I had the pleasure of auditioning the DM601's recently in a Sacramento audio shop. I own a pair of DM602's, and was shopping for new speaker cables and interconnects. While at the shop, I noticed that a pair of 601's were already set up for listening. Since the 601's are close in design to the 602's, I wanted to hear what these affordable speakers sounded like on the REALLY good equipment that was sitting right there, ready for hookup.
The setup was an apparently ridiculous combination of budget equipment with high $$$ equipment. Here are $400 speakers we connected to Transparent Reference XL cables, Aragon 8008 amp, Transparent Balanced Reference XL interconnects, Mark Levinson 380 preamp, and Mark Levinson 39 CD. $400 speakers connected to approx. $45,000 everything else. What would happen?

Jaw drop. The B&W's are not Dunlavy SC VI's, which I had auditioned at another Sacramento audio shop (Madre de Dios!). But I'll tell you this- I was blown away at the 601's crystal clear sound, the dimensions of the soundstage, and really impressed with the bass response of this little speaker. They sounded larger and far more expensive than they are. I could go on and on, but I would have to say that you will spend a lot of $$$ on your other equipment before the 601's are a "bottleneck" in your system. I was truly amazed at how much of music signal carried by the other equipment came through the 601's intact. Althought the bass response was excellent for its size, though, these are still minimonitors. I could only imagine what my larger 602's would sound like if the rest of my system were up to it.

If you get the 601's, get the best cables you can afford. Although I would be insane to buy the $10,000 cables that were hooked up to the 601's, do not flinch at spending more on cables and interconnects that on these speakers (Transparent MusicWave cables and MusicLink IC's, which I also auditioned onthe 601's and on my 602's at home, were dreamy- about $700 for all). Listen to your ears.

I am a high school student, and money is hard to come by. I have auditioned almost every speaker in this price range. I love the 601's. I feel that they lack a little in bass but make up for it in sound quality. I recomend these speakers to anyone who wants awsome highs and strong bass.

I love these speakers!!!!! Paired with my NAD314 integrated amp and NAD512 cd player the sound is gorgeous!!!!! Returned a pair of more expensive paradigms studio 20's because the warm NAD sound did not work well with the Warm heavy bass of the digms. The 601's do every thing great from tight bass to incredibly clear mid to crisp but not harsh treble. Advice; the digms sounded better at the dealer and may sound better with your amp/cd and acoustics so best to shop at a store that allows exchanges or returns .

I just brought these speakers home yesterday and am very happy. Compared them to NHT SuperOne's, Paradigm Minimonitors, and Infinity RS-3. First off the Infinity's did not seem to be in the same league eventhough they were close in price to the other three. I'll leave it at that. The NHT's were great speakers but a little too thin for my taste. They had a clarity to their sound which was impressive but I guess I don't like my music THAT clear. The Paradigms were also very good. They put out alot of bass and are very in your face with their presentation. Nothing laid back about them,IMHO. These are exciting speakers but a little too bright for me.
Then came the 601's. To me they are the perfect mix of the NHT's and the Paradigm's. Not as incredibly clear as NHT or lively as Paradigm but right in between, they were great. When listening to other speakers I was thinking about the sound. Highs, mids, lows, soundstaging, could I live with these speakers? When the B&W's were on I was tapping my feet and smiling ear to ear. I felt like Lauryn Hill was in the room. And another thing, these speakers look great too. All three were great and definately worth an audition but the B&W were really something.

I short listed Paradigm-MiniMonitor, NHT-super1.5, Definitive-Promonitor, Energy XL25 and B&W601, for my audio/video. I selected 601 for front and 302for rear and CC6 for center. I am very please with the sound reproducability of
these B&Ws. For the sub-sat sytem Definitive- Promonitor is very good as compare to Energy Take5 and Boston Acoustic's 90??. Biwiring is highly reccomended for 601s. 601s are little power hungry but the clarity, depth and image is excellent. Bass is clean and loud enough for the given woofer size.

My configuration
Receiver YAMAHA 992
FRONTS B&W 601
REAR B&W 302
CENTER B&W CC6
CABLE NORDOST 2FLAT and 4FLAT for 601s
SUB PARADIGM PS1200
TOSHIBA 50' RPTV
SPEAKER-STAND SOUND_DESIGN BB75

Great speaker for the $$. However, I sensed some high end edginess which may lead to listening fatigue. Bass was good for this sized speaker but did exhibit some hump in the lower octaves. Overall a nice speaker at this price.

After auditioning all the speakers in this price range I could think of (paradigm, psb, nht, mission, etc. ) I concluded that the 601's had the most impact for the money. The sound must be characterized as smooth....The paradigms and psb's had more bass: the nht had more precision, but i enjoyed listening to the B&W's more than the others,) I found I began listening to the music again instead of the speakers. The 601's are my choice.

I am one of those people who would rather listen to nothing than listen to music on bad equipment. Saying that, I have a mixed system of components I've pieced together over the years, nothing terribly high-end, but nothing low-end either...always the best I could find for the price range I pick out.
What I consider good speakers are those that play music out loud as well as my high-end headphones sound on my ears. The choices are few and far between for under $1000, and due to my musical tastes (Janet Jackson to Pantera), I also have a problem with satellite systems which intentionally leave out the mid-range, which makes up the bulk of my music.

Well after reading some reviews in What HiFi, I decided to go try out the B&W 601's at the local store. I only intended on listening and pricing some speakers out for a future purchase, but when the sales rep played the DM601's, a smile uncontrollably appeared on my face. I couldn't believe that I was hearing speakers as good as my headphones, in such a small package. I purchased them on the spot, even without listening to my own music. And for $300 for the pair as an open-box special, I figured I'd better take them and run.

I brought them home and immediately hooked them up as my primary speakers (no center, no sub), to try out all my music. Unbelievable! I was intending on using them solely as my surround speakers, but two years later they are still all I have. They can still produce such crisp and dynamic sound that I can turn them up and hear subtle details in the music outside my house in my back yard (25 feet from the room the speakers are in, and around the corner). The bass response can rattle the walls three rooms away, and I can turn up the volume until it hurts my ears without a hint of strain in the speakers. You can't possibly go wrong with these for any purpose! I am convinced to finish out the rest of my system with all B&W speakers based on these alone!

My B&W 601 are played with NAD 314 amp, and NAD 512 CD player. Sound is good except annoying speaker resonance and boominess at certain low frequencies. I have tried different placement in my small room of 10' x 12', and tried to place away from walls corners, but problem persists. My speaker stand is Lovan 29", Kimber 4 VS biwire, and PBJ interconnect. Any kind soul with ideas to reduce the resonance? Thanks.

I have had the 602's for about 2 months, and just bought the CC6 and 601's for rears. After months of auditioning, I can say that I am very happy with my purchases. The CC6 sounds great to me, natural and accurate.
The 602's are accurate as well, balanced and more natural than any other speaker I auditioned. Just play Sinatra's New York, New York.

If you will use a sub, the 601's for front and rear will do an incredible job. The 302's are excellent, but the 601's sound more realistic to me (I plan to listen to 5.1 music, that's why I went with the 601's over 302's).

For me, I don't think I'll have any regrets in buying this system for the next ten years or so. I could have spent less, but then I'd always be thinking, "just not as good as the B&W's"!

B&W's latest slogan is true, "Listen, and you'll see". Even more so when you get them home!!

Final thought, are these the "best" speakers in the world? Of course not, but I ended up spending twice what I originally budgeted. Why you ask, two old sayings come to mind:

1. You get what you pay for.
2. Do it right the first time!!

Regards,
Zim

P.S. I would really rate these a four, but for the money and relative to other reviewers who rate too high IMHO, I have to give these a 5.