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


I know that title sounds pretencious. By all means, everyones taste is different and I can grasp that. However, I find B&W loudspeakers to sound extremely Mid-fi ish, designed with sort of a boom and sizzle quality making it not much better than retail quality brands. At price point there is always something better than it, something musical, where the goals of preserving the naturalness and tonal balance of sound is understood. I am getting tired of people buying for the name, not the sound. I find it is letting the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In these times of dying 2 channel, and the ability to buy a complete stereo/home theater at your local blockbuster, all of the brands that should make it don't. Most Hi-fi starts with a retail system and with that type of over-processed, boom and sizzle sound (Boom meaning a spike at 80Hz and sizzle meaning a spike at 10,000Hz). That gives these rising enthuists a false impression of what hi-fi is about. Thus, the people who cater to that falseified sound, those who design audio, forgetting the passion involved with listening, putting aside all love for music just to put a nickle in the pig...Well are doing a good job. Honestly, it is just wrong. Thanks for the read...I feel better. Prehaps I just needed to vent, but I doubt it. Music is a passion of mine, and I don't want to have to battle in 20 yrs to get equipment that sounds like music. Any comments?
mikez
02-08-11:
I note my answer back in '03, and reiterate...no, you're not the only one who considers B&W mid-fi.
Actually, to me, it has several of the more annoying of colorations which disqualify them from being musically enjoyable, for my taste - Lrsky

Funny you should mention this Larry, i was having a very similar conversation with others the other night and we all felt the same way about Genesis speakers, most of their models are heavily colored and dead sounding.

regards,
Ive lost interest in my current B&W's and hated some of the new ones I have listened too. I think I am switching my current system out for ELAC 248's now.
I've no experience with them, but today Peter Gabriel posted a photo on FB from the studio where he's mixing his new album. Featured prominently in the pic is a ginormous B&W speaker.
Any speaker will sound like mid-fi if it's setup wrong. The better B&Ws, when setup right, are definitely hi-fi.

Whether or not they are the right speaker for "person X" is another topic.
Hilarious but that is what the internet is for.

B&W spends more on research and development than alot of other companies do on total sales.

All 800 series products always have been and still are reference quality - studio quality speakers.

Don't like the idea that a company makes lower lines to fill niches?

Regardless of the model level all B&W speakers demand the best in electronics driving them in their respective price category. From folks I have talked to this has been the biggest reason they switched. Their gear was not up to par to get the most out of them.

If you choose to hook yours up to your kit and it doesnt crank your chain you should be happy that you could probably sell them for what you paid if you bought used based on the kind of company B&W is - their history, reputation and quality.