I am surprised that no one has mentioned this, but I believe there is somewhat of a minor flaw in these speakers. While they have a superb midrange, I don't like the vented enclosures B&W uses. I was very impressed with openness of these speakers in the listening room; I couldn't believe I was listening to a $600 speaker. But when I got them home and started going through my CD collection, I noticed that the bass ports are very noisy at even moderate volume levels with recordings with strong bass content. This effect was very noticeable with listening to some older reggae recordings by Lee Perry. The music doesn't use electronic bass, but the electric bass is forward in the mix.

Again at a moderate volume to cones moved wildly and I got a lot of noticeable distortion from the bass vent.

I've used klipsch speakers with a sealed enclosures for years with out these problems, and they were smaller speakers. Without a electronic crossover I believe these speakers would be nearly impossible to match to a subwoofer. I'm considering trading them.

I first compared these speakers to a pair of "old" B&W 601's and 602's and found the quality of the S2 speakers superior in terms of their musicality. Considering their bookshelf size the new 602 S2 have great bass, which to some people might seem lightweight. Ofcourse this is probably b/c of the tight quality, which isn't boomy AT ALL! I loved the new B&W 602 S2 since the first time I heard them. If you are planning on buying B&W 601/602's or even the CDM 1 I strongly recommend wait for the newer S2 series. They are worth the extra $100 or so if you have GOOD equipment. I particularly like playing jazz and classical through these good-looking speakers. I give them five stars without hesitation!

I first compared these speakers to a pair of "old"B&W 601's and 602's and found the quality of the new S2 602 speakers superior in terms of their musicality. Considering their bookshelf size the B&W 602 S2 have great bass, which to some people might seem lightweight. Ofcourse this is probably b/c of the tight quality, which isn't boomy AT ALL! I loved the B&W 602 S2 since the first time I heard them. If you are planning on buying the "old" B&W 601/602's or even the CDM 1SE's I strongly recommend saving your money for the S2 series. They are worth the extra $100 or so if you have GOOD equipment. I particularly like playing jazz and classical through these good-looking speakers. I give them five stars without hesitation!

I heard these new speakers in the store and was actually disappointed. I had heard the first series 602's and was impressed a while back, and so I had decided to return to audition and perhaps buy. The store was now carring the new Series 2 line and had no old ones to compare. While I really loved the imaging and clarity of reproduction, I felt the speakers were too bright and lacked transparency. Just for kicks I listened to the little 601 S2's and was stunned by their output! I highly recommend checking these out along side the new 602's.

What did they do!!!!! They took a product that was good and made it sound less appealing. I agree with Nick. I own the 601's and compared the series 2 and was very disappointed.

I listened to the entire 600S2 line up and found them to be less than desirable. The 604's had too much midbass bloat. They sounded congested at high volumes. I feel the CDM 7SE's blew the 604S2 away in clarity and tonality. The 602S2 sounded boxed in when compared with the CDM 1SE.Bottom line, the 600 series from B&W is the Bose of B&W.

[Editorial note: all prices in Canadian dollars.]
After looking at consumer reviews of loudspeakers at www.audioreview.com, I became TOTALLY confused as to which way to go. The problem with consumer reviews is that, with the large sampling of the audiophile population, you get lots of **good** reviews on all the speakers, as well as a small number of **negative** reviews. This applies uniformly across all makes and models. So, how do you decide??

Only by auditioning. Screw these consumer reviews - they're of no help whatsoever!! On Friday, I started my 48 hour auditioning marathon with essentially a blank slate - I had no idea what speaker might be good. My short list of speakers would be determined by the top stereo shops in Toronto...

EASTVIEW ELECTRONICS

I listened to the Energy e:XL25 floor-standing speakers. Soon, I had the sense that these speakers sounded like shit. Given all the good reviews of these speakers, I felt that something had to be seriously wrong. Maybe the room acoustics were bad (it wasn't the ideal listening room). Maybe the amplifier or CD player were crap. I dunno.

I asked to listen to the e:XL26 (the next model up), but they didn't have any. I'd have to go to Bay/Bloor to audition those speakers.

AUDIO EXCELLENCE

I listened to $900 Acoustic Energy floor-standing speakers. These British speakers sounded good, but they did not blow me away.

AUDIO ONE

The $1275 Paradigm Reference Studio 60 floor-standing speakers were the first ones to really impress me - for the price, they should! Good tight bass, mellow sounding. I noted that midrange vocals could be slightly sibilant, but overall they are excellent speakers.

BRACK'S ELECTRONICS

I listened to the $900 B&W 602 Series 2 bookshelf speakers. Bookshelf speakers tend to lack in the really low frequencies, so I was somewhat leery of these.

F-U-C-K. These speakers were goddamn amazing!!! I A/B'd them with equivalent Mirage speakers, and the B&W's just "blew me away." The technology used in the B&W 600 series are second to none in the world! This is why they sound so good.

For example, the attack on upper bass waveforms was so sharp, as I was listening to Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight, I literally jumped out of my seat!! No other speakers have ever done that to me! The clarity, soundstage, imaging, every aspect of these speakers is terrific.

Check them out at

http://www.bwspeakers.com/600_series2/dm602s2.html

GREAT METROPOLITAN SOUND

I listened to the $900 PSB Century 600i floor-standing speakers. In some respects, these speakers sound almost as good as the B&W's. This is a remarkable achievement, especially at this price.

BAY/BLOOR RADIO

I finally got to listen to the $900 Energy e:XL26 floor-standing speakers. Man, they still sounded like shit! The bass was muddy, the midrange was all over the place. Listening to these speakers was so excruciating, I had to cut the audition short - I just couldn't stand it anymore!

Understand, I was listening to these speakers in their sound room, because the rest of the store was so noisy on a Saturday afternoon. But it didn't help. Energy was, by far, the worst speakers I had auditioned during this marathon.

Here's an interesting note: both Energy and Mirage are manufactured by Toronto-based Audio Products International. It comes as no surprise, then, that the Mirage speakers sounded rather unimpressive at Brack's. Instead of dissing Energy and Mirage individually, perhaps I should be dissing Audio Products International - they make crap speakers.

------------
Canadian speakers are a mixed bag. The expensive Paradigm Reference speakers sound very good, their less expensive Monitor series sound like crap (so I've been told by Kromer Radio and Audio One). PSB Century sound good. Mirage sound okay and Energy sound like crap.

My first choice is British-made B&W. The runner-up is PSB. Although the speakers are **priced the same**, the complete set of home theatre speakers from B&W will cost twice as much as the set from PSB. This is because B&W's other home theatre components (the centre and surround speakers, as well as the subwoofer) are relatively expensive. I could cheap out and go for the PSB, but since these are probably the last speakers I will ever buy, and the price is affordable, if not cheap, it makes sense to go with the B&W.

Given the sound quality of the B&W, these are the best speaker bargains in the world (if you buy only the front speakers)! $900 B&W 602, $900 PSB 600i, $900 Acoustic Energy, $900 Energy e:XL26 - there is simply NO COMPARISON!!! And the B&W are clearly better than the $1275 Paradigm Studio 60.

[Editorial note: while it's not possible to use the same receiver at all the stores I visited, my favoured receivers were the Rotel RSX-965 (with B&W) and Nakamichi AV-10 (with Acoustic Energy, Paradigm and PSB). I will probably go with the Nak, because I also want their MB-10 CD changer.]

B&W DM602 SII
Auditioned with:

Sony DVP 7700 DVD player, Sony DD Receiver

After being mildly dissappointed by B&W's Nautilus 801s and seriously dissappointed by the Nautilus 804s, I did not know what to expect of the B&W 600 Series II, featuring enhancements derived from Nautilus technology. These big standmount speakers (the DM 602 Mk II) certainly looked good in the new cherry finish. I had a strong hunch though, that the B&W 602 SII would not dissappoint.

My first test disc, a disc of Motown hits that I use to assess vocal performance, revealed the articulate, "present" quality that I am used to hearing from B&W speakers. The Motown pieces revealed excellent resolution of diction. I was very impressed. More importantly, my feet would not stop tapping. The dense backing rhythms and arrangements were resolved beautifully.

A disc of Liszt piano works sounded "present" and pitch accurate. The piano tone reminded me of my own B&W P4s and sounded exciting and involving.

Furthermore, a disc of Schubert symphonies revealed good string definition, as well as a lack of harshness and fatigue in upper string registers. I found the performances very satisfying through the B&W 602 SIIs. The lack of "presence" and air detected in the N801 and N804 was nowhere in evidence. The B&W 602 SIIs sounded as "present" and involving as many B&W speakers of old, but curiously orchestral strings lacked the lower mid-range fullness of the Nautilus 800 speakers, perhaps because the 602s were not being driven by expensive, "audiophile" electronics (a case of the dealer showcasing his biggest "sale"). Nevertheless, the 602 mkIIs stood out.

To test bass rhythm and extension, I chose selections from jazz artist Kieko Matsui's album "Doll." These pieces feature deep, synthesized bass in dense, musically complex arrangements. Again, I was very impressed by the 602 MkII's performance. Unlike the Nautilus models, these pieces involved through the 602s. They dripped with "presence" (all that information about breathing, acoustic, etc. that helps music to sound authentic). I heard excellent rhythm and timing and excellent separation of the elements in the dense musical mixes. Very, very satisfying.

Finally, I ended the audition with Delos' recording of Dvorak's String Serenade, op.22. Like everything else that I had heard on the B&W 602 mkIIs, the String Serenades were very satisfying. The string tone displayed excellent texture and definition without becoming fatiguing and scratchy. Overall, strings sounded accurate and successful and more refined than past B&W models. Perhaps this is do to the "new" Nautilus tweeter technology. Anyway, it has been implemented brilliantly in the 602 design.

The "rebirth" of the DM602 as the DM602 SII is a job well done in my book. Bravo B&W! A good speaker has become great, with no real increase in price. That's what I call value. B&W deserves much praise for the way they consistently implement their "top of the line" technologies in their affordable ranges. The B&W DM602 Series II deserves every success.

Vocals (Motown Hits) *****
Good diction. Articulate. "Present." Like I am used to hearing

Piano (Liszt) *****
"Present." Pitch accurate. Involving. Like I hear with my P4s.

Upper Orchestral Strings (Schubert) *****
Smooth sounding. Good definition. Satisfying. Non-fatiguing. Slightly less lower mid-range fullness in comparison to N804, N801 probably source & amp related

Bass Rhythm and Extension (Keiko Matsui's "Doll") *****
Very "present." Involving. Excellent rhythm & timing. Transparent bass quality. Good separation of elements including bass in dense mix. Satisfying.

Upper Orchestral Strings (Dvorak) *****
Very satisfying. Non-fatiguing. Good string texture & definition. Accurate.

Build Quality *****

Looks *****

Value *****

Exceptional clarity. Strong Bass. Great imagining.

Could use a little more bottom end.

I searched long and hard for a speaker that I could use in my HT setup that would be great on movies and better on music. Let me say that the 602s2 blew me away. After listening to tons of speakers from NHT to Linn to M&K to you name it, I fell in love with the sound and appearance of the 600 series. Although my fiancee thinks they're too big I think they lend a beautiful aesthetic to our place.
Even she admits that movies are more enjoyable to watch.

Equip. List:
Rotel RSX 965
ATI-1505
Sony DVPS7700
Sony MD 930
B&W 602s2
B&W DS6
B&W LCR6
Velodyne CT180
Nordost Superflats
Monster 550i

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm

Exceptional Clarity paired with beautiful looks. I am in love with these speakers.

None

I absolutely love these speakers. The clarity is exceptional and the overall sound is excellent. Bass is just right, not "boomy" or "hollow," but a nice tight sound. Great for many different types of music, especially guitar sounds and complicated pieces.

Similar Products Used:

Altecs, Cambridge Sound Works