Bowers & Wilkins Speakers Owners & Discussion Thread

[norpus]

These are good points. Remembering too that -3db is the F3 point, if you look at this on a graph of the entire curve you are only really flat probably to 100Hz.

Does the prepro allow different crossovers for different channels - eg 100Hz for the sides and whatever (80,60) for the others? (My denon doesn't but I think some processers offer this - not sure about rotel not having the pleasure of ownership)

[Mike Kakay]

Yes it does norpus. Every channel has an independant xover setting.

JohnA, for sacd/dvd-a material which is only 5.1 use your existing 705's. I haven't checked yet, but you should be able to configure when playing hi-res to have the dipoles taken out of the equation, and back on again when you want 7.1.

[Guest JohnA]

Does the prepro allow different crossovers for different channels - eg 100Hz for the sides and whatever (80,60) for the others? (My denon doesn't but I think some processers offer this - not sure about rotel not having the pleasure of ownership)

yes the 1098 allows different x-over points for front, centre, rear, backs which is fine for normal DVD

but for 6 ch input for SACD, i need to rely on bass management form the sacd player which doesn't allow it.

Looking at it i think the way i will go with this is, have the 703's up front, get the 704 as sides and use the 705 as back speakers, add a second asw750 and i think i will be very happy with this setup.

oh yea and a htm3 or another 1 703 for centre

Yes it does norpus. Every channel has an independant xover setting.

JohnA, for sacd/dvd-a material which is only 5.1 use your existing 705's. I haven't checked yet, but you should be able to configure when playing hi-res to have the dipoles taken out of the equation, and back on again when you want 7.1.

damn didn't think of that LOL

yes my ext input allows for this, i just hook up the rca to back speakers rather than rears, so with the sacd the 705 comes into play instead of the ds7

Thanks for that

[norpus]

yes the 1098 allows different x-over points for front, centre, rear, backs which is fine for normal DVD

but for 6 ch input for SACD, i need to rely on bass management form the sacd player which doesn't allow it.

Looking at it i think the way i will go with this is, have the 703's up front, get the 704 as sides and use the 705 as back speakers, add a second asw750 and i think i will be very happy with this setup.

oh yea and a htm3 or another 1 703 for centre

damn didn't think of that LOL

yes my ext input allows for this, i just hook up the rca to back speakers rather than rears, so with the sacd the 705 comes into play instead of the ds7

Thanks for that

Nice solution.

Wow 704's as sides, mmmmm what a great system John.

[Guest JohnA]

Nice solution.

Wow 704's as sides, mmmmm what a great system John.

the way i see it mate, is the 705 with matching stands come close to the price of a pair of 704's.

i could save a bundle here though and keep the 705's as rears, get another htm7 and use the pair of them for back speakers also.

so many options

[Mike Kakay]

damn didn't think of that LOL

yes my ext input allows for this, i just hook up the rca to back speakers rather than rears, so with the sacd the 705 comes into play instead of the ds7

Thanks for that

Problem solved!

If you wanted a set of 704's, I'd put them behind you with 705's on the sides.

Or as you have suggested.

the way i see it mate, is the 705 with matching stands come close to the price of a pair of 704's.

i could save a bundle here though and keep the 705's as rears, get another htm7 and use the pair of them for back speakers also.

so many options

[Spearmint]

It looks like the makings of a great system John. Are you going to have some distance behind the seating to the rear speakers?

[Guest JohnA]

It looks like the makings of a great system John. Are you going to have some distance behind the seating to the rear speakers?

the seating will propably be about 2.5 mtrs from the rear wall. With the room been 6.2 mtrs long and the front speakers out about 1.3 mtrs from the front wall it should be close to the centre of the speaker setup.

so front speakers should be about 2.5 mtrs apart

front speakers to sitting position about 2.6mtr

seating to rear speakrs 2.5 mtrs

side speakers just slightly back from the seating position.

this ofcourse is just a starting point, then play around for best results

[Spearmint]

the seating will propably be about 2.5 mtrs from the rear wall. With the room been 6.2 mtrs long and the front speakers out about 1.3 mtrs from the front wall it should be close to the centre of the speaker setup.

so front speakers should be about 2.5 mtrs apart

front speakers to sitting position about 2.6mtr

seating to rear speakrs 2.5 mtrs

side speakers just slightly back from the seating position.

this ofcourse is just a starting point, then play around for best results

Okay you will have more depth than mine which is great; about the only thing different is my side surrounds are slightly in front of the seating and not behind. This is purely a personal thing and nothing else. Anyway you have heard my system so you know what they perform like.

[Guest JohnA]

Okay you will have more depth than mine which is great; about the only thing different is my side surrounds are slightly in front of the seating and not behind. This is purely a personal thing and nothing else. Anyway you have heard my system so you know what they perform like.

it could well go slightly forward of the seating also, need to experiment and can't do that till the house is built. Which should start next week hey tell me. yiiippppeeeeee.

since i am not using bipole or dipole speakers, i don't want them exactly lined up with the seating position.

yes have heard yours and you know what effect it had on me. Damn evil people you are.

Edited April 2, 2006 by JohnA

[Spearmint]

it could well go slightly forward of the seating also, need to experiment and can't do that till the house is built. Which should start next week hey tell me. yiiippppeeeeee.

Wow a start date excellent hopefully is at lockup before the wet weather sets in!

since i am not using bipole or dipole speakers, i don't want them exactly lined up with the seating position.

Before I had the bi-poles I was using mono poles in a similar location.

Damn evil people you are.

You are most welcome, we aim to please.

[betty boop]

the seating will propably be about 2.5 mtrs from the rear wall. With the room been 6.2 mtrs long and the front speakers out about 1.3 mtrs from the front wall it should be close to the centre of the speaker setup.

so front speakers should be about 2.5 mtrs apart

front speakers to sitting position about 2.6mtr

seating to rear speakrs 2.5 mtrs

side speakers just slightly back from the seating position.

this ofcourse is just a starting point, then play around for best results

that sounds absolutely excellent there john setup wise. In measurements its actually very close to what I have ! only differneces my rears are 2.1m back which give a good depth. My mains are 2.5m apart and I'm sittign 3m back jsut out of the equilateral that seems to work well as far as soundstage and imaging for my mains. my sides are pretty much inline with the seating postion being bi-poles but how your planning sounds pretty ideal. All that said don't think theres any defintes with this stuff once and a bit of trial and error often helps. Might be bit tough given your new place is being built and you might want to pre-wire etc. Think you said the new room is pretty much the same size as the new place, maybe you can play aroudn a bit in yoru current room to see how it goes.

[Guest JohnA]

yes al, the nw room will be slighlty longer, not by much and a metre wider

i can definately experiment in the current room once i get all my speakers.

this is all getting sooo exciting

unfortunately on one side i am limited to were i can prewire to because of the double sliding door, but a bit of speaker run along the floor won't be an issue at all, and since now i have decided on carpet, its easily hidden

[betty boop]

yes al, the nw room will be slighlty longer, not by much and a metre wider

i can definately experiment in the current room once i get all my speakers.

this is all getting sooo exciting

unfortunately on one side i am limited to were i can prewire to because of the double sliding door, but a bit of speaker run along the floor won't be an issue at all, and since now i have decided on carpet, its easily hidden

john one other point is wall mounting of sides/rears an option - will save you cost on 705+stand over the 704. The 705 bookself might be a better option further down the track too if ever want to wall mount. Thing is for multichannel music eg sacd the ideal setup with all speakers at ear level but for movies going 600mm up from ear level for sides /surrounds might be a better result, havign a bookshelf will keep options open to explore.

[norpus]

the way i see it mate, is the 705 with matching stands come close to the price of a pair of 704's.

i could save a bundle here though and keep the 705's as rears, get another htm7 and use the pair of them for back speakers also.

so many options

I am using 2 older CC6 centres for my rears currently. Seem to go OK

[RodN]

Don't forget guys with the Rotels they have an "LFE Redirect" option on the multi analog inputs.

This option sums all channels into a mono stream then passes them through a low pass filter which, IMO, is perfect for bypassing the less that perfect bass management options on your players. Run them all as large and toggle this option on and walah, LFE channel for your sacds and dvd-a's.

Ken the Rotels not only have individual xovers for each channel but different speaker size settings for input types too - i.e when running stereo set to large, when dts set to small, etc.

The xover options on the Rotels was (besides stunning sound quality) one of the major reasons I went for it.

JOHN those dimensions are close to mine if I ever get this bloody room finished you might be able to get a few adjustment ideas from there too. I think ultimately if you want good multi channel audio playback run a different set of rears in the correct position which from memory is ear level at about 120degrees.

[Guest JohnA]

Don't forget guys with the Rotels they have an "LFE Redirect" option on the multi analog inputs.

This option sums all channels into a mono stream then passes them through a low pass filter which, IMO, is perfect for bypassing the less that perfect bass management options on your players. Run them all as large and toggle this option on and walah, LFE channel for your sacds and dvd-a's.

Ken the Rotels not only have individual xovers for each channel but different speaker size settings for input types too - i.e when running stereo set to large, when dts set to small, etc.

The xover options on the Rotels was (besides stunning sound quality) one of the major reasons I went for it.

JOHN those dimensions are close to mine if I ever get this bloody room finished you might be able to get a few adjustment ideas from there too. I think ultimately if you want good multi channel audio playback run a different set of rears in the correct position which from memory is ear level at about 120degrees.

but isn't the redirect only for anything bellow 100Hz, i just feel thats way too high

what set of rears would you recommend nobby?

[RodN]

but isn't the redirect only for anything bellow 100Hz, i just feel thats way too high

what set of rears would you recommend nobby?

I'd probably go for a bank of 705's..... Then later (when bored) perhaps upgrade the sides to the B&W bipole and have the pair of 705's in SACD/DVDA alignment in the corners.

[geoffcb1503559619]

oh yea and a htm3 or another 1 703 for centre

Where does the HTM3 lie in the product range compared to the HTM7 ?

[betty boop]

I'd probably go for a bank of 705's..... Then later (when bored) perhaps upgrade the sides to the B&W bipole and have the pair of 705's in SACD/DVDA alignment in the corners.

john I think you've said before reason for not going for a bipole for sides now is because the current doesn't visually match ? this option of nobby's might buy you time till b&w brought one out that did match ? or till you could add in one of their more expensive matchign sides ?

other beauty with this one is the 705 is a great little bookshelf I reckon that you could always use later on for a separate bedroom study 2ch setup as well.

Not sure how much to get hung up on the sacd/dvda speaker recommendation either as that is just the hi-res format configuration we have now. Plus you could try out as suggested by mike either your sides or rears for hi-res 5.1. To me I think speakers in these ht setups do a pretty reasonable job for the hi-res formats. Its pretty likely too that with the new HD formats being 7.1 in nature that the likes of meridian/sony/toshiba bring out a 7.1 hi-res audio format utilising the standard 7.1 speaker configuration.

[Guest JohnA]

Where does the HTM3 lie in the product range compared to the HTM7 ?

the htm3 is actualy from the 800 series.

The rpoblem with the htm7 is that it doesn't have the fst midrange and if you have the 703's as mains it is a mismatch. Very noticable with sacd and DVD-A

the htm3 however does have the fst midrange and 2 midbass drivers.

I'd probably go for a bank of 705's..... Then later (when bored) perhaps upgrade the sides to the B&W bipole and have the pair of 705's in SACD/DVDA alignment in the corners.

this was my original plan of attack, and most likely the way i will go

john I think you've said before reason for not going for a bipole for sides now is because the current doesn't visually match ? this option of nobby's might buy you time till b&w brought one out that did match ? or till you could add in one of their more expensive matchign sides ?

other beauty with this one is the 703 is a great little bookshelf I reckon that you could always use later on for a separate bedroom study 2ch setup as well.

2 main reasons realy, 1 it doesn't mtch visualy and 2: limited frequancy response.

i think either the 705 or 704 will do just fine.

mmmm also 703 is not a bookshelf

yes i know you meant the 705

[betty boop]

~

mmmm also 703 is not a bookshelf

yes i know you meant the 705

hehehe yep you got me on the numbers john ! I'll fix it up. you'd need a mighty big bookshelf to take the 703's floorstanders

Where does the HTM3 lie in the product range compared to the HTM7 ?

geoff had the pleasure of listenign to the htm3 when demoing amps at tivoli - boy what a centre, had such a tremendous "wallop" great for that big sound with massive scale. Not exactly a small centre though and almost the same price as the 703 mains ! think its meant to go with the 804s mains

[geoffcb1503559619]

the htm3 is actualy from the 800 series.

The problem with the htm7 is that it doesn't have the fst midrange and if you have the 703's as mains it is a mismatch. Very noticable with sacd and DVD-A

the htm3 however does have the fst midrange and 2 midbass drivers.

The homework you give me, JohnA! I now know FST is Fixed Suspension Transducer and this midrange driver was developed for the 800 series. OK.

But I assume the HTM7 will match the 704s.

[Guest JohnA]

geoff had the pleasure of listenign to the htm3 when demoing amps at tivoli - boy what a centre, had such a tremendous "wallop" great for that big sound with massive scale. Not exactly a small centre though and almost the same price as the 703 mains ! think its meant to go with the 804s mains

yep, htm3 for 804s and 803s

htm2d for 803D

htm1 for 802 801 and 800

shame they never did bring out anything for the 703 and no plans of ever doing so

The homework you give me, JohnA! I now know FST is Fixed Suspension Transducer and this midrange driver was developed for the 800 series. OK.

But I assume the HTM7 will match the 704s.

yes it will match the 704 and 705 perfectly as they all use the same midrange.

i know there might be a htm7 for sale soon

[Spearmint]

John it sounds like you have your surrounds sorted. Next item on the agenda is to work out where they are going, and put in some extra noggins at frame stage if you are going to mount them on the wall.