Am I the only one who thinks B&W is mid-fi?


I know that title sounds pretencious. By all means, everyones taste is different and I can grasp that. However, I find B&W loudspeakers to sound extremely Mid-fi ish, designed with sort of a boom and sizzle quality making it not much better than retail quality brands. At price point there is always something better than it, something musical, where the goals of preserving the naturalness and tonal balance of sound is understood. I am getting tired of people buying for the name, not the sound. I find it is letting the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In these times of dying 2 channel, and the ability to buy a complete stereo/home theater at your local blockbuster, all of the brands that should make it don't. Most Hi-fi starts with a retail system and with that type of over-processed, boom and sizzle sound (Boom meaning a spike at 80Hz and sizzle meaning a spike at 10,000Hz). That gives these rising enthuists a false impression of what hi-fi is about. Thus, the people who cater to that falseified sound, those who design audio, forgetting the passion involved with listening, putting aside all love for music just to put a nickle in the pig...Well are doing a good job. Honestly, it is just wrong. Thanks for the read...I feel better. Prehaps I just needed to vent, but I doubt it. Music is a passion of mine, and I don't want to have to battle in 20 yrs to get equipment that sounds like music. Any comments?
mikez
I heard most of their speakers in many setups, and I just dont seem to get along with them...It grates my eardrums,,,even with CJ tubed amps..
I heard the B&W N series at a NYC dealer while visiting my daughter at grad school. I did not listen to them for more than 5 minutes before I gave up on them. Their bass was boomy, the integration with the midrange was lumpy at best, and the highs were harsh. If you like bass thumping then these are the speakers for you, not refined at all for the price. They were matched mostly with MacIntosh electronics both ss and tube. Do not understand why they are so popular with the Audiogon crowd.
I'm very happy with the sound I get from my Matrix 805's,
mounted on Audio points on Lovan Caliber stands, which are filled with micro bearings. The speakers are bi-wired with
Kimber 4TC/8TC to a NAD 370 integrated amp. Music sources are NAD 540i CD player and Rega P3 TT. IC's are Signal cables. Subwoofer by HSU. I just recently completed this modest set-up based mostly on recommendations from Audiogon members for under $4500 (new and used)so a big THANK YOU
to all of you out there. Compared to other, more expensive systems I've heard, I'd consider mine hi-fi, not mid-fi.