B&W XT Series

I was an early adopter of the XT surround system. At the moment I have a full 7.1 with 2 PV1's since my venue is rather sizeable. I couldn't be happier with the results. The quality of sound is spectacular and although some have argued that the price is a little steep, I would argue otherwise. A full 7.1 XT system with 2 PV1's costs less than a pair of 802D's! I'm not trying to compare the 802's with the Xt's mano a mano but simply to put things in perspective.

One point that I would like to stress is that to get the best sound out them, very stout amplification is absolutely necessary, the power ratings recommended by B&W are simply silly. I tried to drive the system with a receiver originally to no avail, any "enthusiastic" sound levels would trip the receiver's protection circuits. My solution was simple, I paired them with a pair of big powerful amps, A Rotel RMB 1080 for the XT4's and a RMB 1095 for the (4)XT2's and XTC. The results were amazing, everything was clearer, sharper and more dynamic regardless of volume level and thought the midrange was not as "perfect" as an FST equipped 8 series, if you had never heard one you would never notice that the mids could be any better!

Finally, the XT system is not only the best looking HT system in the market today, it is one of the best sounding. Paradoxically, it is well priced since to "improve" on it, exponentially higher outlays of cash would be necessary. Just don't forget that most, if not all receivers on the market do not have the power reseves to make a whole XT system "sing"!