[gIzzE]

I'm having a change round of rooms and this system is now surplus to requirements.

B&W XT Mains and Centre plus the XT stands.

The mains were new a few months back, all boxed and minty fresh.
Amazing sounding and funky looking speaker.

The centre has a few marks on it and the tweeter done has a dent, but it sounds perfect and once on the rack you would never notice.

I also have the £200 stands, again a few light marks on the base but you got to be looking.
I have had them cut down 40cm so the tweeters are now just above ear height when sitting on a sofa.



This shows the height of the speaker on the stand.....


The XT Centre speaker.....


And a close up showing the marks...


This lot retails for £1600.

I want £600 for the front three speakers and stands. Bargain.



I also have a Marantz NR1602, this is a superb amp, nice slim design, sounds good in stereo too unlike most av amps.

All boxed as new £300 (only when the speakers go though otherwise I will keep it all in the bedroom).
It retails for £550 but see a few refurbs out there for £350, hence £300.
Still warranty on it as well.



Speakers and amp £850.

[xs2man]

Oooh. Lovely speakers there. I am actually looking for a centre B&W speaker. Wonder if the XT's would be better than my 685's as fronts?

[gIzzE]

The 685 sits just underneath the CM1 in the range, £399 vs £499, the XT range was developed using their horn loaded tweeter design as used on their Nautilus range, however, they were £799.
I think if they were made from wood like the others they would be £699, but the fact they are aluminium cabinets bumps the price a bit.
Then you have the issue that because of their Nautilus type cabinet design (narrower at the rear) you have to buy their stands, another £200.
So you end up with a £1000 bookshelf. It is worth £1000 but not really worth twice as much as say the CM1 and a pair of £50 atacama stands, probably worth 50% more.
You are paying an extra 25% more for the looks I guess.


The CM1 is slightly more open than your 685's at the top end, the XT2's take this quite a step further.
The soundstage is much bigger, the CM1's (which I had before) sounded very boxy and shut in compared to these, I was amazed at the difference.
I wasn't going to buy these at all, I was lent them to see what I thought, after 2 days with them I decided they were staying and I got rid of my CM1's.
The top end is also remarkable smooth, you can go loud and it never sounds shrill, the CM1s used to start to shout a bit in the midrange, this may be teh tweeter design but I think this might be the better bracing of the Alu cabinet.

I don't think it is fair to compare the 685s with these, the 685s are great, but these are on another level completely.
I swapped a pair of Meridian DSP5200s for these and never felt it was lacking, apart from bass, but then I use a small sub as well. I think that says a lot for the XT's, the DSP5200s were £6500.

[xs2man]

Yeah, I wasn't really trying to compare the 685's with these. But just wondering what they would sound like with 685's are rears. I currently have 686's as rears to my 685's on one system, and LM1's as rears to 685's on another system.

As I said, I was just about to drop £300 on a centre for the first system, but would maybe consider this route, using 685's as rears against these, and 686's as rears on the other system. Of course, this is more than doubling my original budget, but these are a sweet looking trio of speakers, and the centre looks a bit more compact than the HTM that I was actually just about to go purchase.

Do you still have the boxes and stuff? I'm guessing these can be bi-amped also?

[gIzzE]

I have boxes for the XT2's only.
I am trying to think when I bought them. I will dig out the receipt.

The XT Centre is a really nice size. Not too high, so actually fits in my rack rather than on the top.

They are not bi-wireable no, do you bi-amp then?

[gIzzE]

685s as rears would be good, having said that, I would even consider selling them as well and going with some more LM1's, think they work great as rears.

Surely though if you were going to drop £300 on a centre you are now dropping £600 less what you would get back for the 685's or 686's?
So still costing you £300?

Is is that my crappy man maths? haha

[xs2man]

No, of course, your math is correct. If I sold on my 685's for £300 then the centre would only end up costing £300. Im a sucker for keeping gear though, and wouldn't sell them. I would use my LM1's for my decks room instead of the Pioneers I have in there at the moment.

So it would still be the £600 outlay, albeit with 3 systems getting "upgraded".

As for the bi-amping, I don't as yet, but was going to when I get the centre channel sorted. The 685's can be bi-amped, and my 9.1 Amp will only be using 5.1. Apparently bi-amping the 685's does make a considerable difference.

I'll have to have a think about this for a day or so though.

[gIzzE]

Ahhh, another horder like me.

But it could be £300 for an XT front three, rather than 600 series if you did sell the 685's on.

Yeah let me know.
I am in Edinburgh on the 4th for 4 days btw, if that helps?

[xs2man]

Oooohhhh. That may help, however I may be offshore. Will find out next week for sure I would think. Will let you know. Gotta make the scary move and go see my hifi dealer anyway tomorrow (exchanging a Blueray Player). Will ask if he has any XT's I can listen to while I'm there.

[gIzzE]

OK mate.

They stopped doing them end of last year, but you never know, they may have some left.