What's Next?


Im 6months new to this high end audio. My current system consists of B&W 803s 805s htm center for the speakers. Transparent speaker cables tributarie rca's and digital connects. DSP is the Rotel 1098 AMP Rotel 1095 CD Rotel. My problem is Im looking for new speaker's to look into. Another brand maybe. Must sound better obviously. Stereo is what id be mostly concerned about. These speakers must have a real wood finish, must like being played loud for a decent amout of time and still be accurate. The 803s never disapointed me Im just ready for my next step. Later next year Ill do the amplification. But Id like to build this system around great speakers. Thanks I know you a-goners will help steer me in the right direction with your honest knowledgeable advise. Thanks again Matt
mattblueg35

Showing 3 responses by mimberman

If you've only had the gear for 6 months (which I'm assuming because of your comment about being into high end for 6 months) and you're happy with the 803s then why change?

If your priority is stereo (by which I assume you mean 2 channel) reproduction, then you might want to ditch or sideline the Rotel 1098 and leave it for HT processing, and bring in a dedicated 2 channel preamp or integrated that has a HT Bypass or pre outs.

I don't love the 803s, but if you want to attain some accurary and better sound, then I think the rotel is holding you back(BTW, I've never heard of a speaker loosing accuracy if you play it loudly for an extended time. A speaker is either accurate or not, depending on the associated gear). Also, you never mentioned what your amplification is, but in another post you said you were using Krell, which if assuming it a 2 chnl amp or monos should be fine.

I wouldn't spend the money on speakers until you deal with the pre/pro seciton, but there are a pair of Verity Audio Parsifal Encores for 8500, which is an amazing price for these speakers. They're not wood finished (piano black) but these speakers are 20 grand new, and sound every penny of it. Some like the Sonus Faber Cremonas, which are a step up from the 803s, but they're pretty big. There's a pair of ProAc Response 5 in the optional ebony finish 8000 and that's a pretty great price for these lovely speakers.

My recommendation: get a real preamp first, then see if you still want to change the speakers
Oh yeah...I hadn't even looked at your source. If what you want is to get good 2 channel sound, then you don't need to upgrade your speakers right now. I'd start by maybe getting a good integrated (there are a thousand threads on this, and I myself am looking, so you can check out my list of hopefuls on my system page if you want, or just poke around here) that way you don't have to commit so much money to seperates (not to mention the extra cables) and see how that works. You didn't list which model cd player you have, but I assume since the rest of your gear is HT that it's a dvd/cd player. I'd say concentrate on the cd and amplification sections and leave the speakers for last.

That being said if I had the loot right now I'd buy the proacs or fidelios (def. the fidelios, but bummer about the black finish).
Mattblueg,

Not to harp on this point, but I think you're possibly approaching this from the wrong perspective. If you know you're going to go with McIntosh (not a bad decision, but curious why you it's def. mc gear?) then you should get the amplification section worked out and then deal with the source. Why spend 10000 on speakers and drive them with a rotel HT system? If you're not getting the full sound of your 803s, then you'll be spending a lot of money to get very little improvement. It would seem to make more sense to get the sound of your source/amp right, and then see how the 803s fair. If you're not sure what speaker you want to mate with the mac gear, then you're going to need to play around anyway, so I say wait on the speakers.