Hi-Fi Products that totally underwhelmed you
Discussion
B&W 603 Series 1 speakers from the mid to late 90's. It gave the impression of slow, laggy, plodding bass percussion. The design used a passive radiator and whilst there are plenty of great designs which have used passive rads, I thought it sounded awful on the 603 S1. A few colleagues who heard all the range thought the same. All the listening was done in the same room driven by the same system and cabling ( STD305M, SME 3009 arm, Shure V15 Naim pre amp, NAP160 power amp )
The 604 from the same series had sounded much better and the later 605 had great bass ( the bass section was active ), the smaller 602 was good but the 603 was a shocker. A rare miss from the B&W team.
The 604 from the same series had sounded much better and the later 605 had great bass ( the bass section was active ), the smaller 602 was good but the 603 was a shocker. A rare miss from the B&W team.
Edited by Crackie on Monday 15th October 20:55
@Crackie - agree with you there - I had a pair of B&W 603 Series 3's and they were largely boom and tizz (the aluminium? tweeters B&W were using during that era were pretty shocking too IMHO - despite supposedly being derived from the top end models).
I also had a pair of B&W 602 Series 2's for a while, and the bass on those was a bit overblown too.
Also had a pair of B&W DM110's and they were actually pretty good, although at times the bass could be a lacking.
I also had a pair of B&W 602 Series 2's for a while, and the bass on those was a bit overblown too.
Also had a pair of B&W DM110's and they were actually pretty good, although at times the bass could be a lacking.
Alpinestars said:
Zod said:
They are also very leaky, to the extent that I have been complained at by text from upstairs - "I thought you were going to listen on headphones".
Definitely leaky. Can’t use them to commute. Doesn’t stop them being great headphones. Crackie said:
B&W 603 Series 1 speakers from the mid to late 90's. It gave the impression of slow, laggy, plodding bass percussion. The design used a passive radiator and whilst there are plenty of great designs which have used passive rads, I thought it sounded awful on the 603 S1. A few colleagues who heard all the range thought the same. All the listening was done in the same room driven by the same system and cabling ( STD305M, SME 3009 arm, Shure V15 Naim pre amp, NAP160 power amp )
The 604 from the same series had superb bass ( the bass section was active ) and the smaller 602 was great too but the 603 was a shocker. A rare miss from the B&W team.
I auditioned a pair of 602S3s against some Mission M52s and ended up buying the latter...The 604 from the same series had superb bass ( the bass section was active ) and the smaller 602 was great too but the 603 was a shocker. A rare miss from the B&W team.
Some years later, mate had a pair of the floorstanders, so I took my (£100 off ebay) Rega Ela's down to compare. They smashed the B&Ws clean out of the water. The guy ended up buying the Regas off me.
Alpinestars said:
Zod said:
They are also very leaky, to the extent that I have been complained at by text from upstairs - "I thought you were going to listen on headphones".
Definitely leaky. Can’t use them to commute. Doesn’t stop them being great headphones. I've been reading this thread with interest & can't help thinking what folks with former high end kit CD, DAT & MD based systems now listen too? I picture a phone or compressed device spewing out music through a sound bar or docking speaker for convenience as its small & convenient and on trend, i hope i'm wrong.
I think myself as probably old school in this respect but for good reason, although I have all the latest streaming devices I am fortunate enough to have a dedicated listening room, with kit which takes up far too much space but provides endless hours of listening pleasure and high fidelity sound the current generations i feel are missing out on incl my own teenage kids.
I am peeved to give up my ageing Ruark Tallisman floor standers as they simply sound superb, similarly my Roksan CD, and yes i still buy CD's as they sound great and are cheap, while i still have a high end Denon minidisc recorder which is used a lot less but still a great tool, and TAG (Audiolab) analogue tuner in preference to a digital tuner, yes and a Turntable which i'm afraid simply sounds better with a lot of music generes of my generation as several back catalogue rediscoveries have proved when played alongside a streaming device of the same album. My Arcam Pre & Power amps continue their job admirably but may be upgraded at some stage although my component equipment is staying put for a while longer.
My take on the promoted equipment which sounds poor is probably the likes of What Hi Fi had a commercial relationship with several brands such as Marantz & hence overinflated/promoted fairly mediocre kit which must have been great for sales but leaving punters wondering what all the fuss was about. I also have to say the Audiolab 8000a amp left me cold when my uncle offered it to me after an extensive test........
I think myself as probably old school in this respect but for good reason, although I have all the latest streaming devices I am fortunate enough to have a dedicated listening room, with kit which takes up far too much space but provides endless hours of listening pleasure and high fidelity sound the current generations i feel are missing out on incl my own teenage kids.
I am peeved to give up my ageing Ruark Tallisman floor standers as they simply sound superb, similarly my Roksan CD, and yes i still buy CD's as they sound great and are cheap, while i still have a high end Denon minidisc recorder which is used a lot less but still a great tool, and TAG (Audiolab) analogue tuner in preference to a digital tuner, yes and a Turntable which i'm afraid simply sounds better with a lot of music generes of my generation as several back catalogue rediscoveries have proved when played alongside a streaming device of the same album. My Arcam Pre & Power amps continue their job admirably but may be upgraded at some stage although my component equipment is staying put for a while longer.
My take on the promoted equipment which sounds poor is probably the likes of What Hi Fi had a commercial relationship with several brands such as Marantz & hence overinflated/promoted fairly mediocre kit which must have been great for sales but leaving punters wondering what all the fuss was about. I also have to say the Audiolab 8000a amp left me cold when my uncle offered it to me after an extensive test........
Good sounding equipment still exists, it's not just the past stuff that has a right to good audio quality. In fact the price of entry is more accessible than ever, but sneering audiophiles will never accept this.
I have a 200 quid pair of bookshelf speakers that honestly sound as good to me as my old Regas did, and they were a lot more expensive. You can get some excellent kit for not much money now and I do think that annoys some of the more elitist audiophiles. Possibly in the same way as your average Joe being able to buy a hatchback that is as fast as a super car from 20 years ago irritates those who could afford supercars!
As for me I'm using a computer (I know, the shame) into a DAC (there's a bit of old school), into a class D NAD amp and into the aforementioned bookshelf speakers in a dedicated room and it's excellent in all honesty. Old and new mixed together.
I have a 200 quid pair of bookshelf speakers that honestly sound as good to me as my old Regas did, and they were a lot more expensive. You can get some excellent kit for not much money now and I do think that annoys some of the more elitist audiophiles. Possibly in the same way as your average Joe being able to buy a hatchback that is as fast as a super car from 20 years ago irritates those who could afford supercars!
As for me I'm using a computer (I know, the shame) into a DAC (there's a bit of old school), into a class D NAD amp and into the aforementioned bookshelf speakers in a dedicated room and it's excellent in all honesty. Old and new mixed together.
Edited by TameRacingDriver on Thursday 1st November 12:44
TameRacingDriver said:
Good sounding equipment still exists, it's not just the past stuff that has a right to good audio quality. In fact the price of entry is more accessible than ever, but sneering audiophiles will never accept this.
I have a 200 quid pair of bookshelf speakers that honestly sound as good to me as my old Regas did, and they were a lot more expensive. You can get some excellent kit for not much money now and I do think that annoys some of the more elitist audiophiles. Possibly in the same way as your average Joe being able to buy a hatchback that is as fast as a super car from 20 years ago irritates those who could afford supercars!
As for me I'm using a computer (I know, the shame) into a DAC (there's a bit of old school), into a class D NAD amp and into the aforementioned bookshelf speakers in a dedicated room and it's excellent in all honesty. Old and new mixed together.
What's "old school" about DACS?? Many of them have been produced specially to connect to PC's and they also work with Older kit as well. It's a big market.I have a 200 quid pair of bookshelf speakers that honestly sound as good to me as my old Regas did, and they were a lot more expensive. You can get some excellent kit for not much money now and I do think that annoys some of the more elitist audiophiles. Possibly in the same way as your average Joe being able to buy a hatchback that is as fast as a super car from 20 years ago irritates those who could afford supercars!
As for me I'm using a computer (I know, the shame) into a DAC (there's a bit of old school), into a class D NAD amp and into the aforementioned bookshelf speakers in a dedicated room and it's excellent in all honesty. Old and new mixed together.
Edited by TameRacingDriver on Thursday 1st November 12:44
telecat said:
What's "old school" about DACS?? Many of them have been produced specially to connect to PC's and they also work with Older kit as well. It's a big market.
Well they have been around for practically as long as CDs, that makes them fairly old in some peoples book. Not as old as LPs, certainly, but certainly older than the "old" speakers that I talked about in my post.TameRacingDriver said:
telecat said:
What's "old school" about DACS?? Many of them have been produced specially to connect to PC's and they also work with Older kit as well. It's a big market.
Well they have been around for practically as long as CDs, that makes them fairly old in some peoples book. Not as old as LPs, certainly, but certainly older than the "old" speakers that I talked about in my post.As things have (generally) just got more digital since then, audio interfacing has continued to advance in quality and ubiquity, up to and including dedicated external DAC units for folks that don't want to use those inbuilt into (e.g.) computers.
Looking around my office, there are no dedicated DAC units, and (assuming one DAC per audio channel driven by digital technology) c. 50 - 60 DACs, and a similar number of ADCs.
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