I auditioned these for fronts in a home theater set-up, but I played mostly music on the. I feel that the 602s are a large improvement over the 601s. Bass is much better. I felt the 602s had a somewhat warm sound, and were a little laid back for my tastes, and didn't seem very accurate. The highs and mids were okay, and the bass was fairly low for the speaker's size, but seemed rolled off. Like the entire B&W line, I found them totally inferior to NHT, in this case the 1.5. I also auditioned the Paradigm Monitor 3s and felt they were more accurate. But of the 3 speakers, the B&W had the most appealing bass. The 602s are one of B&Ws better speakers, along with the 802, but they just don't perform well for their price. A decent speaker, but there are better offerings.

After listening to a variety of bookshelf speakers, I opted for the DM 602's. Second best came Mission 732i. It is true that one can get better than the 602's (notably from the CDM range of the same company), but we must compare "apples with apples", The DM 602's offer in my view an OUTSTANDING VALUE FOR MONEY.
notes:
initial treble harshness improves as speakers "run in"
good stands are essential
vertical positioning is important

likes:
appearance with covers off, excellent mids and highs, good frequency response for the size
sound is dynamic and precise - voice in particular sounds good
great value for money
ports in front - can place nearer to a wall in smaller rooms

dislikes:
bass not precise, sounds cluttered sometimes
a bit large for bookshelves

my setup:
B&W DM602 speakers
Kenwood X1-range AV preamp and poweramp
good cable, interlinks, etc...

It was a difficult to by a really good sounding speakers at 500$ range,but i didit.B&W602s are very good for their price.Midrange is fine,high is a little weak,
but ok,bass is not bad.I compared them with Polks(RT&7),Infinity 2000.3 and they
are not even close to B&W.So i can easily recommend them to anyone.espesially for jazz listeners.Recently i have a Rotel RCD930AX cd player and RotelRA-970BX
integrated amp.Sorry for my English.

I'll keep this one short since there are so many reviews. . .For under 500 a pair, these speakers are outstanding. Of course a lot of people say "I would get ______ instead of the B&W 602's". But for most people who are audiophiles AND on a budget (poor college student) . . . you can't go wrong with these. Most of the speakers that people suggest are probably far more expensive.
Thats just my 2 cents.

This speakers--like its sister, the 601--are dynamic speakers.It means from silence to successive BAM, BAM, BAM on movie
soundtrack are quick, very quick. This traits are very desirable
for movie. In movie, this speakers simply excels, low and clean bass,
clear mid and hi treble. I find out, like the 601, it has
precise imaging, on "Batman & Robin" when Mr Freeze hit a policeman,
I feel that the impact sound some directly from my TV which
has no center channel, it is pretty awsome. For hometheater
application, I have no reservation to give it a 5 * rating
in $550.00 range speakers, or probably in sub $1000 class.

In music, the 602 also excels, it doesn't have a tigh bass
like the 601, nor the crystal clear tweeter, yet, overall
it is more preferable: much better soundstage, and better
imaging. It also sounds more effordless than its smaller
sister. No, it won't dissapear, like the best speakers in $5000 range,
but it hides well enough that you soon absords in music
and forget that it is physically there. Yesterday, I have
a chance to compares it to the Energy C6 with the same
CD Phantom of the Opera and same DEnon 3200. For music only the
floor standing C6 is probably better for some, for its well-behaved
sound, but it definitevely lack of dynamic, so snappy and sucessive
drum are not dramatic like the 602's.

This speakers are exellent for both music and theater at
the price of $550, it is simply unbeatable in its class.

Make sure you hear this one before deciding on any home
theater speakers, you are likely to end up with it and find
out that you don't need to pay an arm and leg for good sound.

Rating for movie: 5 *
Rating for music: 4 *

After owning and playing with these speakers for six months now, I feel like I'm ready to make a review.
It is amazing what you can make these speakers do. Extremely quick transients, very smooth sound, good imaging Even though this is in a budget price class, I wouldn't look at it at such. In order to make these speakers perform, you will have to have a strong foundation. IMHO, if you like the sound of and want to go with B&W 600 series, use the 602 speakers and these strategies.

1. Make sure to use a proper amount of amplification to these drive these speakers. They're are certainly not very efficient and require 80-100 quality watts to sound dynamic.

2. Make sure to use quality spiked stands to set the speakers on. If possible, fill the stands with sand and you can even try weighting the top of the speaker to make it as rigid as possible.

3. Position the speakers a least three feet away from the walls and toe them in slightly to the listening postion. These speakers have a very noticeable sweet spot. Speaker positioning makes a huge difference. My pair also opened up alot after you I got the into my listening room and out of the showroom.

3. Mate them to a quality powered subwoofer like the b&w asw1000 or velodyne f-1200. This is essential to supplement the lower bass frequencies that these speakers are lacking, in HT and music. The crossover in the sub will also clean up the sound coming out of the 602's.

4. Order and try using the foam tuning plugs that B&W uses for the 603 and 604. I personally use the lower density plugs and it makes a big difference - it tightens up the midbass, which this speaker used to lack somewhat, very noticeably and nicely. This upgrade really improved the sound of kick drums, kettle drums and HT explosions.

5. Make sure that the speaker cone screws are tight. I'm surprised at how many people don't do this. You will loose a lot if they are leaking at all.

6. Remove the dust covers when listening to. This makes the speaker sound ALOT more detailed.

7. Experiment with different CD players to find the sound you want. The B&W's a re a very neutral sounding speaker, which some people may dislike as "dull sounding". A bright sounding player such as the Marantz CD67SE will help this. Also you may want to experiment with different interconnects, if your dealer will let you do this, to get the upper frequencies right where you want them.

Overall, I believe that it is possible to make these speakers sound like much more expensive speakers. But it isn't going to be a budget approach. These speakers mated to a subwoofer are preferable to the more expensive 603 and 604's however.

Overall
Five stars with these modifications.
Four stars without because of the low cost.

I had these speakers at one point before I traded it in for the CDM 1s which I reviewed. While the general public and I, myself, like these speakers, there are some things I do want to point in the speaker.
The 602s sound like a B&W speaker: warm midrange; a little bumped up mid bass, and a "polite" top end. The first thing I noticed about the speaker was the bass. For a bookself speaker (admittedly, a rather large one--19 inches tall if I remember correctly), if broken in extensively, has an unusual amount of bass. I compared this speaker with the Paradigm Monitor 9 (which I own as well) and I could not believe how much output there was. Much more midbass was audible--it sounded like it was the floor stander! In addition, the speaker was pretty sensitive so it did not take a lot of watts before it became loud.

Female vocal recordings, I believe, are the best test for midrange. And again, B&Ws scored high. Still on the forward side, but not as much as the CDM 1s. Also the clarity, while absolutely no match for the more expensive speaker, was extraordinary for $500! Nothing I recalled at that price range had even close the clarity of the 602s. Bass was about equal to the former, but I thought it to have a little uneveness. I thought the CDM1 are a little better in the area in that the notes are a little better defined and extended despite the fact the 602s have a 7 inch midbass driver. But the treble is where the CDM 1s pull out two steps ahead. I really cannot fault the CDM 1's tweeter but in contrast, the 602s tweeter is not a detailed or controlled. The tweeter had some sort of edginess to it, not as much "air," and a "listen to me quality." While what I wrote may sound like a bad thing, it really isn't--I am just being critical. Definately acceptable to most people, but if you are sensitive to this fact I found the best way to listen to it is to have the 602s rather high up. So 24 inch stands are probably better for this speaker. I listened the 602s when I have the tweeters about 2 to 3 inches about my ear. There I got the best integration of the drivers and the most acceptable response.

Overall, this is a great speaker and I recommend it. Oh, one more thing, don't play these to loud as they harden up noticeably.

I NEED HELP FAST!!!!!!!!Anyone tested the Atlantic Technology 250 or 250.1 systems and compared them with the B&W 602's,302's and CC-6 speakers for music and home theater?

I need help! Do I get the B&W 602 or the NHT 1.5? Please e-mail me your thoughts. My primary goal is Home Theater with a little music thrown into the middle.

Compared them, in-store, with the Stereophile-acclaimed Energy C-2. Energys sounded dull and had no imaging by comparison. 602's are first rate in their price and size class. Image presents itself between the speakers AND OUTSIDE THE SPEAKERS very well (NO center-channel needed for home theater). These speakers are a gem for music with delicate-sounding instruments. You can clearly hear astounding detail in the decay of cymbals and bells. Voices are startlingly "there". Soundstage is even 3-dimensional (could be even better in my setup if I had a decent-sized room for placement away from walls) Bi-wire them for best sound. Removing the cloth grills makes a small improvement.
I still "audition" much pricier ($$$thousands) speakers at audio stores so thatI can keep patting myself on the back for having the 602's. Can anything you paid about $500 for be that much of a STEAL? Listen to your ears.