Lukeqc Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Hi. First post and first dive into hi-fi audio after years of car audio and music production that has scratched my audiophile itch. I have ordered the 6000a after reading numerous positive reviews online. I have so far listened to the B&W 603 (amazing) 606 (decent, but not after hearing the 603) and the Q Acoustics 3050i (meh) Set up will be in an lounge/ht room, 4 meters wide x 6 meters long. The room is open to the rest of the house on both 6 meter sides. My questions follow: Is there any other speakers that I should be looking at that will rival the 603? Will 50W be enough to drive a floorstander loud in real world circumstances (603 are 88.5dB) or should I be looking for a more efficient speaker? I would like loud but not ridiculous loud. “It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it” In real world listening, is a bookshelf with the low end weight of a sub enough, or are the low mids more detailed with the extension of a floorstander? I will be investing in a sub either way. The SVS pb-1000 gets good reviews. Is this a good option for the room size? I’m not buying into the ported vs sealed debate. I like the extension of ported so ported is the way I will go. Main thing is for the sub to add weight without being boomy or filling the room with standing waves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irek Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Hi, usually it's better to pick up speakers first and amplifier second. It looks like you like B&W 603, they should work well in your room. I would wait with that subwoofer , you might not need it at all. The amp will work ok but... Instead of subwoofer I would be looking at $3000+ amps to go with B&W 603. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukeqc Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 Ok. I will hold out on the sub. $3k on an amp is a bit out of my reach. Do do you think the 603 and 6000a is a setup that compliments each other? Are there any common alternative speakers that are paired with the 6000a that are known to sound amazing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wen Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 what amp was driving the 603's when you listaead to them, the difficulty some times is the review amp is weeell above your budget, i would suggest to go back to where you heard the 603's and see what amp within your budget you are happy with, otherwise save more cash till you can afford a amp that will do the speakers justice, or look at a combo that you can listen to and like, good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukeqc Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 They were powered by a Rotel A12 in the shop, which I believe is a comparable amp to the 6000a? Do you think the 6000a is too underpowered for the 603? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al.M Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 Can you try to find impredance test measurement sweeps for both the amp and speaker and post a picture here and people can advise more accurately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukeqc Posted August 18, 2019 Author Share Posted August 18, 2019 The above graphs show the electrical behavior of the B&W 603. Bowers & Wilkins specifies the impedance load of the 603s to be 8 ohms nominal with a 3-ohm minima. However, in our testing, that is a pretty optimistic characterization of the overall impedance. The upper bass region and a big chunk of midrange frequencies hover around 5 ohms with a 4-ohm minima at just above 100 Hz. We can see from the low-frequency saddle that port tuning is just below 30 Hz, and that is a relatively deep tuning frequency for a speaker of this size. The good news is that the impedance curve is pretty stable and does not have wild swings. The bad news is that there are some rather steep phase angles in low impedance points in the bass frequency range. That will make this speaker a tough load for cheap receiver amplifiers. These speakers should be used with amplifiers that are rated to handle 4-ohm loads, especially if the user intends to push these speakers to loud levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukeqc Posted August 18, 2019 Author Share Posted August 18, 2019 Can’t find anything related to the 6000a apart from - Some brands are more conservative than others when it comes to specifying power output (and speaker sensitivity!) but Audiolab is flying quite close to the wire with its 50W/75W 8/4ohm rating for the 6000A. With a high 246V AC mains feed it manages 2x55W/2x85W, respectively, but we've seen other 50-watters achieve 70-80W/8ohm in practice. Nevertheless, the PSU is sufficiently 'relaxed' to support a far higher 71W and 133W into 8 and 4ohm loads under dynamic conditions, albeit with some restriction to 99W/55W into lower 2/1ohm loads [see Graph 1, below]. Otherwise, the A-wtd S/N ratio is very generous at 92dB (re. 0dBW), the output impedance usefully low at 0.01ohm and the response very extended, reaching 20Hz-20kHz (±0.1dB) and out to –1.6dB/100kHz. Distortion is also very low at ~0.0004% through the bass and then increases gently to 0.001-0.006% in the midband to ~0.03%/20kHz and 0.06%/40kHz. image: https://www.hifinews.com/images/519audiolab.lab1.jpg Dynamic power versus distortion into 8ohm (black trace), 4ohm (red), 2ohm (green) and 1ohm (cyan) speaker loads. Maximum current is 7.4A image: https://www.hifinews.com/images/519audiolab.lab2.jpg Distortion vs. digital signal level over a 120dB dynamic range (preamp out), 1kHz (black); 20kHz (blue) The onboard DAC stage is certainly no afterthought – tested via the preamp output (a maximum of 2.8V being available here) – it delivers a performance that's commensurate with most ESS9018-based outboard DACs at £500. The A-wtd S/N is a wide 109dB and low-level resolution is good to ±0.2dB over a 100dB dynamic range. Jitter is exceptionally low at <10psec across all sample rates and distortion is not only as low as 0.0005-0.0014% at –10dBFs (20Hz-20kHz) but is also very consistent with frequency below –20dBFs [black vs. blue traces, Graph 2]. With the default linear phase digital filter option, stopband rejection is a full 83dB and the response reaches out to –0.2dB/20kHz (CD/48kHz media) with –1.3dB/45kHz and –3.7dB/90kHz realised with 96kHz and 192kHz files, respectively. PM Read more at https://www.hifinews.com/content/audiolab-6000a-amplifierdac-lab-report#Xb1yktGvgOJfl2qe.99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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