B&W 703 - How to tame the highs?

Judy426 - why so harsh in your comments? What exaxcty is "similiar sonic signature"? What are your suggestions for better choices?

abb@cs.com - Judy is not being harsh, she is being honest. Sorry to offend, but B&W is "the bose of high-end." Heavily marketed, very bright and tipped up in the treble, meant to suck people in with over-emphasized bass and treble just like Bose. B&W represents the definition of what people mean when they say something is "hi-fi" sounding as oposed to "musical" sounding. The B&W 800 series are better than the 700 series, but you need very high current/wattage to make them sound halfway decent, and they will still have the problems of the 700 series, ie. tipped up treble on a harsh metal tweeter, colored midrange from that kevlar driver, just a non-coherent non-musical sound.

I personally would much rather listen to a paradigm, but does your dealer have any other lines than B&W or paradigm?

Harsh and accurate are two different concepts. You have inferred from my accurate comments that they are harsh. Not so. First, the overall sonic signature of the B&W line is one of lacking musicality. Advocates call them precise and detailed. Truthfully speaking they are dry, lifeless, and fatiguing. As I mentioned prior, you will need gobs of power to adequately drive them. This effectively eliminates most high quality tube amps in favor of the ultra high powered solid state amps such as Krell and Bryston which will drive B&W however 2 wrongs don't make a right.
There are many many others to choose from. The list includes but is not limited to (in no particular order) Green Mountain, Zu, Pro Ac, Paradigm, Coincident, Von Schweikert, Vandersteen, Silverline, Hyperion, Merlin, Quad, Usher.
Don't buy on name. It that were the case everybody would own B&W. It's a great company. Good distribution, dealers, and customer service. Bad sound. Look at the number of B&W speakers on Audiogon (over 100 pair) as we speak. There's a reason for this. Take some time and listen as opposed to reading. Get more for your hard earned money. Good luck.

My dealer is limited in his speaker line. B&W, Paradigm and Martin Logan. I went through the Paradigm, having really liked them. If the highs on the B&W do not tame more, I will go back to the Paradigm line.

Wow...a lot of generalities being thrown around here and more myth than fact. Let's start at the top...

B&W produces and offers so many speakers that it is impossible to take Judy's (or anyone's) sweeping statements seriously. I have not listened to each and every B&W speaker - I have seriously auditioned each speaker in the Nautilus 800 line and have concluded the N805 is the best of the lot (IMHO) especially when mated with a sub like the REL Strata III. Some of the qualites I didn't like are mentioned in this thread, but those qualites were not present in each speaker / system I auditioned. So I can't say the exact cause of the issue. But, given the transportabiliy of the N805, I can say that this speaker performed well enough for me in each application I tried to own it for over 5 years.

Referencing this one example of the B&W line, I can tell you that you do not need "gobs of power to adequately drive them." Actually, my 50 Watt Sixpacs drive them quite nicely (but, some would argue, 50 Watts is "gobs" of tube power). Better than many of the larger power amps I've owned / auditioned.

B&Ws do a lot of things well, and some things not so well. Will they work for you? How the hell will anyone here know? There are many other speakers in the 703's price range to choose from, and yes, you really need to audition what you're buying before wasting your time and money. I will agree with one thing Judy posted - don't buy on name. There is a good chance that if you blindly pick one of the brands menioned in the above post, you may be just (if not more) dissatisfied. Contrary to what some believe, synergy and context is everything.

Judy's theory about why there are so many B&W speakers for sale on Audiogon is incorrect as well (and is frequently cited by B&W bashers). B&W sells a lot of speakers, which creates a sizeable secondary market for those speakers. If the product was as awful as represented, the ask / sell price would be significantly less than what is typical (particularly here at a 'audiophile' marketplace) as the demand would be less by those with 'better' knowledge about the product. The market would be flooded by "the Bose of Hifi" and all secondary B&W sales would take place on eBay (to those ignorant about the virues of other 'better' brands).

Now, I'm not a B&W zealot. I just don't think one can characterize a speaker (nevertheless an entire line of speakers) so broadly - especially on a forum that debates the virtue of power cords, hardware "break in", and stranded vs. solid core cabling - and expect to be taken seriously. You may think Paradigm is wonderful. I may not. I like tubes. You may not. However, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and like I say around my house, "It's ok for you to be wrong."

That doesn't go over well at home, either.