Am I the only one who thinks B&W is mid-fi?

From my perspective (I own N803s) B&W is an established speaker manufacturer. Their business is speakers. Their focus is speakers. They have knowledgeable staff that DESIGN speakers. They release the results of their design into high-end models and filter the technology down to lower-end speakers. It is not a 'fly-by-night' outfit that throw things together and hope the result sounds good. Hence my conclusion is that the speakers they release are designed to do what they do, at a given price point (component quality, cabinet quality). They're neither awesome value for money nor money no object designs (except for the original Nautilus). They do what they're supposed to do. So if you pick a hi-fi range they'll be hi-fi, and if you pick a mid-fi range they'll be mid-fi.

Anyway I, for one, think it's very silly to get excited about awesome products from competing manufacturers where marginal performance differences seem to count for so much. There's much more important things to do like enjoy the music rather than 'the system'. End of rant.

ps. At least your post generated some interest !

The premise that B&W speakers are mid-fi misrepresents the entire range that B&W present to the market. The 800 series speakers are NOT, IMHO, mid-fi. When one works down the ranges then there's a fuzzy line between hi-fi and mid-fi depending on ones definition of mid-fi. But consumers only buy speakers once (with noteable exception of folks in this arena). If you're going to buy one pair of speakers you're less likely to take a risk with less established companies and hence are directed to more main-stream companies with a wider product offering when one can make a more informed price/performance/quality/cost of ownership decision. I don't doubt that there are better deals (especially if the only decision point is sound quality) available out there from manufacturers who don't have the overhead of an establlished R&D department of the caliber of B&W's or who are entering into the market (hi-fi magazines make this easy by giving glowing reviews to new companies while appearing a little more critical of established marks - but that's a different topic).

Incidentally B&W was founded in 1966 so any coincidence of naming similarities the BMW is erroneus - BMW America was founded in 1975. Did BMW want to leverage B&W's name ?

ps. Introducing Linn into the equation of hi-fi is likely to garner some flames in this discussion - they're almost as controversial as Bose (who have the best marketing in the 'hi-fi' market) on these boards. Incidentally I have a Linn deck and B&W speakers. My wife wants a Bose radio.

Very little offence taken. Just the tiniest bit actually. But it's Friday and I'm over it now ! Think I'll put some Wagner on and enjoy my speakers. Actually it's the music I enjoy and the speakers are just part of a enabling tool. Tough to have an emotional attachment to something inanimate. Even if they 'sound' good. But the music ...

The original premise of this discussion was that the instigator (that sounds harsh doesn't it !) proposed that s/he thinks B&W is mid-fi. Through violent agreement I think we can summize that some of their products may be mid-fi while others certainly are not. The fact that you may be able to get better price/sound-quality from competing manufacturers and that BMW was founded before B&W are irrelevant to the original discussion point. That being said isn't the internet and (some) discussion boards entertaining ?

So the only 'honest' owner of B&W speakers is the one that doesn't like them ? Or does it just conform to your point of view ? I like my N803s. Honest !

I'd much prefer to see The Ring Cycle, to pick an extreme example, live at Bayreuth. But the waiting list for tickets is 25 years. Yes, it's a noble goal to get all your musical experiences live when you want it where you want it. A hi-fi system and the related media allows one to defer ones enjoyment, or otherwise in your case apparently. This, for most folks, has a high value-add. Extremely high for some here.

So now, for those of us who are prepared to compromise and listen to 'music' via our systems, the goal is to attempt to reproduce that 'music' from available media sources as accurately as possible. Sure it's a compromize. But it's just like going to Bayreuth and having a Brunnhilde who can't hack it all the way through Gotterdammerung. It can get ugly. My B&W (N803s) enable me to come relatively close to what's layed down on the media. Whether it's music or not is subjective. It's good enough for me.