B&W P6 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

Kevin Parker

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Hello All,
I've been using the B+W P6 speakers for some years now. I bought a pair when they first came out. This was after spending some hours testing and comparing just about everything around the similar price point.
After listening to these for over 12 years now I still haven't heard anything out there that beats them in their price range area. I originally used all top level NAD gear with them but found despite the marvellous sound of NAD gear the reliability let the NAD gear down. I've since replaced all my equipment with Cambridge Audio and this is goin very well. The new Cmbridge DX series amps drive the B+W P6's very well. You do need a good high current amp to do justice to the B+W's.
Some have made the suggestion that the bass is a biy shy on these speakers. I do not know how that can be. I feel that their incredible bass is one of the great features of this model. Play the CD from the movie "Crimson Tide". This may depend on the room you are in; say carpet floors or polished cypress pine for instance. We have polished wooden floors and have no problems with the bass reponse. In fact I would suggest that a sub woofer would be quite a waste of time hooked up with these speakers unless it was a Valadyne and could produce to 18 cycles. This could have some thing to do with hearing ability as well.
The high frequencies are pretty much spot on I feel and have never experienced the high end fatigue as some have suggested. Keep in mind that as you age your high frequency hearing changes anyway. Just put on a frequency test disc and get some children around. They will continue to hear various frequencies long after us oldies cannot hear them at all.
From time to time I review new speakers just to see if I should update. So far I've heard nothing yet within the realms of financial common sense that would prompt me to do so. If I did I would probably go up the B+W food chain a bit into the Nutalis or Abbey road style; but then that meand new amps and so on. Where do you stop. Audvest cables (VERY PRICEY) can give your speakers an almost "Born Again" experience, worthwhile considering. Cheers.

Bob Berryman

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from ebay

Summary:
Hi,I have ran these speakers for a month or so now,and will probaly never sell them,thats how much i like them.I am running them with a shanling cdt80 and a matching shanling amp,50 watts class a,straightwire stage cables,taralabs quantum 4 interconnects.Some music im playing now is nearly jaw dropping.

Strengths:
Great bass ,mid clarity the whole package with nice looks,A good price now they are a few years old.

Weaknesses:
No weakness i can pin point.

Similar Products Used:
Energy Rc 30,tannoy ,whafedale

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
These speakers really look stunning,I have the cherry finished model and really look beautiful with the usual B&W quality finish. The speakers have some very good qualities,are crystal clear in the midrange in the typical B&W fashion,for the size of them I was expecting more bass and was quite suprised at how low they didn't actually go!! I find them to be quite lean and this is in a small room, a result the quite suprised me. But my biggest niggle is that they sound bright bright bright,its quite relentless the extreme top end that can prove to be fatiguing over extended listening periods like it's trying too hard and giving too much detail,especially on pop music,on classical I didn't find it so noticable. They image reasonably well and can place the vocals in the centre of the mix and give of little hidden effects which ither speakers would probably miss. All in all a good speaker,brilliant?no,not in my opinion,the treble just lets it down a bit too much for me.

Strengths:
lovely midrange,clear vocals.

Weaknesses:
bright fatiguing treble

Similar Products Used:
B&W CDM1,601, 301,SF concertino homes,

Price Paid:  $800.00 from second hand

Summary:
Very nice looking speaker, fits in almost any environment and is rather wife-friendly. Sounds a bit booming with a dip between bass and mid. Lacks precise soundstaging.

Strengths:
nice looks, good value, B&W quality build with impressive finishing.

Weaknesses:
dip between bass and mid, lacks soundstage

Similar Products Used:
CDM-9NT, Matrix 802S3, Mission 753

Price Paid:  $0.00 from AudioT West Hampstea

Summary:
Many years ago I had Spendor BC1s, with a wonderfully clear mid-range. Looking for better bass, I changed them for Epos ES14s - big mistake, with an edgy mid-range. As a pre-retirement present to myself I decided to upgrade most of the system and spent some time listining to floor-standing speakers. The (then discontinued) P6s were clearly the best, with Spendor-like clarity and really deep bass. I'm now moving to the latest Arcam amplification, which looks like allowing the P6s to give of their best - no plans to change them for the foreseeable future.

Strengths:
Marvellous mid-range clarity, tremendous volume (if you need it) from a slim box, great looks with no need to remove the grille cloth.

Weaknesses:
Slightly recessed extreme top-end; bass (ported) is full but lacks the bottom 20-40Hz.