Have your say & ask the experts

 I have the B&W FPM speakers on floor stands 6's left and right 5 centre  and 4's rears with the pioneer sc-lx81 and it is an amazing match. I have a customised optimum stand for the big centre speaker.

Is that something you could look at?

KBaudio:

Well fronts will be £1000 to £1760 depending on whether I go for CM7 or CM9, or about £1700 for GS20's or something similar for focals.   I'll get the matchign subs and centres or PV1 sub if I can stretch that far - and surrounds ill spend less on for now - so total around 3.5 to 4k hopefully with a decent discount if i get a projector and amp and speakers all from the one place

If you go for the CM's.stick to the CM sub - it'll perform far better than the PV1 for home cinema use. It's more of a style sub that won't match up to the performance of similarly priced subs, even B&W's own.

You could leave the surrounds for now and just run 3.1, allowing you to spend your budget on the speakers that matter. Wait until you have sufficient funds for the rears, and this will give you a better system long term. And if you're spending between £1k and £2k on your front speakers, do make sure you try a few out - they differ greatly.

JTD:

Thanks for your view point. Dimmable will help! Did you try any other amps? possibly for more expensive?

I discounted the Denon's as I'm not a fan of Denon's smoother sound, although I fully accept that is down to my personal taste rather than them being a bad product. I did listen to the Marantz 8003 pre/power combo and was very disappointed. Sounded terrible with music on Proac Studio 140's and an Arcam CD player, flat and uninteresting by comparison to the Z7 & AVR600 in my opinion.

My other consideration was the LX82, although it wasn't quite out when I got the Z7. As music was my priority from a one box solution and I'd heard good reviews about the Z7 in this respect, that's what I went for and I'm very pleased.

pete321:

#;/'

I discounted the Denon's as I'm not a fan of Denon's smoother sound, although I fully accept that is down to my personal taste rather than them being a bad product. I did listen to the Marantz 8003 pre/power combo and was very disappointed. Sounded terrible with music on Proac Studio 140's and an Arcam CD player, flat and uninteresting by comparison to the Z7 & AVR600 in my opinion.

My other consideration was the LX82, although it wasn't quite out when I got the Z7. As music was my priority from a one box solution and I'd heard good reviews about the Z7 in this respect, that's what I went for and I'm very pleased.

Ah I'm glad to hear that someone else likes a bit of excitement in their sound! The reason I like Monitor audio's is for there excitement, smooth is good for relaxing but for a movie or most music livelyness is the key (enter cyrus way of thinking). I am going to have my demo and then post up my findings and decision. At worst I will have to consider the Pioneer SC-LX90 and get a demo (would be costly as I'll then be wanting new speakers....)

 

Thanks everyone

Look forward to your decision.

I forgot to mention my sub B&W PV1 and the amazing pioneer bdp-lx71.

 

Hey I once brought the Mission Elegante Speakers had them all brand new waiting for the new amps to come out, then I realised they were going to be to bright a match for the Pioneer Amp I wanted.

So I traded them in at an AV shop straight for a Brand new B&W MT30 package.

A man's got to do what a man's got to do!

@ FrankHarveyHifi

 

So you would recommend the CM sub over the PV1 even though it has one best sub of the yr 5 years running?

I figured it would be more musical given the twin smaller drivers and pressure vessel design (also less rumble for my neighbours) and still be awesome for movies?

 

@ Gel – you have the PV1 – just how awesome is it and does it go as low similarly priced 10 or 12 inch subs?

The B&W PV1 is simply stunning - musically, movies, anything 500Watts, I would never change for another Sub.

I certainly don't need any more power. Also turning my amp on my sub comes a live at the same time, then automatically turns it self off when I turn my amp of.

The best around for me

Gel - that concurs with what I have read

 Frankharvey - why do you not think that is the case?

 Anyway - I dont want to Hijack the Amp thread so if anyone knows of any good demo facilities in London or around - Im all ears

How about sorry in advance what hi fi team Sevenoaks, there shops always demo I know definelty Epsom Sevenoaks demo the B&W PV1.

I can offer my input on the PV1.

I had a Sunfire HRS-10, paired with B&W 684/686/HTM62 and Yamaha RX-V1900 and 'upgraded' the sub to the PV1.

The difference I hear from movies is a tighter, more accurate, short punch, compared to soggy, flabby long bass I got from the HRS-10, which is a £1K sub - same price as a PV1 roughly. In addition, the bass from the Sunfire tended to sound one-dimensional with every bass note sounding the same with no variance. The PV1 tends to sound less 'coloured' you could say.

For music the PV1 is better too. It seems to keep up with the musical basslines better than the HRS-10, which always felt kinda retracted a little. The PV1 also amazes me how you do not get any cabinet reasonance or rattle - only the drivers move.

People say that other subs can go lower than the PV1 for half the cost, but I personally don't think that its the defacto for a large percentage of us that use our systems in your average sized rooms. Plus it looks great!

Now I haven't got a problem with spending a grand on a sub. I don't want a great big massive box or cylinder in my room for the same money. You could view the two splendid 8" drivers as one large 16" driver for those that bang on about 12" subs. Cheating, I know!

I hope my feedback has been helpful.

 

KBaudio:

or PV1 sub if I can stretch that far

Save some money, cut out the middle man.

CarlP – thanks for the very detailed post – its info like that that is extremely useful. My setup is going to a semi dedicated room but It still has to look OK – the wife is letting me use the lounge so as a cinema so I got to make it look ok – hence im trying to stick with a sub that is a ‘looker’. I think im trying to decide between the two B&W subs – the CM series sub and the Pv1. Pete – they have a gloss black sub – that’s food for thought for me thanks Gel – I have tried many of the mainstream hifi shops including the one you mentioned – its just no-one seems to have the amp and speakers I’m considering in one place so comparing is just impossible. Everyone says you MUST audition but really what I need to do is side by side comparisons of speakers and amps and that’s proving impossible.

KBaudio:

Pete – they have a gloss black sub – that’s food for thought for me thanks

I did some research on the BK XLS300/PR elsewhere on the internet which gives details on the benefits of the passive radiator this sub employs. I found it to be a great replacement for my aging REL Q150E. It goes deep but when I use it with music it's able to keep pace with my fast Proac's. Produces a very clean bass.

KBaudio -  What would you like to audition which speakers and amps?