Very full, even sound with true clarity and crispness without harshness.

Is there such a thing as TOO much good sound?

I'm still breaking these in but so far, I'm very impressed.

I purchased these in mind for a home theater system as main fronts. My goal was to find a speaker great for classical music ond for movies. I figure any speaker that can faithfully reproduce the detail and power of a Mahler symphoy can handle just about anything. In this aspect, the 602's are Gold.

In the show room, these blow the 601's out of the water but I was mildly concerned with the sound envelope. In that size room (20 by 20) it was a little difficult to find that sweet spot where the sound takes on that special third dimension but when I got them into my small room (12 by 12) my concerns evaporated the moment I turned them on. Wow!

The low end acuracy and realism leaves me with little desire for a sub-woofer. I fear that anything but the absolute best (and likely most expensive) sub-woofer would just add mud to the sound.

The mid-range is clear and present but perhaps lacks that "goosebump" quality sometimes desired. Maybe bi-wiring will help. I would actually like to know more about the concept of bi-wiring and what it actually does.

The tweeter is very crisp and detailed yet comforably soft for very easy listening. My ears do not get tired quickly with these.

I'm as picky as I can be with limited funds and the B&W 602's are rare gems.

Strong Bass, Crystal Tweeter, Female Voice Specialle! These are beautiful B&W loudspeakers. Very strong across the range. Featuring a very good db rating that rivals old klipsch Tangent, these are a beauty to behold. I am an avid listener, I am 24 and played for an orchestra when I was 17. I am proud to own these.

Low end. You must have a sub like a JM lab or a Mirage to run with these my Sub is a Mirage BPS 220. Musical and wonderful on the low end

Honestly... I love these speakers above even JM Labs! I have listened to them at J&A Stereo. Very flat speakers let me tell you however liveliness in JM Labs is plain FLAT. I can't find any except that they reproduce sound as they exist, it sounds like a wannabe.

Similar Products Used:

I have tried a variety of products that my dad has purchased... Bose Series 6 901's 2 sets stacked! Klipschorns. Paradigm Reference. Infinity Reference.

Goregeous mids

Too precise for medeocre recordings

After quite a bit of searching, I finally found a good used pair that were already broken in off of e-bay. Matched with my Marantz SR5200, I wanted to cry after putting on some classical music for the first time. The sound reproduction of classical and modern jazz is wonderful and at the right volume feels more realistic than most Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concerts I've been to at Heinz Hall (although I'm usually cheap enough to sit in the back). The mids are absolutely goregeous, although I can understand why others might claim it is too bright. The base isn't overwhelmingly boomy which is good for my apartment (and neighbors).

For rock, they aren't as nice as my JBL S38s although it is probably because I listen to too much grindcore, indie, hardcore and other low quality recording genres where a speaker that reproduces too much detail is a bad thing. It does a good job at high volumes.

I have an odd shaped room (20x20x14x10, a corner cut out) and the sound does fill the room. I get a bit of interference when placed near the TV (since the series 1's are not shielded) and I don't have them bi-wired (just using monster xp cable).

These things are comparable to the $1200 monitors I use at the radio station where I do some production and DJ work.

Here is the setup:
Receiver: Marantz SR-5200
Fronts: B&W 602
Center: JBL S-Center
Rears: JBL S38
CD/DVD: X-box (digital connects via advanced av pack optical cable), or PC with sb-live and real-magic DVD card
Cable: Monster XP

-Alan

Similar Products Used:

JBL S38

I recently auditioned two systems for home theater (Yamaha RX-V2092 receiver - forgot the DVD player):
1) fronts - NHT1.2, center and surrounds - NHT SuperOnes
2) fronts - B&W 602, center - B&W CC6, surrounds - B&W 601

The NHT speakers were nice but different sounding than the B&W speakers. I find myself leaning towards the B&W system as it sounded a little more crisp with more punch in the bass than the NHT system. The 602s definitely have a fair amount of bass for a speaker of its size. I found NHT SuperOnes lacking in bass, which would need to be paired with a good sub woofer. I auditioned the B&W setup with and without a subwoofer. I can say that the B&W setup could definite be used without a subwoofer (although I will be getting one - looking into HSU TN1225HO). The 602s retail for $550, but I found a store in Los Angeles selling B&W speakers around 15% below retail.

I highly recommend the 602s as part of a home theater system. I would advise anyone to audition before purchasing any speakers :)

I found these speakers to be decent, but not a particularly good value. As a ported design, the bass response was fuller than other speakers in this price range, but less precise. Midrange was a bit fat, and imaging was pretty good, but left something to be desired for this price. I believe the NHT 1.5 blows this speaker away in terms of midrange quality and imaging. The NHT's sound is much more refined and less "boxy." In this respect, I strongly disagree with a previious reviewer. If I were to compare this speaker with an NHT speaker, I would compare it with the SuperOne, at half the price.

I listened to these briefly the other day. B&W is not precisely my cup of tea (which is not to say that their product is anything less than excellent), so I moved on to the Vandy's. But I gotta say, if you are looking for speakers in the $400-$600 range, you *need* to audition these. In a short audition, I found myself favoring them over the ($1,100) B&W CDM1s. I don't know that an extended comparison would bear that judgement out, but the CDM1s are nowhere near twice as good as the 602's. For the size, for the money, the 602's put out impressive bass, are accurate in the mids and highs, and are overall, nicely balanced.
To reiterate. Do not lay out $500 on speakers until you've heard the 602's.

Wonderful speakers not only in its price range, it outshines many speakers costing way way above. I can only say that it plays music as MUSIC! The right amount of treble, bass, nuances, etc... music just ebbed by. This is a neutral speaker, and if u like natural music, get this one.
My setup consists of Audiolab 8000S amp, Marantz CD-63SE CD player, Nordost Super Flatline Gold (bi-wiring pair), and Audioquest Topaz interconnects.

My system consists of the following,
Marantz SR-870
Denon DCM-360
Toshiba VCR
Audire amplifier
Dayton Wright Pre-amp

This setup see's both music and hometheater use. But my first concern is with
music performance. Originally I used a pair of Defenitive Technology BP-8's.
At the time I beleived these were the best speakers in there price range and
what was available. To be fair I was just entering the world of Hi Fi. So I should have known from first listen that the boomy bass that seemed midly impressive would only serve to muddy the entire range. If I had to describe these bipolar speakers I would say that they have uncontrollable bass(with my equipement) and acceptable highs with unacceptable unsatisfying mids.

In comes the 602's. These speakers have it all. Detailed highs, sweet mids and tight bass. All this, and at a lower price than the BP-8's. I was able to purchase them for 550.00 can. Sitting on 24 inch Lovan stands these speakers absolutely blow the BP-8's away. The whole range seems much more balanced than the Def Techs. I only noticed a slight improvement when bi-wired, but still an improvement. They sound slightly bigger, soundstage wise. They seem to be well built with very nice gold connecting posts. These speakers do put out some bass.
But really need and sound better with a subwoofer.

I auditioned several pairs of bookshelf speakers as replacements for my 12 year old a/d/s/ L470/2's. Included were NHT Super Zeros, One's and 1.5's, the PSB alpha and 300i, the Mirage 290i's and 595i's and finally the B&W 302, 601 and 602.
The NHT's are very nice, however a they all seem to need a subwoofer to really sound full. Same for the B&W 302, 601 and PSB alpha's. The alpha sounded nice, but the construction quality seemed below the others considered (spring clip terminals and a screwed on back, non-removable grill, etc.). The Mirage dealer did not offer any price break over list in addition to being quite arrogant. Also, I was uncertain about having sufficient room to have the 595i dipolar system sound as it should. The 290's were OK but not as pleasing as the 602's; same for the PSB 300i's.

That left the B&W DM602. Without a sub it has decent bass and by far the best mid-range of the group when sitting on good 24" stands. As I listen mostly to classical and vocal music these seemed the best choice to my ears.

I was shopping for B&W's since I was in grade eight, my girlfriends dad had a pair, and there was a blind kid next door. I remember he used to come over and listen for hours on end. I finally found a shop that carried them, and debated for months on end on whether to spend the $650 bucks. I compared then to pardigm (signature series), dayton Wright, boston, polk(Costing four times as much), and a $8000 pair of energy's. nothing came close. I'm running a NAD 512 CD player, A Harmon Kardon amp (PM655 an older one), and the B&W's. I've never heard anything like the natural vocals and brilliant brass they produce. Best bang for the buck bar none. PS Try Sarah maclachlan on them her voice is incredible