Hi,I want to buy a complete home audio system with following combination:
Front speakers: B&W S603, Rear: B&W 601 or 602 (not sure), centre: LCR60, Subwoofer: ASW600 or 650 (not sure) with a receiver either denon 2307 or 2807. What do you think? I'm totally confused, between those two choices there is not much of cost difference and will the combo be fine? Please help!!!!
603 s3 front 601 s3 rear lcr600 s3 center; lcr60 won't match 603s3's across the front. denon 2807.. but get a denon 3806 if the feature set is ample for y0ur needs. more of a robust power section imo which your new b&w's will benefit from. from the 600 series subs, i would only entertain the asw675, which is overpriced imo. maybe check out different manufacturers for a sub.
Deep down Frank means LCR600 centre, 602S3's front and rear and PV-1 sub. Doncha Frank?
You'll find the little 6 series a little thin in a reasonable size room. And I don't care what our respected Frank A says about the 602's they are fine for music and movies. Not boomy in the slightest if positioned well on decent stands. I just love em - but that's me.
Thanks frank, in my country unfortunately I can just find B&W,infinity,yamaha! my space is a 23x15x9 room. So every one agrees that 603S3 and ASW are not good choices for fronts and sub?
demo 602s 603s 604s head to head w/ 2.0 music. when i demoed these, i found the 602 to sound timbre matched to the 604's w/ less bass and the 603's had a different sounding midrange slightly.
Thanks for all comments which where quite helpful, I also found KEF IQ series here, what do you think about about having IQ5 or IQ7 as fronts and IQ6C as centre, B&W 601 for rear. and denon 3806 or marantz SR5600 as receiver?Sub....still haven't found PV1 any alternatives?
sounds good if your ears like that option better, except why go w/ b&w 601 for rear and front 3 IQ series ?. Is there a reason your keeping b&w in the family ? If not, just go w/ 5 speakers from the same manufacturer either way you decide. Both options would be great, but I'd stay away from subs from both manufacturers as i don't perceive them as a strong value. FYI: My old HT setup consisted of kef uni-Q towers, center, and rears w/ a klipsch 15" sub. Powered by h/k avr525 and 2 bridged nad 2100's for fronts. For music this system was amazing to me, crystal clear w/ great imaging. I always had a huge grin on my face when i cranked this sucker up. I love the kef sound with music, clean, reveling, tight mids, well integrated highs. My current b&w setup is imo one of the best i've heard for HT. That being said, there is not a day I listen to music with my current setup and don't think about my old kef uni-q based system. The b&w's seem thin sounding with the music that i listen to. The kef's never had that problem. When i listen to the b&w setup, i usually am thinking of why it doesn't sound "great." with the kef system, i just smiled and enjoyed.
If your now choosing between two great speaker manufacturers such as kef and b&w, you owe it to yourself to take your time and listen to them both head to head and decide for yourself. I can tell you which one i would buy at the same price, but what good would that do you?
Thanks alot for your useful comments,I think I'll go and demo both brands but preferebly go with KEF since it's much cheaper but everyone says sound quality is better.. But does same rule applies for movies too? how is KEF's sound quality in movies and what do you think of having B&W PV1 sub with KEF speakers? and last question is that for a 7mx4m measured room which KEF combination is better as fronts,centre and rear?
In general, I would say that if the speakers do music well; they will do movies well. Everyone saying the sound quality is better is very subjective; you've heard all of our "opinions" so its time to formulate your own before dropping that kind of cash. There are alot of people out there that would prefer the B&W setup to the KEF and vice versa. It's in a sense comparing apples to apples, this is where you would come in and decide which apples "taste" better. But like you said, you could save some money with the kef setup and I definitely think that is a wise choice albeit my opinion and preference not yours. I think that having the b&w pv1 sub to go with a kef setup is a mismatch. Unless you cannot part with the cosmetics of the PV1, you can obtain a better sub for less money. Check out SVS, HSU, Rel, velodyne subs for that kind of cash you owe it to yourself. A good kef combination that i have heard and recommend would be IQ7 fronts, IQ3 rears, and IQ6C center. The sensitivity of all 5 speakers would match well, and be relatively efficient to drive with a robust receiver. Denon 3806, marantz sr7500, harman kardon avr640, pioneer elite 74txi, etc..
If you are not doing a lot of multi-channel music (SACD / DVD-A) you probably don't need more than B&W DM-600 rears, so I suggest saving on the rears and getting the LCR 600 i/o LCR 60 center, for better voice/dialogue, specially on movies. The B&W subs are musical and fine, yet considered overpriced, but I don't know which other brands you have in your country. If you don't need hyper thundering lows (for action movies in a big room), the ASW-600 might do a decent job and please you well.
In the receiver department, I like the Marantz over the Denon. The SR 7500 might be OK for your B&Ws.
