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A review of 15 high-end speakers on home demo, inc B&W, Boenicke, Magico, ProAc, Sonus Faber& Wilson

BlueYeti said:
Duckworp, thanks for taking the time to write up such a detailed review. A very interesting read through. But, no images! It would be great to see some photos of the speakers (and that Vitus amp) in situ as to how they are placed in the room.
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Here are the W13s. Beauties. Hope the photo works as I have not uploaded one here before.

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Including my remark that "I'm sure that they are very good, but £28k is a huge amount of money" apparently !

Hardly negative, a statement of fact and based on the fact that a fraction of this sum will buy a full hifi, not just speakers, that I'd put up against anything.
 
Sure, not saying otherwise. There are after all people here with £10k wristwatches that tell the same time as a Casio. Good luck to them.

The difference with hifi is that it's supposed to be "all about the music". If that's the case then much much less will get you there, especially when you enter the world of room treatment, measurement and DSP. Which these have.
 
It’s worth noting that the retail (ie before negotiation) for the standard W13 is about £20k, and the performance is about 97% ish of the SE+ (and that’s verified by a dealer in Boenicke)
 
Duckworp, they look lovely! Although a little smaller than expected. Plus, nice to see Vitus components in the all black option too. Interesting seeing the space and looks a fairly benign environment, so just goes to show that speaker placement and the room can make a significant difference.
 
BlueYeti said:
Duckworp, they look lovely! Although a little smaller than expected. Plus, nice to see Vitus components in the all black option too. Interesting seeing the space and looks a fairly benign environment, so just goes to show that speaker placement and the room can make a significant difference.
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Much bigger than the W8s though, which are surprisingly little things, far smaller than one would expect a floorstander to be (i.e. tweeter far below ear level). They seem to work nicely though, the rear tweeter giving an omni-directional aspect.
 
I went with my brother and heard both the Avalon speakers you auditioned, the only thing in our opinion letting them down, a little lifeless when it came to rock but excellent with Mary Chapin Carpenter I remember, you could listen to them all day with no fatigue. He ended up purchasing Estelon XB's which were heard on the same day, a true all round speaker. Must try and get a listen to some Boenicke's in the near future.
 
stevec67 said:
The difference with hifi is that it's supposed to be "all about the music". If that's the case then much much less will get you there....
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This is your preconception and it may bare no resemblance to the OPs ideologies... I personally think we need more extravagance shown on PFM, theres many uber hi-end system owners who lurk on the fringes but don't post pics simply because of prejudices like these.
 
My wife thinks our car stereo gets her closer to the music as she feels she can sing along to it better than our home hi-fi.

I think she's nuts.

She thinks I'm nuts so we're all good.
 
Cereal Killer said:
IF you don't mind me asking why go with active bass with such a nice amp?!
And did you try going back to just the SE version?
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As explained in my deleted post, because he chose the amplifier before the speakers.

People here are commenting about the expense. The Swiss seem to have a few brands that make Boenicke look like one of the budget brands. I'm thinking Goldmund, Nagra, Piega, Illusonic and Weiss. I think they're all Swiss. The Piega line stage speakers are between about £70k and £200k. These brands all seem to feature quite clinical industrial design, which is something I like. The Boenicke are almost traditional, having a wood finish, compared to those other Swiss brands. The Swiss are incredibly design conscious and would never do anything second-rate.

It should be about the sound and I have speakers (SHL5+ 40th Anniv.) that I find quite ugly. If I'd bought speakers based on looks I'd never even have considered them. I like the look of the Kii Three and they do look a bit like the smaller Boenicke, with the side drivers. It's a problem as I live round the corner from Keith who sells them and I've heard them at KMR, the pro dealer nearby.

It is a fact that floor standing speakers have been successfully marketed in preference to standmount speakers over the last 20 to 30 years, even if they may have no acoustic benefit. Kii Three don't suffer from their relatively small format, and they are primarily a console-top monitor. I've had a look at the reviews of the much smaller Boenicke W5 SE+. They are apparently fabulous and can fill a large room, and cost just over £6k, which puts them in the same territory as Focal Sopra 1, stiff competition as the Sopra 1 is a superb and hugely popular speaker.

Apparently the passive Boenicke do require quite a powerful amplifier to drive them, ideally 150w. According to reports in the USA the W13 with active bass have been used either by the distributor or Boenicke themselves with a low powered valve amplifier.
 
Well done. Look like you made an effort to find right speakers for you.
Do they have bass driver on side? I would move them to the front a bit to give those bass drivers space to breath.

Boenicke use nice suspension system. Similar idea to Towshend Podium, which I use at home. And this suspension system helps tighten bass and remove bass boom.
 
crimsondonkey said:
I think they are for people who listen to music rather than those who stare at the spec sheets and imagine they can predict how they will sound :rolleyes:
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Especially with Boenicke, from this test they are not even good in pair matching.

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