kiki]

Thanks to all of you giving a very useful and helpful opinion. I think I going to do it in different stages.

Will you get 704? or 705+htm7 first? anyone know what is their prices? In australia.

[alkalay]

hi kiki,

As stereo, for me, always comes first, I'd go for the 704.
If you can see you're other speakers' purchase at a near horizon, you may buy a good pre/pro and power to go with the 704.

I think it's a very good path to walk, taking the time and not doing it all in a single shot. :T

Itai.

[sikoniko]

$3000 on speakers would get you a pair of 805's and an htm2.

[kiki]

$3000 AUD or US dollar? I have $AUD3000, I hope I was is US.

[kiki]

This is driving me crazy !!!!!! Everyone asking me to get the 700 series !!!!!!! AUD$3000 can get me a pair of 705 and a pair of speaker cables only, what am I going to the rest of the speakers???!!! Feel like going to casino and bet all my hifi budget, either get nothing or get the 700series....sorry

I really like the 704 now !!!!!! blame all of you and the reviews on the internet, I'm sure when after I audiotion it, I wont sleep and eat until I take them home.

For the pre/power, I think now for sure will get the 1075+1068, so it's done, just the speakers now, hmmmmm

Wonder why, it's my first system.

[Rags]

Personally I wouldnt buy the CM series. Overpriced for what it is and to my ears at least not much better than the 600 series. If you really want a step up go for the 700 series but as you mention thats a lot more money. Maybe is not good form to mention this in the B&W forum but imho Kef's Q series are far more articulate performers with a less toppy treble - given they cost similar money to the 600 series (at least in the UK!) they are definately worth an audition.

Having owned an ASW675 I can certainly say that is is a good performer and worth the money over the ASW600. Quite small as well with a 10inch woofer. Due to a sealed box design some people have experience difficulty in positioning it.

[theMaximus]

Personally I wouldnt buy the CM series. Overpriced for what it is and to my ears at least not much better than the 600 series. If you really want a step up go for the 700 series but as you mention thats a lot more money.

Having owned an ASW675 I can certainly say that is is a good performer and worth the money over the ASW600. Quite small as well with a 10inch woofer. Due to a sealed box design some people have experience difficulty in positioning it.

I do agee that CM sounds only marginally better than 603. If you can't afford 705 or 704, just go with 603. IMO 603 would be better option than CM considering the extra cost although CM looks whole lot better. While it would be nice to have good looking speakers, music is heard, not seen.

As for the subwoofer, 600 is very capable. You can see some ASW600 user reviews in the link below.

http://audioholics.audioreview.com/Subwoofers/B&W/PRD_133303_2741crx.aspx

Some guy upgraded from 600 to 675 and actually regreted his choice. I don't doubt that 675 is a better sub, but it may be overkill for your taste. I listen to music with my 704 without the sub, and when I do use my 600 for movies, it does a fine job. Placement is a little tricky with sealed boxes, but that is common with both 600 and 675.

Ask your dealer if you can try out different units in your listening room because your system will sound very different than in dealer's showroom. Room acoustics play a huge role in sound quality, if you have a weird shaped room like a circular or L-shaped room, sound quality will suffer. Auditioning the equipment in your actual listening environment is the best way to determine which system you like.

It would be a lot of trouble to haul stuff around, but you are spending a lot of money and it would be best to figure out exactly what pleases your ears.

[Mark_C.]

Some people around here don't read the initial questions.

He'd settled on two setups, until all you geniuses mucked it up.
Kiki: either setup will do for you. Alot depends on the size of your room. If it's large with high ceilings, it would probably be better to go with the larger sub.
I have Nautilus speakers across the front of my HT, but still use 601s for my rears. In my opinion, the 600 series is one of the best value-sound ratios out there. If you're primarily looking for HT, then go with the 602s over the 603s. If you're going to incorporate a music system in with the HT, then go for the 603s as they'll give you a more musical presentation. The 600 series speakers are dynamite and will draw you into the B&W world.

[sikoniko]

well.. with mark setting us straight, my choice would be...

602, 601, LCR600 and ASW675 = AUD$3300

Make sure you by yourself some good cables, I recommend bi-wiring.

[DrBoom]

Yeah, I'm for bi-wiring as well, but bargain-basement biwire cables aren't necessarily better than expensive single wire cables.
So it's not just because it's bi-wired that it's automatically good sounding.
I've had some cheaper cables bi-wired at one time, but those sounded very harsh.
Ofcourse they got even worse when I single wired them.
But a singlewire Kimber was way better than a bi-wire with the cheaper cable.
So don't skimp on quality cables just because of the bi-wire thing.

[jlee]

I'm with Dr. Boom on the biwire thing... I use a good mono wire and it's better than a crappy biwire I had before. For the 600 series, check out the Harmonic Tech Fantasy BiWire for $395 list for the pair. I use that for my rear SCM1's and Pro-11 monowire for my fronts. Another cheap mod u can do is to get whoever you get the cables from to make you a small 6" jumper wire with spades to replace the crappy jumper terminals on the back. I bet that alone will sound a lot better and that will avoid the mess of having 2 sets of cables or 1 big internal biwire cable going to your speaker.

[Rags]

$395 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a speaker cable pair for the B&W 600 series. Id rather put the money towards upgrading my speakers or other equipment -something which is far more likely to bring better rewards sound quality wise.

I run Nautilus 804' and a HTM1 and use Wireworld Solstice 5 biwire cable (previously used Kimber) - thats not even $395 for a pair ! Maybe Im just tight !

[sikoniko]

Well, I bought my MIT bi-wire for my 604's and I didnt regret it for a minute. I feel like good speakers can sound great with the proper matching, and that includes speaker wire. a good speaker wire can make a speaker go from sounding hissy and average to open, clean and dynamic.

[jlee]

I'm not sure what the 600 series cost, but I guess $395 could be too much for that speaker... which is why I recommended the 700 in the first place . I guess the old $250 Pro-12 mono wire HT used to carry would be more appropriate for the 600 series speakers. Pricing is per 8ft pair of course.
I'm running $475/pr MSRP HT Pro-11 cables on my N804 and HTM1. I felt the cost was well justified after listening to all the other cables my dealer had. It was actually one of the biggest improvements in the system... like Sikoniko said, a good set of cables gets rid of the hissy, high frequency distortion, a lot of the syballance distortion, and just allows you to listen a lot longer without fatigue.

[kiki]

I think I'll go for the 704/705 + htm7, went for an audition today, they're very nice, dealler give me around 30%, but the offter wont valid for long, I have to decide these few days, Anyone have opinion about this?

[sikoniko]

jump! I dont think you will see a discount like that again.

[kiki]

For the B&W 705/704, what speaker cables do you recommanded? Chord co., QED, Monster or ...???

[DrBoom]

I've had very good experiences with Kimber Kable.
I've got everything wired with Kimber, 12TC bi-wire speakercable, Hero interconnects between pre/pro and poweramp, Hero to the subwoofer and a Kimber Select KS1011 from CD to pre/pro (added today and it's absolutely fabulous).

Or you could give Doug's CatCables a whirl, seem to get a lot of good comments around here.
Nordost is also very recommendable.

[kiki]

I have readed many reviews on speaker cables in the internet and in magazines, come to my own conclusion - Chord company, Nordost and QED. I know there are a lots more very good cable out there, but to me, these 3 look good, sound great (from reviews), and resonable prices. IMO

Anyone had any experience of these speaker cables? Going to get 704/705 + HTM7 and Rotel 1068+1075.

[jlee]

For the money, I think Harmonic Tech is hard to beat. Even their entry level Pro-12 (which is no longer listed on the site, but still available from them upon request) is fantastic... $250 for 8 ft... u get top grade angled rhodium spades for that price. Absolutely beautiful... and it comes with really nice nylon jacketing that is both functional (protects and makes nice curves intead of that ugly zig zaggy crumpled look that cheap wire makes and makes u want to hide it ). With the nice jacketing, I don't mind having my cables out in the open because they are nice to look at. I can take some pics for you if you want. I've heard QED, Transparent, and Straightwire and although the Transparent was as good, it was 3 times the price! Don't know about Nordost or Chord, but I would take cable reviews with a grain of salt. The IDEAL way to buy cables is to find a dealer and build a relationship with them. Try to get them to loan you 2-3 different brands in your price range and even slightly above or below your price range to compare... then listen and decide... if u have to go purely on recommendations, then I guess what you're doing will have to do... my vote is for Harmonic Tech .

[BlazeMaster]

Oh...come on guys, give the guy a break. He's already having a tough enough time with the B&Ws, don't steer him into another path. How big is your room? If it's not that big, you can always just go with the 705s w/ HTM7 option, and if you move to a bigger place or just aren't satisfied then, you can always get a 700 floorstander or a smaller floorstand from 800s series. From the way you sound about the decisions, you remind me of myself, always worried that you won't be just satisfied. Find a dealer that has a generous upgrade program, so that if you find yourself wanting to upgrade, you won't be stuck trying to sell them off and loose money on what you paid for them. All you'll have to do is pay the difference in MSRP, doesn't that sound alot better? Good luck.

[kiki]

Thanks all for put in your advices. I ordered a pair of 705 and HTM7 in the weekend, very nervous and excited, cos it's my first system. Going to get the pre/power within this week, still comparing the NADT163+T973 and Rotel 1068+1075, any opinion / advice?