Today’s subject is the British B&W compact speaker “Leisure Monitor LM-1” — a product with a beautifully rounded modern design that fits well into contemporary interiors, and which has maintained a loyal following for more than five years since its release (or perhaps even longer?), whether as part of a miniature pure Hi-Fi setup with a certain boxed-garden quality, or as a surround speaker in AV multichannel systems where B&W speakers are used at the front.
It occasionally appears as a guerrilla stock drop at Iideji! (Nojima Online), selling at just under half the list price, and the sound quality is, as you might expect from B&W, quite respectable — offering a genuine sense of the brand’s pedigree. The plastic cabinet and metal punch-grille do lend it a slightly radio-cassette-player feel, but its small size aside, the clear, straightforward, and refreshingly bright tonal character gives it a modern sensibility that is entirely consistent with its appearance — what you might call a contemporary European sound.
Some time ago, a female acquaintance of mine was about to buy an inexpensive Japanese mini system with bundled speakers, and I stepped in to suggest this B&W LM-1 paired with an integrated CD/FM tuner-amplifier instead. The design and styling of this decidedly non-audiophile-looking speaker went down very well with her — and on top of that, the sound was a European character simply unavailable from domestic speakers in this class. For those who don’t know much about Hi-Fi but do care a little about sound quality, yet don’t want to sacrifice their interior — those who find the usual run of mini systems just a bit too ordinary — the B&W LM-1 is a speaker I would happily recommend to a wide general audience, as a charming piece of interior furniture in its own right.
As for other recommended pairings, ideally one would want to match it with something from the same British tradition — perhaps an entry-level ARCAM model, or something from the colourful Rega range — but even simply swapping out the speakers bundled with an existing Japanese mini system for the B&W LM-1 will, I can assure you, bring both the look and the sound noticeably closer to a genuinely European, authenticity-minded character.
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September 17, 2005
B&W 703/704 at a Jaw-Dropping Limited-Time Price
The B&W 700 Series floorstanding speakers. I have been recommending these here for some time now, including in combination with the Onkyo A-1VL/C-1VL, and recently AUDIO&VISUAL CORE has been offering them at substantially reduced limited-time prices. For those of you who have been considering a purchase, why not take this opportunity?
The 700 Series, in true B&W fashion, delivers an extremely faithful, monitor-like sound, yet where the 800 Series is honed to an almost austere degree of monitor-speaker discipline, the 700s add just a hint of warmth — something homely and natural that gives them a slightly different character. For my part, there is something about the 700 Series tonal quality that vaguely calls to mind the old B&W MATRIX series, and I find that familiarity rather appealing.
In any case, for a speaker available at the accessible price of around ¥200,000–300,000, I can think of almost nothing else currently on the market that retrieves as much information and reproduces it with such precision and fidelity. Even compared to British floorstanding speakers from other manufacturers in the same class, when it comes to accurate reproduction, I will say plainly that the difference in sheer information retrieval is on the order of two whole classes. There are of course plenty of other speakers with their own appeal in terms of musicality, character, visual design, or build quality, but for music lovers who simply want to hear everything recorded on a CD without anything being lost — who want performance and sound quality commensurate with what they have paid, by the most direct route possible — the B&W 703 and 704 are the speakers I would ask you to audition first, before getting lost in any audiophile side roads. Do not dismiss them as too orthodox, or too obvious a choice. Go to a well-appointed dealer and take the time to compare them properly against other floorstanding speakers. I am fairly confident you will then understand what I mean.
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