Dead By Dawn

I am looking for a new center channel speaker. I have a Energy XLC that I believe I have burned out the tweeter on. I am running it through a Onkyo TX-DS777. (the Energy sounds flat now,I keep wanting to turn it up and then it sounds overbearing)

Energy XLC 8 ohms 15-100 watts
Onkyo 105 watts at 8 ohms

I like to listen to CD's in 5 channel stereo and sometimes listen to my movies too loud. Maybe the Energy could not handle peak power output.?

I am looking at B&W speakers at my local high end dealer Underground Sound. I bought some Kef's from them that I use as main's and have had for years. They no longer carry Kef's.

B&W LCR60 series 3 120 watts 8 ohms (350.00)
B&W LCR600 series 3 150 watts 8 ohms (500.00)

I am thinking of getting the LCR600, should be no problem at all with the Onkyo, right?

I was then thinking of slowly replacing the rest of my speakers with B&W series 3 speakers.

Any recommendations or comments?

THORN

i have the orginal 600 series speakers, they are awesome. i have had them for years. the 600s series 3 are the third generation. my surround sound is powered by a yamaha reciever 120w x 5. i have B&W 600s across the front and 200s across the back. a velodyne sub to bass.

i first heard them when i was auditioning some matrin logans. the sales guy put in the "brand new laser disc" of jurasik park ( the first one) in the player. i was astounder when the Trex came through the fence and flipped the jeep over. the way the trex screemed made the hair on my neck stand on end. B&Ws are so crystal clear, they were head and shoulder above the rest.

IMHO buy them, and enjoy them ... u wont regret it

thorn

Brian Shannon

I like B&W speakers alot.

I have owned 602's and now have CM4's with the CMC center in my upstairs home theater. I think you are making a good purchase and have a good upgrade strategy.

Good luck!

solpo

You can't go wrong with B&Ws. There's a reason that Lucasfilm uses them for their THX theater and many recording studios use them as monitors.

I have a pair of Matrix 802s (the series before the current Nautilus) for fronts and currently no center. I'll be getting a 600 center (the Nautilus centers seem too bright to match) in the next 3-6 months.

One comment on your upgrade plans.... When you upgrade your other fronts, see if you can find some used Matrix 800's on Audiogon instead of new 600's. I love the Matrix 800 sound (it's totally balanced, while the Nautilus seems a little brighter with less warmth). You'll get a good tonal match and, depending on your taste, better sound.

One potential problem.... Some B&Ws can present an impedance which is closer to 6 ohms. Make sure that this isn't the case with the 600. If it is, make sure that your Onkyo can handle the lower impedance speaker (lower impedances demand more current, rather than voltage, from your amplifier, and many receivers cannot deliver this type of power effectively).

Dead By Dawn

I did it. I purchased the LCR600. Told the guy about audioreview.com and the varying prices. He let me have it for 450.00.

Watched some scenes from X-men 2 last night. Sounds great. It is alittle bright right now. I think it might need a little time to warm up.

I am very happy with this purchase and plan to upgrade my mains next.

Thanks

Shroud

Great, glad you like B&W Loudspeakers. I bought mine a few years ago from a friend of mine who had moved here from England. I bought the B&W DM620i for fronts, DM 602 rears and DM600 IFS for center channel. The sound is super clear and is great for the highs and lows. Once I added my first SVS Sub (PC+ 16-46) I was truely happy with my hometheater. I since then added another SVS sub (PC Ultra) and everything is awesome with a 5.2 system.

abintra

OT but since the original topic has been covered..

Shroud.. how much of a difference did you notice by adding the second SVS?

Dead By Dawn

I found some listed on a UK website. LCR60 was 199.99 and LCR600 was 350.00 (in pounds or sterling) but you have to purchase at the store, no mailorder.

I watched 2 more movies yesterday and the Sopranos. Man this thing is nice. It is almost the size of my mains and must weigh 40 pounds.

Shroud

Abintra,

There was a considerable difference after adding the 2nd SVS subwoofer. Once I recalibrated my Home Theater and adjusted the PC-Ultra to proper phase (little over 180 degrees in my room). First thing I noticed is that the subs don't have to work as hard and I'm able to turn up my receiver to reference level without having to worry about bottoming out. Also the vibrations are twice the intensity in the room. Whenever there is an explosion, cannon shot, spaceship crash, etc.... it really shakes my whole house. Bass shakers? I don't need no stinking bass shakers with two SVSs in the room.
Actually the scariest part was when I finalized the calibrations in my room (12'x11') and decided to do a subwoofer sweep on the Avia disk. As it was sweeping at reference level, it dropped to below 30hz and my whole room to include my wall mounted screen, my projector, all speakers, the walls were shaking from the intense vibrations and was getting worse till it hit 20hz and then stopped.
I did this as an experiment to see what the fuss was about with the dual SVS and figured on keeping the Ultra and selling the PC+ 16-46, but after listening to it, I am now keeping both.