Clarity, soundstage, imaging, and warmth! Great sound even at very low volume. Base extension is pretty good for a bookshelf loudspeaker. Nice looking design, the vynal cover even looks like real wood from fairly close up.

Vynal cover on cabinet. But in this price range I would rather pay for better speakers and cabinets constuction than wood veneer covering.

I'm in love again for the first time in years! I thought I'd never find another set of loudspeakers that I could afford to replace my 25 year old JBL L36's. These will not rock your house when you have your 100 best friends over for a party. But, if you want to sit back and apreciate any kind of music at a reasonable volume, these are your speakers. I've speant much more on loudspeakers and have been very unhappy (namely Bose). You can not go wrong with these B&W DM 601 S3s. These have a warmth, clarity and soundstage rarely heard today. I think so many of the loudspeakers produced today sound flat and lifeless and are marketed more towards the home theater crowd than audiophiles. I can't say enough about my new love, except that I'm exstatic about them! You dont even need much power to get fantastic sound from them. I'm running them on a 10 year old 50 w.p.c Onkyo reciever and they sound fantastic. Yes, I have a larger system in another room but these are for my bedroom and work perfect. Get a pair, you wil love them too!

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I have owned JBL, Bose, and Polk Audio loudspeakers, and have extensively auditioned dozens more name brands.

Highs, mids, lows, and everything in between.

Price (thats about it though)

Bought these speakers a couple of months ago and haven't looked back. The sound quality of these speakers is great. The highs are clear and noise/distortion free. The mids are velvety if a little bit thin. The bass is good considering the driver size (6.5in). The fit and finish is excellent; i get many comments about the sexiness of these speakers ("they look expensive!" etc) My only complaint is that these speakers are a tad expensive. Its hard sometimes to justify the extra 50 dollars you spent at first, but once these speakers break in things become clearer. Speaking of which, the break in time is a little steep, and you really need an amp that pushes the max output to get adequate sound out of these speakers (<50w the bass is full of distortion)

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JBL, Niles, Klipsh, Sony

a very good an depp bass in combination of a strong high range sound section

the speaker are only 25-100watt and my receiver is 75-125 watt so i have to look out that i don't turn mij volume to hard but the sound it selve is good no bad points for me

the price is in euro's 188 euro is around 170 dollar the speakers are great they are my first good speakers for a higher class. for the price that i paid for thes thing the sound great in i din't expect less from them in my home theater i use an : yamaha rx-v630rds yamaha dvd-s830 b&w dm 601 s3 x4 b&w lcr60 s3 b&w asw 675

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nope these are my first

Surprising improvement in treble quality and bass (nice bottom end until the M&K kicks in !). Solid construction and big sound from a 'small' box. Look great in 'Calvados' finish ! I gave these 5 out of 5 as these were compared to a friends Rogers speakers costing three timesthe price and for the money these win hands down ! And yes, they were compared on the system described above. And they sound great with analog & digital sources !

Er, none ? Oh wait, please B&W can you stick with 4mm banana plugs that have NOT been blanked out ? I had this problem with my DM601 S1's and had to resort to spades. At least with this model the edge of the plastic mould surrounding the binding posts has been tapered/angled in such a way to allow side entry but you can't use cables with chunky 4mm connectors.

Well where can I go from here but up ? I have had these speakers for a little over a week now and having been an avid listener of B&W products for over six years I must say that this is probably these last set of loudspeakers that I will buy (at least for now !). For the purpose of this review I will compare these speakers with my previous purchases, the B&W DM601 S1 (now sold) and the DM601 S2 (to be relegated to the rear channels when I finish building my HT system !). Well I thought that the S2's were a significant upgrade on the S1's however nothing prepared me for the S3's ! After auditioning these against the DM602.1 (which sounded too dry & a bit 'lean')and the DM602 S3 (discounted for the same reasons provided by 'mediahound' in his review, see below) I opted for these babies, and wow what a treat they are ! First, with well recorded music and qulality source equipment these speakers will withstand several upgrades, secondly there was an improvement not only in the bass but B&W have really dome their homework with the Nautilus-style tweeter technology as treble, on female vocals say is especially s-w-e-e-t (ie. controlled & distortion-free) without the slight harshness one usually associates with some CD's when reproducing music at high frequencies. Wheras the previous models really rode on the quality of the mid/bass driver, the latest version of these speakers sound more coherent with improved tonality and overall balance (and they play all types of music, wheras the previous edition couldn't quite reproduce large-scale orchestral or classical tracks). Now the really good news, after running these in for about a week I really put them to the test with the Region 1 release of 'Blade 2', and boy can these speakers rock when it comes to HT ! I had the dial at 1:00 on my system and every sound effect was reproduced clearly and without any discernable distortion ! Remember what I said about these babies being able to withstand several upgrades ? Basically these speakers are the only components changed on my system in the last 2-3 years (I am now saving for a 3-ch power amp & processor for HT), which is as follows: Pre-amp AudioLab 8000S Pwr-Amp Myryad MA-240 Sub-Woofer Miller & Kriesel V-125 DAC MSB LinkDac MkIII CD Denon DCD-1015 DVD Pioneer DV-535 Tuner Denon Tu-235RD Turntable Systemdek 2X2/RB300/

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B&W DM601 S1, B&W DM601 S2, Athena Aoustics A2, Rogers LS6a, Tannoy Mercury M1's (just for fun !), all auditioned on the above system

Bass is a surprise, really good highs. Styling is quite nice.

Not as precise as the other B&W lines. (remember $360, WOW)

I'm currently using these speakers in a 7.1 surround setup they are my side and back speakers matched with B&W Naut. 804 as main spkr and a B&W HTM-2 for the center. I'm running this with an Onkyo TX-DS787 and Onkyo external amp for back 2 speakers (don't laugh) it sounds amazing. Also, using a Velodyne SPL1000 for the sub. I really had a tough time deciding whether to spend the money on the B&W CDM1NT or go the less expesive route 601 S3 for the surrounds. When I first saw them, I thought B&W had put a shine on a piece of junk. I was very wrong. I have to say I was impressed with the 601 S3 speakers. They do require a small break in period, for me approx 30 hours. Incredible sound for a pair of $360 speakers. What a great speaker!

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JBL, Ohm, Mission

Clean, clear, tight bass, Good construction, appearance, warranty

I purchased these speakers after trying out the 601 series 2. My thinking was I would buy the 601 series 2 which were cheaper and trade up to the 602's within the year anyway. After listening to the 601 series 2 I realized that these speaker are just amazing and I may not upgrade to the 602s afterall. So I went back the next day and bought the 601 series 3 and have had no regrets. the sound is very detailed and clear. I am hearing new sounds from CDs that I have been playing for 12 years. All my friends are amazed when they hear them and after hearing several speakers myself I have to say these are very good. They are a tad expensive, but 5 year warranty and you are paying for quality. I am using a Harman Pa2200 Power amp, Harman Citation 21 Pre-amp and Sony SACD player. I am not a real freak for sound, but I am amazed each time I turn on my system. I would recommend these speakers and after hearing other B&W models can say that they all sound very very good.

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Tannoy, Infinity

Clarity of treble, crispness of midrange and overall balance of sound. bass is good... though 602 sounds bigger (gee, it is!) i like the 601.

NONE. NUN. NADA. ZILCH. ZERO. ZIP. SQUAT. There, I've listed ALL the faults.

This is a follow up. Now my 601's are fully run in... Very nice indeed. I'm going to get a Marantz 5 disc changer and a good pair of analog interconnects (using digital uses the onkyo DAC - i will try the digital but will probably prefer the Marantz DAC better ;) ). Really looking forward to my next component now. Also, do your ears justice... get original and well recorded cd's - The sound is far superior to mp3's and burned cd's. anyway... very good speakers with fantastic clarity and (now better due to 60 hours running in) very articulate bass. I don't use the sub much anymore. I will probably go for an LCR60? rather than LCR600 as the 600 is big (which is good for surround sound music). I might also get 2 more 601's for rears because i like 'em sooo much... the 603's are awesome Home theatre mains (albeit at twice the price)

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nothing better for the price.... mission 780, jbl....all listed in other review.

I used to have Wharfedale Diamond 8.3's but within 2 months time, I upgraded to the DM601 S3. I use it with a Marantz SR7200 receiver and I'm totally happy with it. I hear details and highs that I didn't with the Diamonds. Bad recording sounds bad as well. The build is really first class. It also matches my LCR60 center perfectly. Unbelievable sound when listening to vocals, acoustic, jazz, R&B, etc. It's very capable of playing 96khz/24-bit material.

GREAT HIGHS AND MIDS.

Can be a little too generous on bass,but nothing a little adjustment couldnt fix

These speakers have worked wonders on my system.A great addition to any sytem that seeks great highs and mids as well as great deep frequencies. I put them against an angled wall and it seemed like the sound just went around me,they really filled the room with great sound. The nautaulis tweeter does not lack a bit,clear sounding especially to the Eagles "Hotel Califronia",it really made it sound like I was right with the guitar player.Im also excited to hook up the bi-wire and really hear the difference,and Im sure there will be.I just hooked it up with my B&W ASM-300 sub and the sound is just incredible.I have it hooked up to an old NAD stereo amplifier and sounds perfect so I know the sound will sound even better when I buy the Denon 1803 receiver.A great speaker for any system,bottom line.

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Polk,Mission,Acoustic Research.

Imaging, detail-especially lower level impressive dynamics-good, even tonality once broken in, they totally open up once biwired

Not much, rolled off bass? they're only bookshelf speakers!!!! buy a sub if you want more bass!

This review may be a little bit different from other reviews posted on these great little speakers, but I think it will be helpful nonetheless. To begin, I'm not going to go into much detail of the *other* speakers I auditioned while searching for my new speaks. A brief list though: Tannoy, PSB, Paradigm, JBL (I had read several favorable reviews...don't believe the hype!!!), KEF, Mission, JM Lab Micro Utopias (just for fun), Def-Tech, Klipsch, MB Quart, the list goes on. Anyway, these B&W's were replacing a much beloved pair of PSB Alpha A/V's. For those not familiar with Alpha's, they're dirt cheap (I'm a college student), they sound pretty darn good, and match well to most mid-fi components, highly recommended for bargain-bassment-budget entry level speakers. The most noticable areas that the PSB's are lacking in are detail and soundstaging. So I began my search for a pair of bookshelfs with better imaging, greater detail, but still having a good deal of even tonality (something the Alpha's are suprisingly good at). After much research and a good bit of auditioning, I came to the B&W 601 S3's. My first impressions were that these speakers are a bit bright, with a knack for revealing a bit too much about poor recordings and weak components. But even during my first audition, they seemed to capture voices like nothing I had heard otherwise. One of my *test* CD's is a singer named Lamb, a female vocalist backed by a DJ who plays upright bass. The 601's were spot on, if a little edgy, but a welcome change from my laid back Alpha's-exciting is a good way to describe their sound. Soundstaging was nice and broad, deep and very tangible. Impressive for a pair of sub $500 bookshelfs. Warning: these speakers require patience, it took over 50 hours for them to break in. However, the sound is much worth the wait. After bi-wiring with AudioQuest Type-4's (external bi-wire), detail is even greater, and after breaking in, a lower treble sweetness becomes the dominant character of these speakers, very smooth and non-fatiguing. To sum up: be patient, take them home-that is, don't go on just the in store demo. Also, although they aren't perfect, at the sub-$500 price point the 601's do way less wrong and much more right than much of the competition. Highly recommended speakers!!!

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Tannoy, JBL, PSB, Paradigm, Kef, Klipsch, others