Bought the 601's on reviews from this page , catalog, and store test of DM 603, (which I couldn't afford) . Last speakers I bought were Bose 601 Series II , 24 years ago, so it's hard to compare. I don't have to use any equalizers anymore to achive crispness. I would recomend them to anyone who wants to hear cyrstal clear music, and doesn't want to blast. I will get a sub for my system to make up for the 601's lack of deep base. For the price, they are worth it.

I compared the 601s to Kef Q15s, Energy's, Mirage, NHTs, etc., and found that they were the cleanest and most even across all types of music. Personally, I definitely favor British neutrality in my speakers (these replaced Mordaunt-Short 25TIs) and the B&W's epitomized this. The big test, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (KV 622), a piece that has brought much more expensive speakers to their knees. The B&Ws did an admirable job on the clarinet overtones (same for a Vivaldi Oboe Concerto) and acquitted themselves nicely on a range of pieces from Verdi to Dire Straits to Billie Holliday.
Matched up with a CCM6 center channel, a Mirage bi-polar sub and Mordaunts as surrounds, they make a great HT setup as well. In the price range, I found nothing better (and they were as good as many speakers costing twice as much or more).

The B&W DM 601 are the best small speaker in this price range by far. I compared them head-to-head with the Paradigm Mini Monitor, the PSB 300i and 400i, Snell KIII, the Event 20/20 and the Tannoy Reveal. The 601 was the most transparent of all the speakers I listened to and unlike the others (Snell excluded) is bi-wireable or bi-ampable. The low end is dead silent, while many of the other speakers had resonances or port noise with low organ music. The highs are clear and airy without ever sounding strident. Very accurate and a pleasure to listen to.

Clear sound, durable construction (kevlar cones), good solid midrange and even low end base. Not very expensive.

None

These are incredible speakers for the money. I highly recommend them for someone who is just getting into home theater. I consider them high quality speakers that I plan on having as my main speakers for a long time. I also got the CC6 center chanel which is also a very good small to medium sized center channel speaker. I couldn't be happier with theses speakers.

While on vacation in Florida (old stomping grounds)I decided to audition a pair of bookshelf speakers for my computer room.I went to the local Sound Advice, a name I knew & trusted.The salesman showed me the new model "which costed more" & the only real difference is the pointy dustcap on the woofer.He then showed me the old model,DM601s which I started to listen to.I was immediately impressed with there sound quality but decided to test them with some "of my music",ie,(Sting,Parsons,Floyd,ect).A good recording to test "any speaker"is Pink Floyd's(High Hopes)off (The Division Bell)cd."I played this song on a yamaha 2095 at about half volume"in a very large room,about 25x25'.I did not notice any of the cabinet resonence's as mentioned in some reviews,but there was some slight break-up in the bass.True these speakers on not big on bass,but they have a excellent presence,& produce good detail & decent bass.I have them hooked up to a Denon AVR600 & a Advent sub,& have tried them through the sub high pass & full range from the receiver.I am going to hook them back up through the high pass as it gives them "much more headroom",letting the sub handle the bass.I give them a definite 5 on sound quality & 4 on build quality.But at this price ($300+tax)build quality is better than a lot of speakers.

small size

harsh, nasal sounding midrange, weak bass

I just traded my 601s for 602s. When I first auditioned the 601s, I thought they sounded more accurate than the 602s - especially the upper bass. I mated them with a good powered sub and in my smallish listening room, I thought I had pretty balanced sound until I had a direct comparison with a couple of pairs of reference grade speakers. The B&Ws sounded shameful. Thin highs, nasal midrange and weak bass, with an untameable peak in the upper bass range that gives the illusion of extended range. The extreme lows were taken care of nicely with my sub but the overall hollow sound had me scambling for an upgrade. The 602s have a more laid back sound and fill in the mid-bass nicely. I suspect the 601s could greatly benefit from a crossover mod as there seems to be some confusion between the driver and the tweeter in the upper mids - this creates a bite that'll get inside your head pretty quickly if you're listening at louder levels. This also causes and edginess in the upper mids that I initially interpreted as good detail. The 602s are softer and perhaps give up some detail. It's a trade-off I'm willing to live with for a while. Once I became aware of the thin midrange in the 601s, I just couldn't enjoy them any longer. I'll give them a 3 and the 602s a 3.5 or 4.

Similar Products Used:

DM602

I purchased these speakers for $340.00 and I'm currently using them for my surrounds and I am very satisfied with the overall performance. I thought for the price they are well worth it and they would make a great pair of mains!! If your deciding wheather to buy these or the 602's and your also in the market for a subwoofer, go with the 601's and use the difference to purchae a quality sub.

This speaker is pretty good for the buck. I auditioned against the 602 and 302. The 601 seemed more warm, open, and accurate than the 302. Overall it was better than the 302 except for the fact that it sounded warmer, which some enthusiasts might not like. The 601 sounded pretty much like the 602, but the 602 had a more open soundstage and had more depth than than the 601. I think that the mid-bass quality in all of these models needs to be more apparent and the tweeters are not convincing when reproducing large symbol crashes. I'm not a bass-head, but these speakers really need a good sub-woofer. Anyway, these are excellent for the buck and detail well.

Great Sound/ clear/ this is a new way to listen to sound conpaired to PS/13 crisp

none

THe 601 are front speakers and 302 are rear and I shopped for the better 2 wks. and B&W was the best to my ear I found and even better now there at home!

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PS13

Excellent mid to high range resolution. Biwireable.

confused low end. Tweeter a bit bright and harsh at times.

I bought these to replace ageing Phase Techs. The 601's good high end is a double-edged sord; excellent high frequency resolution and detail are great but at the same time it can impart listening fatigue quickly. I suspect the Rotel CD player is partly responsible. Playing analogue sources dampens those tweeters a bit. However, when compared to the Tannoys they just don't throw as big and coherent soundstage. I think the 601's are better suited for HT or small listening rooms. The Tannoys at roughly half the price are a much better buy.

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy Mercury M2, Phase Tech PC 60