[Kirium]

... But speakers will always have a special place in my heart.

Yesterday morning, after 13.5hrs on watch (at work) i returned home... slipped some MoS: Chillout sessions 4 into the CD6000OSE and plugged in the old HD280's.....
And listened to the music...

And listened some more...

unhappy, i kicked the amp into gear and let the B&W's do what they do best.... Take me away....

I drifted into low's and was lifted up with the highs...
I heard the music, felt the music....
and eventually, drifted away with the music....

This is proof that:
a) I need the DT880's or HD600's sooner rather then later...
b) Speakers will always have a magic effect on me that headphones may never be able to replicate...

Team B&W

 

[JMT]

Quote:

... But speakers will always have a special place in my heart.

Your secret is safe.

Each have their own time and place. My balance of listening has flip-flopped in favor of my speaker rig over the last couple of weeks.

....of course getting new speakers and a new integrated (and awaiting new speaker cables) may have something to do with it.

 

[pbirkett]

Speakers are great, I love my little Missions, not the most expensive (but by no means the cheapest), but they just sound so musical.

That being said, my DT880's are sure impressing me, strangely enough, out of my speaker amp more than out of my headphone amp.

I dont mind which I use in the end as long as it stirs the soul

 

[Kirium]

How do you find the Rotel sound??

I'm thinking of upgrading my Marantz SR6300 6.1 (with B-channel stereo for the B&W's, a good space saving measure..) to a Rotel RSX-1055 7.1 receiver and adding the RB-03 stereo amp to it and running the B&W's from the multizone...


of course, that goes against my space-saving theory, but i'm sure the improvement in sound would offset that...

 

[Wilson M.]

Just think of it as we're the lucky ones to have both.

Speakers just give a better illusion of "real" than headphones. Instruments and voices are more "life sized". The soundstaging (left, right, front, back) feels almost right. Instrument separation is better delineated because there is just more space to spread them out between speakers.

Even cooler is to hear music but it does not sound like it comes from the speakers. Instruments and voices sound like they are to the outside and behind the speakers and it convey a spaciousness that headphones just can't ever hope to deliver.

But it does cost oodles of money to get that and headphones give so much music for relatively less money.

Headphones do have a touch more detail even compared to much more expensive speaker systems but detail isn't everything (as soundstaging, etc, etc aren't everything either).

Of course, speaker systems have made it very difficult for me to be satisfied with headphone systems. It's bad when you listen to Orpheus headphones with a superior amp (KGSS) and still kind of go: huh, is that it?

 

[usc goose]

secretly, us headphone folk are just jealous we can't afford good speaker gear.

oh well...

 

[tom hankins]

Kirium: I hope the HD600 or DT880 don't end up just being more exspensive phones that you pass over for your speaker system. If you enjoy your speakers more, why not put the money into that system somehow?

 

[MD1032]

I've always loved speakers and headphones equally. The truth is, they're different expiriences! I like my PM4.1's mainly due to their superior bass output over my El Cheapo headphones, the KSC-50's. However, the KSC-50's are portable, and my speakers are not, also, unless my speakers are positioned just right, AND I'm sitting right in the sweet spot in my room, they don't have the same bass balance and details in the highs as my KSC-50's. Fact of the matter: I love audio in any form, with the exception of Country&Western.

 

[Kirium]

I can see i'll have a nice little 5.1 or 6.1 setup, something that is.... nice.... but not outstanding....

I'll always have a niiiiiiice stereo setup, pretty much the best i can afford at any given time...

But, i'll always keep a nice set of cans for the times when others don't want to hear some B&W's pumping out tunes....

 

[soupy]

I'm stuck in the same boat. After getting my speaker rig up, my headphones have been collecting dust. The imaging and soundstage capabilities of speakers are just flat out amazing, I can't help myself from getting lured in and lost into the music. Recently I feel as if my RS1's are crying out loud "SELL ME" and buy a new power amp and maybe some new speaker cables, but I gave them a listen again last night....nahhHH, they're staying put

(Ill never let go of my cd3k's tho).

 

[Kirium]

Quote:

Originally posted by soupy I'm stuck in the same boat. After getting my speaker rig up, my headphones have been collecting dust.

Of course they're collecting dust.....

You're listening to B&W's......

 

[Chops]

I love my little Maggies. To me, and as I have read, others as well, seem to think that magneplanar loudspeakers give you most of the detail and accuracy of headphones with a better soundstage and imaging. And matched up with my DIY twin dual 15" dipole subwoofers, you can just waste away in front of the speakers all day and not think twice about it.

 

[pbirkett]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kirium How do you find the Rotel sound??

I love it mate, although its not to everyones taste, basically its very forward with really bangin bass and is certainly on the bright side of neutral...

BUT

I have not yet heard a Rotel make B&W sound good, which is strange since B&W distribute both. The 602S3's on mine are an oft recommended combo, but when I heard them, they were just too bright. Then I heard a 5 channel Rotel power amp driving some Nautilus 805's. I wasnt too impressed with that either.

 

[Kieran Comito]

No doubt I prefer speakers over headphones. However, headphones are needed in my life style and are enjoyable in their own right. I listen to headphones a couple of hours every day/night, and speakers only a couple of hours a week. As far as Rotel goes, I have the 1065 reciever. Pretty darn musical sounding for a reciever, plus, I think Rotels power ratings are conservative. At the dealer, I demoed the Rotel 1065 at a 100 watts against a the Denon 5800 at 170 watts with a Krell cd player and B & W speakers (I can't remember which one). The Rotel seemed to have more authority than the Denon. I really think Rotel is good at their price range.

 

[utep10]

I have the Rotel RB980 amp with some Vandersteen 2Ce's. This combo really does it for me audio-wise and wallet-wise. I also have the Rotel 965 DD Receiver for my Home Theatre.

I would buy Rotel again. It balances my pocket book and listening pleasure while being able to deal with very reputable dealers who take care of you.