What speakers to choose for B&K

[pdhanwada]

I just picked up B&K REF 30 and 7270 on ebay. Now I am looking for speakers which could match the power of the 7270.

My budget would be around 1500 dollars for all front three. I am ready to buy used.

My purpose would be for both ht and music.

Suggestions please.

pandu

[pdhanwada]

I saw couple of Paradigm studio 100s. Can the B&K match paradigms power requirement.
I saw the specs for the paradigms. Max input power is 210 watts. Amplifier range can be between 15 - 350 watts per channel.

Let me know what you think.


THanks

[drseid]

Are you going to be using these with a sub?

---Dave

[pdhanwada]

I have energy xls-10. I will use with it. But I would like to be buying something that does produce some bass.

Thanks
Pandu

[nightflier]

The 7270 is a fantastic amp and should have plenty of amperage when you need it. I have had several B&K amps over the years and am currently driving a pair of Dynaudio Audience 72's (rather inefficient speakers) with a 4420, the 7270's little brother. B&K tends to make warm sounding amps so if you like that sound, then get a very neutral speaker like the Dyn's. If on the other hand, you like a little more air and brightness to your music & movies, then something like the Monitor Audio Golds would be a very good match. You can audition them at Magnolia and Tweeter stores, I believe. Crossed-over with the Energy sub, the amp will have no problem driving just about any speaker out there, but a lot of it depends on the sound that you are accustomed to.

For some reason the B&K gear doesn't sell at very high prices on the used market, but it should. I have always liked their solid construction, reliable performance, and excellent customer service. The simple and clear website is helpful too. Hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

[pdhanwada]

nightflier,

Thanks for your reply.

Yesterday I auditioned paradigm studio 40, and Signature S8. It seems Studio 40, Studio 60, Studio 100 all are same in the midrange and tweeter areas. They vary in the number of drivers for the bass areas. As I am going to compensate the lack of bass with a subwoofer, Studio 40 would be enough for my purpose. I also auditioned Signature S8. THey are priced at $6000 per pair. Similar to the Studio series, Signature series also has variations in the bass drivers only. Midrange and Tweeters remain the same.

Signature S8 was audiotioned with Mcintosh MC307AMp. It just blew me away. Definately my B&K is not in the same class but the wattage is the same at 200W X 7.

I can biamp as I will be using 5 channels instead of 7 channels. By going for Signature S-4, I will get better midrange and Tweeter but my lack of bass can be compensated by a sub. Do you see any flaws in my approach.

In future I can monoblock the center channel. I will try to audition the Monitor Audio series too.

Thanks

[nightflier]

Paradigms are real popular here, so I won't knock them. I have heard that some models are on the bright side, so they may make a very good match to the B&K gear. McIntosh is in a different league, but I would still venture that the setup/location between the showroom and your own home also impacts the sound. It's quite possible that Mc will sound very different back home.

Biamping a 7-channel amp is not quite the same as using seperate amps. I don't know if this will provide much of an improvement. A better option would be to buy another 2-channel B&K amp to handle the bass on large main towers. The B&K 4420 does 300W at 4 ohms and should really pack a punch in such a configuration and add a little zing to 2-channel music.

Don't bother mono-blocking the center channel, it's not going to do much for the overall sound.

Make sure you audition the Monitor Audio's. They are a very good match for B&K amps.