Transparency, detail, midrange, biwirable

For the price none.

This speaker is the best in its price range. It provides enough transparency to show differences between cables and interconnects. The characteristics of source equipment and amplifiers comes through with these babies. It is good for both audio and HT applications. A truly versatile monitor indeed.

The sound is dynamic, crisp and detailed. I find the bass impressive for a speaker this size, it’s fast and articulate, not boomy unlike some floorstanders. I would say that bass is decent enough compare to speakers in the same league.

Midrange is sweet and haunting, Diana Krall, Rebecca Pidgeon and Jennifer Warnes sounds luscious through the B&W 602. Crooner Frank Sinatra’s voice is a close to the real thing: reminiscent, regretful, melancholic with a touch of sadness in his voice.

Compared it to Heybrook, AE speakers. Forgot the models. Heybrook is ok but bass is weaker than B&W. AE has good bass, (just like the review says) better than B&W but got clobbered by B&W’s midrange presentation.

You have to spend at least twice to better the performance. If you are looking for a speaker, give this one an audition before spending megabucks on other models. If you are on a budget, this is definitely it.

Do these speakers justice by listening to it with the grilles off. It sounds way better! Looks good too.

Bryston B-60
Rotel RCD 971
MSB Link DAC III
DH Labs BL 1 S2
Monster Datalink 100 Digital Cable
Radio Shack megacable (waiting for delivery of T-14 biwire, performance should be a big improvement from Radio Shack)
B&W 602 S2
Custom made sand filled speaker stands on spikes

Great Image, Fantastic Sound for the price, Easy placement and low enough reqierments for amplification. Small price for what they offer, excellent build.

Need stands, won't work well without. The bass is weak, but ideal for use as surround. A bit big.

Ideal choice to make for temporary front speakers, until you save money for the 604s! A bit big, but preety loud. Extremely well built. if you use four for home cinema only, be sure to get a subwoofer and LCR6 S2! It works great with the 602s

Similar Products Used:

Infinity alpha 30

Quality build and decent lows from a bookshelf speaker, value, looks

break-in time

The 602's are solid performing speakers with tight, accurate sound reproduction and an impressive soundsatage. While auditioning them, I heard a little bit of a crackle at the high end, but as an eventual owner, I've come to love them more and more in the few months that I've listened to them. Excellent performance for their size and cost.

Similar Products Used:

Totem Mite, Mission

hi & mid

none so far

Those speakers are great. You can't beat The price & the quality of B&W

Similar Products Used:

601 s2

Quality, warranty, and of course sound!

None to think of

After looking at various speakers at the local electronics stores, I was referred by audiophile to a couple high end stores. I didn't think I would be able to purchase anything there after hearing how much he has spent. I though Bose were high end...then I learned. I ended up getting the B&W 602's. For just a bit more money, they filled up the room much better than the 601's. I would say this is one of the best speakers out there at this price range. Of course, it really depends on the listener. However, this is hands down so much better sounding than the Bose system I was going to get. Thanks Audioreview for your service in helping me make better decisions on my equipment!

Similar Products Used:

Bose, Infinity, Klipsch

GREAT sound, good on the low end, beautiful highs, nice build, have some weight to them (don't vibrate all over the place).

These are very picky about placement. Not the smallest bookshelf speakers in the world. Break in period rivals my car's break in time.

I'm completely sold on the B&W 602's. I love the speakers. I was going to go with a pair of Dynaudio Audience 50's, but the B&W's blew them out of the water. Heck, they rival my 1.3's in terms of sound. You have to be extremely careful on placement. I found that in my room (a dorm room approx. 12X12), if I place them about 7 feet apart, 2.5 feet from the ground, 12-18" from the wall, angled in slightly, they sound perfect from 6-10' away. I usually sit pretty close, so the soundstage gets slightly warped (when you're sitting 2 feet away). The soundstage on these is funky. That's the best I can describe it. If you are off on positioning, they sound decent. But if you position them right and get in the middle of the soundstage, they sound magical. For the price, they blow everything else away.

They do have a long long break-in period. I've owned mine over a month and I'm STILL trying to get them broken in (I listen about 10 hours a week).

Associated equipment:
Yamaha VX-777 receiver
Nakamichi DR-10 Tape Deck
Pioneer 602 (for the tuner and plentiful inputs, not to mention the remote).
Panasonic DVD player which functions as a CD player.
Audioquest wires, don't ask me which brand.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Contour 1.3MKII, horrible Aiwa shelf system.

Superb value - Excellent dynamic range, build quality, looks, clarity

None at this price

I purchased the 602’s (new S3 model) after hearing very good things off a friend who has the 602’s and 604’s (S2) in a home cinema setup.
He thought that the 602’s were a better speaker for a small-mid sized room. I gave the units a demo in a shop, and bought them straight away I was so impressed.
According to several reviews I read the S3’s are meant to be substantially better than the S2’s (although I didn’t get a chance to sample the S2’s (which were also very well recieved) for myself.

Before buying the 602’s I was using a pair of Soundcraft Absolute 2 studio monitors, which whilst budget (around the same RRP as the DM602’s) gave a tremendous clarity to the midrange and treble – they really didn’t have ANY bottom end though and hence the sound wasn’t very full.

As stated by other reviewers, initially the treble is very harsh on these speakers, but give them 10+ hours and they start to smooth out.

I use the speakers in my bedroom, which isn’t the most acoustically perfect room – painted walls, floor boarding, and space dictating that both speakers are positioned only 1-2 feet from the room corners and at most 1foot from the rear wall.

As a result of the above without the foam bungs, I get quite severe boomy bass, which isn’t too annoying for pop / dance but loses needed resolution on double bass for jazz - on the other hand with the bungs in, although the bass is tighter, some of the midrange is cut off, and the sound is less natural. As the speakers sound fine in a decent room away from a wall, has anyone suggestions toi improve things? (Would carpet on the walls behind the speakers help? Or carpet under the spiked stands or even on the backs of the speakers help?!?).

IMHO, compared to the KEF 35.5’s that I also own, the DM602’s are superior. They can reach lower down without distorting even though the KEF’s are floor standers. Bass is more than adequate (I prefer bass on the lean side after using my Absolute 2’s for so long). Treble is also improved over the KEF’s; indeed I think the higher ranges are the 602’s forte.

The 602's out shine the Missons I demoed on every count - the Missons seemed to have very wooly, boomy bass and a muffled top end.

Whilst these speakers are not the best speakers out there - for the money, I think one would be hard pressed to find anything that delivers the mixture of sonic quality, power and build quality at this price point.

I am still undecided whether to bi-wire yet or not, and they still have a bit to go on breaking in, so improvements are still happening. Even after about 30-40 hours use, they are clear enough to differentiate different recording qualities on most CD’s (apart from mic-less electronic music).
I suppose this touches upon a deeper audiophile issue as to weather hi end audio actually makes music sound worse by exposing recording weaknesses! i.e. most CDs have something wrong - recording hiss, too much treble/bass etc, which is exposed with higher quality equipment

BTW in the US they seem to retail at around the £400, which makes them a bit less of a bargain than in the UK.


NAD C370
ARCAM CD72
B&W DM602 (S3)
QED KUDOS wire

Similar Products Used:

Kef 35.5,
Soundcraft Absolute 2's
Misson M73

Good sounding speaker in price range. Controlled midrange and base.

This speaker is far from poor sounding but it does not seem to have the openess of the Totem or Paradigm Studio 40.

In searching for a set of speakers I auditioned all the above mentioned speakers several times. I narrowed this down to the B&W 602 and Paradigm Studio 40 which I thought where two of the best all round sounding speakers of the group. In the end I went with the Paradigm Studio 40 as it seemed to have more open sounding highs and slightly better base.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Studio 40, Totem Mite, Energy XL26, Paradigm Monitor 7, PSB Image Series

Great midrange, Highs and tight musical bass.

None that I have found so far.

This speaker is excellent. I have them biwired with audioquest type 4 cable. They only get better with time. Smooth highs and punchy mid. Very open sounding. I would buy them again in a heartbeat.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601, CC6S2

Great midrange, Highs and tight musical bass.

None that I have found so far.

This speaker is excellent. I have them biwired with audioquest type 4 cable. They only get better with time. Smooth highs and punchy mid. Very open sounding. I would buy them again in a heartbeat.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601, CC6S2