top 100 AV products of 2005

[Mehen]

found this list, has a wide variety of AV products if anyone is looking for something this christmas

http://www.avrev.com/equip/top_100_of_2005/

[TransformX]

Seems like B&W make the best loudspeakers in the world..

[Jammrock]

Seems like B&W make the best loudspeakers in the world..

They do make incredible loudspeakers. Have some myslf. The best however ... the best that AV Revolution review would be more accurate. There are better, but they are astronomically more expensive. Meaning unless you fall into some serious cash, B&W makes the best speakers in the world.

Some other good options (but not too astronomically priced):

http://www.thielaudio.com/

http://www.martinlogan.com/

http://www.magnepan.com/

And the best speaker maker I have ever listened to:

http://www.wilsonaudio.com/

But their cheapest set of floor standing speakers run $12 500 USD. The Alexandria X-2's run $130k. So uh ... they are just a pipe dream. But they are the best sounding speakers I've ever heard.

Jammrock

[gt40]

Paradigm made a few entries in the list.
My two last speaker purchases were both Paradigm - excellent sounding at a very reasonable price point.

[Mehen]

yeah, I've heard some wilson grand slamm's in action - very scary (powered by a big 600W Krell)

at http://www.americanhifi.mb.ca/used.htm (my local HIFI store ) he has some Wilson Watt Puppy's for sale - he has the grand slamm's too (I THINK they are for sale, not sure though) and you can see a bit of them in the background of the watt puppy pic
also on the the 'used' page he has an absolutely gorgeous Krell cd player/ preamp, wee bit out of my price range though

[Jammrock]

yeah, I've heard some wilson grand slamm's in action - very scary (powered by a big 600W Krell)

at http://www.americanhifi.mb.ca/used.htm (my local HIFI store ) he has some Wilson Watt Puppy's for sale - he has the grand slamm's too (I THINK they are for sale, not sure though) and you can see a bit of them in the background of the watt puppy pic
also on the the 'used' page he has an absolutely gorgeous Krell cd player/ preamp, wee bit out of my price range though

Anything Krell and Wilson is out of 99.95% of the world's population's price range. Very expensive, very high-end, very very very upper class equipment.

For equipment that will make your AV system sound like a million bucks to most of your friends, B&W and Rotel all the way.

[Umfriend]

I've never been a B&W lover but I have never seriously listened to anything over euro 500 a piece either. Must've been the 3xx series. There is a lot to choose from in that price range.

In my (limited) experience, Rotel does offer a very good bang for the buck indeed. Have not found Denon, NAD, Yamaha etc to be on par at the same price point (amp wise).

[Jammrock]

I've never been a B&W lover but I have never seriously listened to anything over euro 500 a piece either. Must've been the 3xx series. There is a lot to choose from in that price range.

In my (limited) experience, Rotel does offer a very good bang for the buck indeed. Have not found Denon, NAD, Yamaha etc to be on par at the same price point (amp wise).

The higher end B&W and Rotel stuff is pretty incredible. Nothing beats a Wilson/Classe setup, though. Damn amazing sound.

[Fluff]

With these high end systems can you walk round the room and still get decent sound or to you need to be sitting in the triangle with tweeters at ear height?

I'm waiting for the DEQX system to come out at a cheaper price point with a USB / Firewire input before I think of upgrading. The idea of room correction , 100 customiseable eq presets with 3 way digital crossovers and digital / analog in. Is quite appealing.

[Umfriend]

With these high end systems can you walk round the room and still get decent sound or to you need to be sitting in the triangle with tweeters at ear height?

Nope, they follow you wherever you go and adjust optimally. Hey, it's high-end, remember?

[Jammrock]

All high-end systems will have a "sweet spot". Some will position the sweet spot for you, some you have to psoition it. The sound is always good wherever you are mind you (assuming it was setup right), but there will always be a sweet spot.

[GNEP]

All high-end systems will have a "sweet spot". Some will position the sweet spot for you, some you have to psoition it. The sound is always good wherever you are mind you (assuming it was setup right), but there will always be a sweet spot.

You're making audio systems sound like women there Swiss Tony (sorry a joke for the brits)

[Mehen]

personally, all the Krell stuff I've listened too doesn't really float my boat - needs to be TUBES!!!

from all of my listening, my favorite brand has got to be Quad - http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/

for cheaper stuff NAD is great, haven't listened to much Denon stuff. Yamaha is pretty good, although I haven't done any serious listening with it. I have a Cambridge Audio Azur 640A Integrated Amp that I got for $550 CAD (was a dealer demo) that I absolutely LOVE, although for a 65W/chl (into 8ohm, 100W/chl into 4ohm) stereo amplifier it might be a bit pricey for some, many people find that a beefier Onkyo or Denon or NAD with 5.1 etc. would meet their needs better as they are more diverse (good for either home theatre or home stereo). For entry level HIFI though, the Cambridge is great.

[Mehen]

TEAC is another great brand for people on a budget

[Umfriend]

I've never been able to really sit and listen to tube-amps. I've only listened (and compared) my integrated amp with a setup that consisted of a Sonic Frontier Line 3 tube pre-amp and two (valve) Monarchy Audio SM-70 Pro power amps. Thay sorta blew me away (but then so did the budget). I'm still not usre whether the tube thing is only important in the pre-amp or entire setup.