Firstly congrats on the move, I know what a ball-ache it can be and I hope all went well.

You were saying on the server last night that you need a really good sub to go with the Orbs. Is your Kef 20b not adequate?

If it isnt then whats the problem? Are you left with a hole in the midrange?

Is the Kef livable? If not what are you hoping to upgrade to? I've kinda got my eye on the XLS200-DF from however I cant really afford the speakers and sub at the moment without some serious ebay activity (kidney anyone?).

I am currently using a (1996 model!) Yamaha YST SW80 and I really dont think this is going to cut the mustard. 8" driver with 85W. I dont really use it that much as the B&W's have enough bass for my flat for general use. I tend to only turn the sub on if I'm watching a film, however, this would change if I got the Orbs.

Sorry for all the questions mate but I havnt really wanted an 'afordable' piece of AV kit for a long time, I'm normally found drooling over £2k amps lol.

Shoot ya later

Tom

I haven't moved yet!
We've got the keys to the new house because I'm buying it off a mate who's emmigrated!

I would say that the kef I have isn't up to the job to be honest.
I'm not testing it in an ideal setup. My AV amp is still at my current house, and I'm using my Denon PMA350 (fantastic amp) to test the speakers as I install them at the new house.
The problem is that the Denon is not an AV amp, so it doesn't have a .1 sub output. I'm having to drive the sub from the tape loop, which means adjusting the volume independantly on both the sub and the speaker.

The problem with the sub in my mind is that it doesn't have the control at the lower end that I'm used to. I'm currently using B&W DM603s and they are (as you know) awsome speakers.
The top end with the Orbs sounds great, but I can tell that the Kef is letting me down in the lower range. It's not got that 'tight' control of bass lines I'd like, and it tends to boom rather more than I would like.

I'll let you know how it sounds when I get the Orbs and the sub all wired to the AV amp, but that's unlikely to be until I've moved in, and I don't know how soon that's going to happen.


As I said before in the other thread - I don't think these speakers are going to be quite as good as my B&W 603s. I wouldn't expect them to be, but they are SO small, and were such a good price. They certainly sound amazing when you hear them in situ without other speakers around them : it's very hard to believe they can produce the sound they do.

So - my advice would be that if you really want to make your hifi much more discrete, these are a fantastic option, but if you don't mind the size of the boxes, and want to sit down and critically listen to music, stick with the B&Ws.

This opinion subject to change once I get the Orbs set up with a new sub!


Edit - the sub I want is exactly the same one you're looking at!
There's a thread on the AV forums where someone has got a list of recommended UK Subs (ooh, see what I did there?). I'll try and find the link.

Tis what I use, but in silver.

Very small! and gives a good low range, its "wife frendly"

Cheers for that woz.
I'd be really interested to find out how they sound connected to an AV amp, it should make a considerable amount of difference. Meaning you'll only have to set it up once and not keep adjusting it as you are now.

As for the bass not being "tight" I think a new sub is in order, so I can see another thread on here in a couple of months asking "Q. For Woz RE: XLS200-DF"

If this is your casual HC setup whats the spec of your dedicated AV room?

Just a FYI as I know you are looking at Pasmas at the moment but LCD's are drastically dropping in price. You can pick up a 32" LCD HIDEF for under a grand now. I that the MAIN LCD pannel manufactures are planning to drop the price of 32" screens to £600 by the end of the year. I dont know how much 42"'s will be but worth knowing if you didnt already. Ive got a Samsung 32" (cost me £1080 from QED) and I'm pleased with it. The PQ isnt drop dead amazing & you must have a REALLY good source but it's well worth a grand.

Oh and playing CS:S with 5.1 through my B&W's @ 1366 x 768 on a 32" really is a sight to behold.

The dedicated AV room isn't even built yet...let alone properly planned.
I'm pretty sure it will have another PJ in it. I've got Mrs Woz's ok on this as she enjoys the big screen movie experience, and we got money for my current installation in our house sale. It probably won't happen until next year though.

The room will definitely have my B&W603s, and my B&W centre channel.
I'll be using my NAD C370 to drive the 603s as I do now. The rest of the kit is up in the air to be honest.

As far as the plasma goes, I know what you're saying. I wasn't planning on getting any flat screen tech for a year at least. If you look at the pictures of my current setup, there is a big mirror behind where the screen drops. The long-term plan was to replace this mirror with a flat screen, but we decided to move house and put the kybosh on that.
The new lounge is intended to be a lounge first, with the telly as discrete as possible (whilst being big enough to see! The room is 5 or 6 metres across each way). We're getting it decorated and so the cabling will have to be put in early, and we want the display up soon as well, so we can't hang around. I'm tempted to ignore hi def because it's not going to be huge in broadcast telly for a few years, by which time the plasma will probably need replacing anyway!

Woz, let us know if you need any long vga cables, I can get them from work for next to nothing.

Excellent! Cheers Jamie.