My experiences with the B&W 685s
If any of you are common to this forum, you'll know I have never got on with the B&W 685s. They didn't ever seem cohesive enough for me - music wasn't music. Today, I felt the same was going to happen. Yes, I had a beefy Naim NAP250 driving them today, but I wasn't expecting much. How wrong I was.
You see, something else I always knew was that the B&W need tonnes of power. I mean tonnes. If your lights aren't dimming in your house, they 'aint gonna sound good; but would this NAP250 drive them hard enough?
First reaction? No. Not at all. Same old, same old; they sounded good, right up until they played music. Home cinema, yes - hi-fi, forget about it. However, what would the bland bowers sound like if they blasted out a bit of Pink Floyd? Volume 9 o'clock - bland. Volume 10 o'clock - bland. 10 and a half - bland and loud...
11 o'clock.
Something awakened. The silver tweeter opened its eye. The yellow kevlar driver clicked into overdrive and I've never heard a speaker perform so well at high volumes. It was utterly sublime. Practically perfect in every way! I loved it! It was music again! Van Halen and Pink Floyd were being replayed at rock concert levels in high fidelity like nothing else! You could feel the pressure of the room changing with the speakers!
Oh, and now it's the best £350 I've ever spent... 
From my little experience of them I can imagine they'll suit the Arcam quite well. You're selling it short but it should calm that tweeter a little. Hope you enjoy them, a good value pair of speakers.
matthewpiano:Not being funny and I am delighted you're so pleased, but can you please tell me what the point is in speakers that only really sound good at high volumes? After all, in most domestic conditions those sort of volumes are going to be too much for the neighbours and anyone else in the house...
That's their best bit! I now have my Denon AH-D5000/MF X-CANv8 system for quieter stuff, and my B&W 685/Arcam FMJ A32 system for when nobody's in, but me!
Hughes123:
matthewpiano:Not being funny and I am delighted you're so pleased, but can you please tell me what the point is in speakers that only really sound good at high volumes? After all, in most domestic conditions those sort of volumes are going to be too much for the neighbours and anyone else in the house...
That's their best bit! I now have my Denon AH-D5000/MF X-CANv8 system for quieter stuff, and my B&W 685/Arcam FMJ A32 system for when nobody's in, but me!
Erhm you dont really need an expensive amp to drive them as they sound superb with nad c355bee...I tried them with arcam and could only listen to them for a few minutes, for me it was the arcam that sounded bland, cambridge too bright but nad sounded just right. The 685 are a superb all rounder and well suited to small/medium and larger lounges.
biggus_1961:
Hughes123:
matthewpiano:Not being funny and I am delighted you're so pleased, but can you please tell me what the point is in speakers that only really sound good at high volumes? After all, in most domestic conditions those sort of volumes are going to be too much for the neighbours and anyone else in the house...
That's their best bit! I now have my Denon AH-D5000/MF X-CANv8 system for quieter stuff, and my B&W 685/Arcam FMJ A32 system for when nobody's in, but me!
Erhm you dont really need an expensive amp to drive them as they sound superb with nad c355bee...I tried them with arcam and could only listen to them for a few minutes, for me it was the arcam that sounded bland, cambridge too bright but nad sounded just right. The 685 are a superb all rounder and well suited to small/medium and larger lounges.
Get rid of those Kef's you have then!
biggus_1961:
Hughes123:
matthewpiano:Not being funny and I am delighted you're so pleased, but can you please tell me what the point is in speakers that only really sound good at high volumes? After all, in most domestic conditions those sort of volumes are going to be too much for the neighbours and anyone else in the house...
That's their best bit! I now have my Denon AH-D5000/MF X-CANv8 system for quieter stuff, and my B&W 685/Arcam FMJ A32 system for when nobody's in, but me!
Erhm you dont really need an expensive amp to drive them as they sound superb with nad c355bee...I tried them with arcam and could only listen to them for a few minutes, for me it was the arcam that sounded bland, cambridge too bright but nad sounded just right. The 685 are a superb all rounder and well suited to small/medium and larger lounges.
NAD amps have excellent driving capabilities, above and beyond most other budget to mid-range amps. I can imagine the 685s responding very well to the trademark NAD drive.
Hughes123:
biggus_1961:
Hughes123:
matthewpiano:Not being funny and I am delighted you're so pleased, but can you please tell me what the point is in speakers that only really sound good at high volumes? After all, in most domestic conditions those sort of volumes are going to be too much for the neighbours and anyone else in the house...
That's their best bit! I now have my Denon AH-D5000/MF X-CANv8 system for quieter stuff, and my B&W 685/Arcam FMJ A32 system for when nobody's in, but me!
Erhm you dont really need an expensive amp to drive them as they sound superb with nad c355bee...I tried them with arcam and could only listen to them for a few minutes, for me it was the arcam that sounded bland, cambridge too bright but nad sounded just right. The 685 are a superb all rounder and well suited to small/medium and larger lounges.
Get rid of those Kef's you have then!
i carn't get rid of them i'm attached to them.(there nearly as old as me !)
Thats a good write-up Hughes 
Nice to see someone standing up for the little blighters as theyve been receiving some trash talk recently 
IMO theyre superb little speakers BUT they do appeal more to people who own, i'd say, Arcam and NAD separates and like bass heavy, punchy music.
d_a_n1979:Thats a good write-up Hughes
Nice to see someone standing up for the little blighters as theyve been receiving some trash talk recently
IMO theyre superb little speakers BUT they do appeal more to people who own, i'd say, Arcam and NAD separates and like bass heavy, punchy music.
Yes, that's certainly true - and my two favourite mid-fi amp companies are Arcam and NAD! I tried them on a Rotel RA-04/RCD-06 system about a year back, and they were just awful though - nothing about them persueded me to change my rubbish-ol' (supposed 400watt lol!) JVC midi-system. Bright and yet boring; dull and yet digital...not good. But it shows that you should always buy products on how well they are in your system, not how good they are independently.
That Naim NAP250s quite something too - quite a similar sound to my Arcam, but with perhaps a little less treble roll-off and a little leaner in the upper-bass. Suits my Arcam CD73T well, although I don't have the money for one at the moment.
Not being funny and I am delighted you're so pleased, but can you please tell me what the point is in speakers that only really sound good at high volumes? After all, in most domestic conditions those sort of volumes are going to be too much for the neighbours and anyone else in the house...
Rega RP3/Elys 2, Roksan K2 CDS, Squeezebox Touch, Denon PMA720AE, Q Acoustics 2020i, Sennhesier HD595, Beyer-Dynamic DT770PRO, Chord Crimson/Chord Rumour 2