Amp for bowers and Wilkins 607 or kef q150

Hi
I’m thinking of buying either b&w 607 or keg q150 as both are on offer at the moment.
I like my music with bass My aim is finally to buy the Sonos amp or bluesound amp when money allows all my music basically is on line eg tidal.
In the meantime I need to purchase a cheap amp with Bluetooth that will allow me to run the speakers any recommendations I’m happy to buy off eBay second hand so it does not have to be a current amp
Is there any minimum requirements for these speakers,the room there in is only 4x4m and the house is a semi
Thanks in advance

Buying any bits of Hi-Fi gear 'blind' simply because it's at a reduced price is such a bad bad bad idea. These are not speakers that sound similar to each other, so having both on a shortlist doesn't make a lot of sense to me. These are as different as curry and ice cream. I like both, but I wouldn't put them on the same plate, if you catch my drift?

Given lots of power - and that's quite important with B&W's less-sensitive bookshelf speakers - they sound 'exciting' and a bit toppy; very 'Hi-Fi', or what people who perhaps don't have a lot of experience with good audio gear think of as being a 'Hi-Fi' sound. To me it's a sort of technical sound that favours imaging and detail and throwing spotlights on instruments in a way that makes the results from mic'ing and the mixing desk far more evident. That's perhaps why B&W are used quite a lot in mixing and recording studios?

The KEF sound is different. It's more beguiling and subtle and cohesive. The speakers kind of get out of the way of the music whereas with the B&Ws feel like they're stamping their authority on the sound so you're always aware that the speaker are there. Which you prefer depends on how you like your sound, and that's why you really need to hear these speakers in store and listen to them with a few different amps. I think that if you did have a listen, in the first 10 minutes you'd favour the B&W, but after half an hour the KEF's would be the ones making your toes tap more. You'd probably also find that the KEFs sound a bit leaner in th bass, but were kinder to poorer-quality recordings.

The bass is okay from both, but I wouldn't characterise it as phat. If you can give them some room to breathe, then Monitor Audio Bronze 5 floorstanders will dig much deeper for similar money. If you were planning on putting the KEFs or B&Ws on stands, the MAs will take up no more room. They're an easier load too, so will work just fine with a £230 Onkyo A9010 but still show rewards when driven with a more capable amp.


If this or any other reply was helpful to you, then please do the decent thing and click the T-H-A-N-K-S button. (That's the THANKS button, not the Like button, there's a difference) It appears when you hover the mouse pointer near the Quote Multi-quote buttons. It costs you nothing. This is the proper way to show your thanks for the time and help someone gave you.

Thank you for your reply lucid very informative,I understand what your saying about listening to them first and trying with various amps.
However I am both space limited and time limited eg once I come out off lockdown stuff like this never happens and at the moment everyone is shut.I have basically looked at a stack of reviews online and both these came out with good reviews so hence my choice plus both on offer at moment.
What is your opinion on the Sonos amp or the bluesound amp with either of these speakers?
I guess from your description I’d lean more to the kef Like I said all my music is online and of high quality I own no records or discs.

I still wouldn't buy new without a demo.

Look, Hi-Fi dealers are in a pretty privileged position. They get fat margins on Hi-Fi gear because it's a boutique business based on high levels of customer service. The margin pays for having demo facilities and giving customers time to audition, and then offering home set-up of the purchased gear. It used to be that no specialist Hi-Fi gear couldn't be sold mail order for exactly these reasons. If you're not going to avail yourself of these facilities, why give the dealer their fat margin for doing little other than processing a credit card payment?

Where you feel your only option is to buy blind as-it-were, then I'd recommend buying used speakers. You'll be buying on the same blind principle, but avoiding the sort of fan-boy hysteria that can surround new products. You may also find yourself looking at older models. This can bring certain advantages. There'll be a broader range of professional and end-user reviews, so any quirks or issues will be highlighted. Of course the other benefit is the cost saving. You can either buy speakers equivalent to the KEF and B&W options, but at a fraction of the price. Or you could use the same budget to buy higher-spec' models. There's a lot of flexibility.


Buying new speakers mail order, and then auctioning at home, is really tricky. In order to listen critically, new speakers need time to run in. With some, this might take a couple of weeks or more. You'll also need to spend some time playing with the positioning to get the best results. By the time they're ready to be evaluated, the distance selling window for a return has closed. You could be stuck with speakers that you're never really happy with. The option then is either living with them even though they don't make you smile, or selling them on at a substantial loss before taking yet another blind gamble. Does that seem sensible?

Buy used. Try. Sell on again if they don't give you goosebumps. You may lose a little money, or break even, but at least you'll find out what works for you and what doesn't.

Hi-Fi shouldn't just be 'some better sound'. It should give you shivers. You should be like a kid on Christmas morning; that level of excitement. Your gear should make you want to listen to every track you own. You should be tearing through your music collection thinking "I've gotta hear this next, then this, then this". You should ache to get home and put on some tunes. It should be like the first flush of a new romance, but every day, every month, every year. It should be a love affair between you and the music. If the gear you own doesn't make you crazy in love then you haven't found the right gear yet. That's why you don't buy blind from a dealer.

All the five-star-reviews in the world won't give you this. There's something called synergy. You won't get synergy by cobbling together 5-star products. Synergy is more elusive. A good dealer - one who loves music and sells from the heart not the head - can guide you. They may put together bits of gear that you wouldn't have considered, and end up with a system that's more than the sum of its parts.


As for Sonos Vs Bluesound; I'd go Bluesound if you've got subs to high quality streaming services. Sonos is good (I'm a dealer for it), but it's mass market. Bluesound is aimed at music enthusiasts.

Thanks lucid
I’m gonna hang on till they open up there stores,thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply.