coherent, details, speed

none

Heard them in Boston along with 801 III and Wilson Witt II. SS30 are head and shoulder above both in every area. In fact, I wonder how dealers can sell the 801's if they also carry SS30. I was about to shop for a pair when I discovered Dynaudio Confidence 5 which replaced my Sonus Faber Extrema and Wilson Watt/Puppy 5.1. Dynaudio Confidence 5 have the absolute best midrange I have ever heard and I have heard a lot of speakers (50+?) in my life. Given that their prices are similar, I will give SS30 a 4 for value and 5 for sound.

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too many to list

Everything

none

I recently purchase the ss30 along with other equipment used back from a friend becasue he's moving to another country. The ss30 is very similar to the older ss25, that is all pure silver wiring, and silver is the best conductor. That's is why the speakers were able to be match down to .2db. .5db are very normal, but lower than that only occur to high end speakers. When I first saw the speakers, I just fell in love with it. The appereance was awesome. Many owner's of these speakers expect it to reproduce full range becasue it cost $12k, but we have to remember that ss30 design and internal quality parts are totally different from about 95% of the speakers ever made. It also cost a lot of time and money to make such a speakers becasue all the part have to be newly design. The research and developement diffently added higher price to the speakers. Most of us already know B&W can design a speakers that can produce full range, like the B&W 800 and it cost was $15k. Of course the 800 only use copper, but assume it had pure silver wiring, boy $$$, especially tuning the low pass crossover using pure silver inductor.

Just by looking at the speakers without even listending to it, most of us should assume that there is no way we're expecting 20hz with spl from a 7" woofer. Anyway after getting two Velodyne F-1800 subs and a few more bucks to have it professional place, I don't think the wilson slam, jm lab grande utopia, etc. sound any better than my current setup. My system setup consist of a preamp with tone control(defintely need it, to gain higher db without distorting the ss30 sub) and a 200W power amp. The lowest note allow on the ss30 is 50hz, the 2 subs cross at 50hz down.

My personal tip, get a pair of nautilus 804 or 803(at least a 3 ways speakers) and a pair of F-1800 and I'm very confident you're getting the ultimate full range speakers system.

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Audio Note

open, detailed but remain warm. Excellent mid, high and imaging.

Low end pretty poor. Price on the high side.

Excellent open sound driven by SE 300B. Imaging, pin point instrument details and clarity are the pluses. Low end require proper placement. However very very happy with the quality, compared to when running Mission 782 that lasted me for 4 months only.
I heard that this is a very limited production audiophile speakers hence would like to hear others to voice their views..please.

Similar Products Used:

Infiniti Kappa 9, AR9, Bose 901, Mission 782

i just purchased these speakers but don't know how to set them up. which side is left and right?

I was thoroughly unimpressed by the B&W Silver Signature! It sounded okay as a highend loudspeaker; but did not even approach the value required to convince a customer
to pay $12,000. I believe it lacks deep bass, sound stage (this was almost non-existent!),
true midrange detail, and overall attack. This might have something to do with my overall
distraught with B&W, though; I don't like to feel myself falling asleep when I'm listening to
music that usually gets me going. Many audiophiles disregard price, but I am not willing
to do that in this matter. $12,000 should buy you sonic ecstasy, and ecstasy this was not!

I had the opertunity to listen for about two hours to the signiture 30's. In a word they are breathtaking!! The audition was at Audition Audio in Salt Lake City. The amps were the wounderful Levinson No.33H monoblocks with Levinson pre and cd equipment. Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue cd played through completely, The 30's have a wounderful mid-range, possible the best I have ever heard. If there is any complaint it would be in the very deepest of the bass department, here the Wilson Witt II had the advantage. Don't get me wrong the 30's have good bass just not as strong as someothers. Midbass on up you will be hard pressed to find much better in the price range, and as far as looks they are drop dead gorgeous!! These speakers require alot in associated equipment, expect horrible sound if you listen to these speakers with less that top notch equipment and cables. Set up properly they can be very difficult to walk away from.

First impressions; stunningly beautiful but overstated build, like a '57 Cadillac.
The amplifier was a Krell FPB 300, I think. I don't know about the rest.

Sound Quality: you can taste, smell and see every note! It actually made me want to listen to Celine Dion indefinitely, whom I normally despise with a passion! That's impressive to me! Sure it doesn't have bone-crunching base but that subject becomes completely irrelevant when one witnesses its indescribable smoothness and clarity.

tms

Recently I have the opportunity to auditioned the SS30 again with the latest Krell killer CD player the KPS-25s. Again I compared it to the 801s III and both were driven by Krell FPB600 amp.
My impression has not changed a bit since my previous review. The SS30 has extremely good midrange and trebel. It's smoother and more detail and also cleaner. The sound is less mixed up together and more transparant.
But I must say the difference between SS30 and 801s when driving from such high quality siganl (KPS25s and FPB600) is not as big as you would imagine. Yes, It's there but it's the difference good and better sound. I can easily lived with either speakers.

The thing that bother me last time on the SS30 is still bothering me. It's the bass of the SS30. I can't say the bass is weak or not exisitng. The bass is there for the size of the 8 inches woofer. And it's good bass. The thing is because I'm so used to the deep bass of 801s and the lack of the deep bass in the SS30 become quite an issue to me and maybe to some other people. Most people bought SS30 because they don't need deep base or the room size is not big enough or they listen to jazz and vocal music or becuase thier wife like it.
And yes, it's the most beautiful looking speaker in the marker today.
Because of lacking the deep bass I'll adjust my rating to 4 stars.

I'm still waiting for the new 801 Natilus. It shall be available in the late July or August. According to some people this is a real killer speaker!!!
A real upgrade from the 801s III. The problem I can see so far is that it's much bigger and much heavier than the 801s III. I might need bigger room.
I'll see.

I'm a new owner of the Sig 30s. I had the opportunity to purchase a slightly used pair (5 months old) for $6900 from a dealer who took them in trade. I have connected them to my proceed amp 5/proceed PAV. My center speaker and surround speakers are 805's. This is one terrific system for music and home theater. And I receive rave reviews on the appearance of the systems -- most comment they look like 21st century speakers, packaged in a burled 50s style. Outstanding sound and outstanding value at $6900...regretably I would not have been able to afford the list price of 12K. I advertised on a national audio board for a pair and some nice guy informed me of their availability. By the way, I agree with those who say bass is not a strong point of these speakers -- but it is adequate for my tastes...they are remarkably clear at the mid and high range.

I am a major B&W fan. I have very spoiled by a pair of 801 matrix for some years now. But I miss the point of these speakers!!! The demo I heard had every advantage, soundex on the walls, dedicated room, hyper high end amp, cabling and input sources. To my ear they are accurate and smooth with above average definition but they pale compared to the current 801 series. The price just does not justify the sound. Even if they were priced at $4,000 U.S. they would find serious competition from a half dozen other manufactures. Why are these speakers so very, very bass shy???
B&W should certainly be able to do much better for the money!!! Any of the 801 series is head and shoulders
above this pretentious example of conspicuous consumption.