farkingnuts

you got the newer NHTs or the legendary SuperTwo or the higher models ? unbeatable midrange and treble at their price! if they still make the SuperZero , it'll be the absolute killer 5.1 system!

Morel is better than the BRITISH BRANDS as they provide drivers to super high-end speakers like EGGLESTONE.............. but Cabasse is better still....................and you don't have to buy Morel - an Israeli brand

someone suggested Q-Audio ????!!!! i don't see this company can remain in business in even 3 years time ! and if they go bust, no one will buy the company too ! for jazz and classical music, B&W 6-series are definitely a NO-NO !!!!!

### a top US brand like Nordost will be able to outperform those 5-star British cables at 1/3 the price ! ### B&W 6-series are for AV - all their floorstanders boom ! Only the top 2 series in the brand is even worth listening and many brands are better at lower prices since B&W is most probably the biggest speaker advertisers.

the British brands are all overhyped by their magazines that will gladly give all kinds of star reviews foir the right price ! the hifi industry is mostly about marketing ! only audiophiles with years of experience will realize this and pick out the right brands to buy. BRITISH CABLES - tell you what, go take a $300 interconnect/speaker cables and go compare with an American brand like Nordost or Kimber or whatever well-known US brand at 1/3 the price and see for yourself ! BRITISH SPEAKERS - since you talk about Tannoy, B&W and Monitor Audio > Tannoy is definitely more refined than B&W at the budget price range, as for Monitor Audio - it is no longer as good as in the past but will have better treble and midrange than B&W B&W 6-series floorstanders are for bass freaks - great for movies and pop music only! GO TRY B&W 6-SERIES FLOORSTANDERS WITH A SUB-$1000 RECEIVER AND YOU'LL SEE. no point hearing them with good electronics when you're not gonna be doing that at home!

if a speaker has poor boomy bloated bass, positioning will not solve your problems but only reduce it. ask yourself, how far can you possible place your speakers from the rear and side walls ? you'll need to have the floors carpeted and walls draped with curtains or even have bass traps in the corners to deal with boomy bass - THAT'S WHY SHOWROOMS HAVE THEM ! the B&W 6-series are more for AV...................period. many years ago when i first started on hifi, i had the B&W 6-series too and they were better at music than the new ones!

British cables are used by hifi beginners, you'll hardly read about any high-end hifi users using British cables. considering you're not going to spend a lot on cables, try brands like Klotz (German), Canare or Mogami - after all, most cables are made in China or Taiwan anyway. sometimes the cables are made by the same OEM manufacturer can simply re-branded as brand A and brand B.

i'm no expert but i don't see how something that's even remotely popular in Japan can be absent on the net. the brand name is also rather dodgy, i'll bet it's a local or M'sian brand.

by the way, if you buy the B&W 685 you won't need to buy subwoofer anymore. the BOOMING bass will be so OVER-BLOATED i doubt you'll hear any details at all ! you're gonna get loads and loads more bass at home when compared to at the showroom. PLUS the B&W 6-series are known to be boomy and bloated !

i don't know who carry Usher so you'll have to make a Google search. Monitor audio is carried by Precision Audio but you'll have to really really make sure that you buy the new models and that they're truly from Monitor Audio, you got to check the box and after you bought the speakers, check the serial numbers with the manufacturer to make sure you're getting the authentic products.

Tannoy is superior to B&W for music while B&W is more for AV, especially so for the lower range models. as for cables, you'll be safe buying American ones and avoid British ones. however, avoid Monster Cable.

even if all brands made in China, the Brits are now behind the Germans, French and Americans when it comes to speakers. if buy British speakers at wharfedale price, might as well buy Monitor Audio - anytime better !

so your total budget will be 4,000 right ? for ''box'' speakers, you'll need a good receiver since we're talking about driving 5 speakers. a reasonably capable receiver will be around 1,500 to have enough power+quality so you'll have 2,500 for 5.1 set-up but an okay sub will cost 700-800 so that means 1,700 for 5 speakers. maybe you can buy the front 3 speakers first. try Usher since made-in-Taiwan but with quality drivers and won't cost a bomb. see if NHT is available at that price range. i'll definitely avoid British speakers for sure, especially those that advertise a lot in magazines since their good reviews are ''bought'' ! use cheap cables first and then upgrade later to save money now, try Canare or Mogami and avoid British cables. Most of the cables made in China or Taiwan anyway.

problem is wharfedale were not owned by the Chinese 18 years ago ! in any case, there are far better choices than Wharfedale back then and now. anyway, i will stick to speakers here and not talk about electronics.

that's a better idea but a ''not crappy'' sub will cost 700-800 minimum and 1,500 won't get you any decent front 3 speakers! i remember a brand called Usher Audio - you can probably get decent front 3 speakers from them since they're made in Taiwan but using reasonable drivers. BUT a $700 receiver won't be able to make them sound good my advice is still to get the Cabasse satellites, they're really special and the receiver can drive them just fine PLUS you get 5.1 sound rightaway! unless you increase your budget, people always overlook the receiver but the power ratings are manipulated to appear far more powerful than the receiver really is. a $700 receiver is simply not good enough for anything more than satellites.

for $3k, you have to go for satellite speakers. if you spend 2,300 on speakers, you'll end up with a lousy receiver to drive them - a surefire way to get lousy results! besides, 2,00 won't be enough to get any decent box speakers too. for satellites capable of matching or even beating ''normal'' speakers, there's only ONE choice. go buy Cabasse, no other brand will even come remotely close ! then spend the rest of the money on Onkyo which is superior to Yamaha.

oh my god ! people are still falling for Linn Classik ??? i thought everyone would know it's just an over-priced piece of crap by now !

so now PSB also made in China ? only the high-end KEF is made in England, the rest also made in China for a long time. lower-end B&W also made in China. years ago there was a court case against B&W when they claim their speakers made in England when it was made in China. in any case, it's always wise to avoid British brands since most of them owned by Chinese owners and they get good reviews becoz they're the biggest advertisers.

i was thinking about Dunlopillo also until i read a lot of horrible things about them online too................. so i'm trying to pick a brand with the least negative reviews....................... scared leh...................

what you say is true but i'm more worried about durability, no point having a very comfortable mattress that sags badly after a short period. the warranty means nothing at all. also, the numerous horrible consumer reviews i read really scared the crap out of me with local brands like Maxcoil, Princebed, etc all sagging badly after a couple months !

onkyo is fine though the agent is rather suspect if you're talking about after sales service. velodyne is now a goner brand, maybe only their high end models are still competitive definitive tech is ''definitely'' not what you wanna buy !

no one else has any views ?

if the speakers are still very new then try to sell them off, maybe just change the front 3 speakers and keep the surround ones. if you can sell them off and willing to top up some money but not too much, you can give PSB a try. i'm not sure if PSB pricing in S'pore is crazy or not like B&W. for a beginner, you will probably like PSB. they're more refined than wharfedale and they're made in Canada so build quality should be on par with Wharfedale at least. *** check if you can get NHT speakers at roughly the same price range, if at same price then grab them even though they're now made in China !

$3k for a pair of floorstanding speakers ? or for a whole home theatre speaker system ? and what amplifier are you using? if just for a pair of speakers, i suggest you buy a pair of standmount speakers becoz they will sound far better than floorstanders. the standmounters will have better treble and midrange plus better quality bass though floorstanders can go louder and produce more but inferior bass. place standmounters close to the rear wall will increase bass output so should be okay. *** floorstanders at the showroom will sound far different when you bring it home as the showroom has carpet and the speakers are farther from the walls ! at home, they will produce too much bass of inferior quality due to space constraint.

not true that Wharfedale is best in price range. you'll do far better if you can grab American, Canadian, French or German speakers at the same price. they might even be made in their countries of origin !