b&w 683 and rega brio R

[rico]

Hi all,

I had the chance to audition few speakers at a local hifi store to be paired with my rega brio R amp.

Q acoustic 2050i, Monitor Audio R6 and b&w 683....of the three I preferred the b&w, the sales assistant was setting them up with an amp similar to mine.

The b&w seemed to me to have a more controlled sound in every sense compared the the other two , especially the Q acoustic on bass levels.

Which is something I liked about b&w.

I could hear the music much more detailed...for this reason I started to think about raising my budget a bit for the speakers.

The b&w were offered at 850 ex-demo...maybe a bit high for what I can get for that money in the 2nd hand. I'm questioning myself if I should look for something else used for a similar price..

Anybody would suggest me something which would work nicely with the brio r ?

room is on the bigger size with high ceiling for now, will move soon though. Vinyls most of the time , JA music from ska to reggae and dub

thanks for any idea you could share!

 

[Stevebrock]

Rega RS3? Lovely synergy

 

[rico]

Rega RS3? Lovely synergy

thanks...I was looking at them on eBay but wasn't sure about having the driver on the side. I have no idea of the flat I will be living in in few months so having the drivers on the front may be easier for speaker placement ....?

 

[Stevebrock]

you have the side drivers facing inwards or outwards - so you can tweak them for your room

 

[rico]

i've been looking at a pair of elac bs244, many people love them and a friend of mine have them and he highly recommended them...

any thought on how their bass response?

thanks!

 

[Jezzer]

The Elac's, being mini monitors, have a decent ribbon tweeter but won't have the bass depth necessary for reggae, ska and dub.

Also, I always felt the B&W 600 series of speakers to be a little too smooth. Resolution is only average. Bass is pretty good though.

If you're considering the RS3's you should consider my Leema Xones. :^

 

[Pete the Feet]

Small Harbeths or PMC.

No substitute for size if you want bass though but a well integrated sub works well with above.

 

[Jezzer]

Honestly, big JBL's would be my choice for dub and reggae.

 

[rico]

thanks all for the advices..

Jezzer: I was going to come and listen to yours Leema Xone but my bike got stolen this week and it's my main way of transport for work etc so I have to find one asap so I need to sort this out first.

I was reading a review on whathifi about the Leema Xone and their bass not being very present. I don't know then so I can't really tell but a friend who had them sort of confirmed that.

In case Ill buy bookshelf speakers...i was thinking to place them on some wooden boxes/furniture I have that I'm not using right now. They are about 50-60 cm high. Is this a no-go solution as they'll be positioned too low etc to perform properly ?

I don't have space on the bookshelf so I 'll need to buy a stand too.

Searching around I've seen a pair of Dynaudio 1.8 mkII and read great reviews online. I don't think I'll be able to try them somewhere near-ish where I live so I was wondering if someone could give me an advice on how they may perform with my rega brio r or if i'll need a different amp...

thanks !

 

[silencio]

I've had the B&W 683 for quite some time with various amps. Best speaker in its class. It will partner well with the Brio ans produce nice, full, slightly on the warm side sound. I'd go for it!

 

[Jezzer]

The Leema Xones will not have the bass compared to Dynaudio Contour 1.8mkII's or B&W 683's. There's only so much you can do with a relatively small speaker.

I've owned Contour 1.8mkII's before and they prefer to be driven by a powerful amp With the right amp, the 1.8mkII's will definitely deliver the bass you crave. At 50wpc and given the size of your room I'm not sure if the Brio has sufficient power to effectively drive the Contours.

I know a lot of dub and reggae recordings aren't exactly 'hifi' so a smoother speaker such as the B&W's might help to mask shortcomings in poor recordings. Also, the B&W's are fairly sensitive (so unlike the Contours which are insensitive they don't need a powerful amplifier) so they might be a good match for the Brio.

 

[aukhawk]

I've got 683s but for me they were a bad buy. I find them over-bright and a bit 'glassy' sounding. That's with 3 different power amps including Quad 44 [edit - I mean 405 ] and my current Arcam 10. The other I've tried was Temple Monoblocks and that amp/speaker combo is just horrible.

 

[Radioham]

I have rega RS5 best speakers i have had for getting a deep bass in my room,without creating a boom. The front facing port also lets you put the speakers very close to the wall. I think the rega have a lot to offer, quite an interesting internal design and unique bass driver with 8 layers of wire on the voice coil.

Alan

 

[aukhawk]

I've got 683s but for me they were a bad buy. I find them over-bright and a bit 'glassy' sounding.

Sorry - overlooked that this is the techical area!

What I actually hear is an HF 'shelf' starting around the 2KHz mark and maintained at all higher frequencies. Since I see from the blurb that the crossover frequency is 4KHz it's reasonable to suppose that the tweeter is simply mismatched for level. A simple 'fix' is therefore to dangle a bit of lighly absorbent fabric in front of the tweeter - I use a narrow strip, less than finger-width, of something quite thickly-woven (think sock material), directly on axis.

I also have the speakers toed-in quite a lot - so I do actually still hear direct radiation from the tweeter domes, not through the cloth which is an inch forward, mounted behind the standard grille fabric - that just traps a bit of the on-axis nastiness.

 

[rico]

thanks a lot for all the opinions ! very helpful...very true about the quality of JA recordings. In particular the old ones..compared to my actual set up the brio r and the new speakers is a big step in quality in general so I hope they'll compensate a bit on the poor quality of some records.

so far the b&w683 are the ones I've listened and liked them, elac bs244 not yet but they were quite interesting reading online comments and a friend who has them....