great with music and movies especially jazz

too laid back for rap music

I've been listening to these babies for about two years now and I don't have too many complaints. For the money you just can't do any better, if you can please let me know.During auditioning I had my sales person switch speakers back and fourth between the 602s and the 705s during that time I had my eyes closed not knowing what speaker was what and I choose the 602s. I couldn't believe it and done it two or three times more. I agree with one of the past writers on his review that B&W beat thenselves on this speaker its too good for the money. I have these speakers hooked with a good system consisting of a B&K Ref 50, Rotel RMB1075, Denon 3910 dvd, B&W600 series speakers & sub and have no desire to change speakers.When friends & family come by the house they are amazed by how good the system sounds. The 602s shine their best with two channel music with so much detail and warmth I love the way jazz sounds. The bass is clean & tight not being to boomy and the highs & mids just relax me to the point that I don't want to move.I don't like to tell folks how much I paid for them because I know they think they cost alot more.They sound that good. I had Polk Audios before these that cost twice the price that sounded pretty good with movies ,but not good with music.The B&Ws blow them away. I highly recommend these speakers especially those on a budget, I hate the word budget when it comes to these speakers because they don't have a budget sound they sound very expensive.

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Athenas S1,S2 Polk Audio rti 1000s and 2000s

Sound Quality.

Box construction without separate tweeters lack character visually.

I auditioned Klipsch, Paradigm, KEF, Mission, Polk Audio, Bose, Definitive. For its price and anything within $500 more, nothing matches its quality. Reference Boston Acoustics seem to sound close but are more expensive. Its been about year and I haven't wanted for ANYTHING more, to me that's amazing! Okay, maybe a new front projector, but that's another story...

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see review summary

Awesome sound. Very clean.

None. I don't call it a weakness, but you might need a powered sub to get the lower sounds.

I wanted to buy a decent pair of speakers to replace my Bose Acoustimass V system that I have been using for a while. I started listening to speakers at the nearby dealers so I didn't make the same mistake of buying a bad product without listening. I listened to Paradigm, Infinity, Boston, JBL, Klipsch, and some other systems under $100. I used my own favorite CDs that I took from place to place. The B&W 602 were by far the best. I have been using them for about 3 months now and I'm very happy. I don't know how to explain the sound with fancy terms, but all I can say is that they sound very natural and clear. Some other systems tend to exaggerate the lows or the highs. These speakers are very well balanced. You don't get tired of listening to them. My system is not high end: Yamaha HTR-5240 receiver, and Toshiba CD/DVD player. I'm connecting digitally to the Yamaha, using the Yamaha's DAC. I listen to many genres of music: progressive, pop and classic rock, Flamenco Guitar, Blues, latin Rock. They all sound pretty good. Pink Floyd DSOTM sounds great. Porcupine Tree does good as well. I would only recommend to add a powered subwoofer if you have a large room. My room is small, so for me it's OK. The Bose will be now surround Speakers. I can't listen to them again after listening to the B&Ws. If you don't want to spend more than $600 for a very good pair of speakers, I highly recommend these.

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Bose Acoustimass V series 3

Sound is clean and undistorted.

None.

The B&W DB602S3s are currently being driven by a Sherwood Newcastle R-725 receiver. They make up the rear speakers in my home cinema system along with the DB604S3 for the left and right channel, LCR600S3 for the center and an ASW650 subwoofer. These loudspeakers are mounted at the rear of my room and are five feet above the floor. Being the surround loudspeakers, they do not get the workout the front channels get. But, like my other B&W loudspeakers, their sound is always clean and clear, with no distortion. With all the technology and quality built into these loudspeakers, it’s surprising they don’t cost more than they do. After four months of listening to them, I can find no weaknesses. The DM602S3 is an excellent value and is hard to beat.

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None.

what ever up grads are done tro your system will make a difference nice sound stage very nice

if you have harsh sounding eq. it will make them sound like trash then you will never now what you have at home

The B&W 602s are thee best speakers you will find at that price.the bass is tight, clean, and the midrange is very clear. tweeters are very crisp and detal.At this price the step up would be the 702s which go 4 double$$$. MA areclose and the Energys .For a full clean more nautal sound look no more at this leval ,these speakers sound best with Rotel seprates next would be denon with tranparent cable maybe audioquest. I use tara labs rsc1000 which is a great cables and transparent digital HP coxail which gives it a sweet smoothness. My reciever is a 2802 ok, dvd player denon 900 soso good picture sound not so good will be up grading to a power amp from Rotel and a better player from denon

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energy,ma,kilsph,nht,jbl, and bose none touch 602s at 600$

Balance, detail, dynamics, bass, clear mids even when cranked. Coherence when played quietly.

none !

Took a week or so to break in, but I'm blown away by the even tonality, detail and punch. Actually blow my Matrix 804-S3's away- I'm selling those now ! Also just auditioned B&W 705's; these 601's are 95% of the performance ! I'm stunned. I was prepared to buy the 705's too. I use a sub (B&W ASW2000) so the bass performance isn't much of an issue. Still, I thought the 705's would image better. To my surprise, not much difference, certainly not 3 times as much ! The 601's have an ease to the sound that lets them play quietly too, where the 705's needed more juice. I would swear the tweeters are identical, too. Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints has tons of subtle detail that I never heard before with the Matrix 804's- the 705's & 601's both reveal it ALL ! I never would have thought I'd be driving 400 dollar speakers with 7 grand worth of electronics but wow- maybe I'll try the N805's someday but once again, I have a whole new CD collection to play first ! The bass response is better than any little speaker like this has any right to have- geez, add a decent sub & pocket a whole lot of change. From what I just heard from the 705's & some other brand mini monitors in the shop, I can honestly say you'd have to spend somewhere north of 1500-1700 to get much more but really what you're getting is add'l power handling and ability to play really loud. Quite a feat B&W's engineering has pulled off- may hurt their mid line models ! Quite satisfied.

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B&W 705 Paradigm

Tonal balance bass difinition, depth and punch midrange trumpets tweeters that gives you all the detail

high too hot with certain cables/amps

I've had these speakers for more than a year and I must say that they are truly amazing for the money! The tweeter can be discribed as a bit too hot, but it really drives home the leading edges of guitars. The bass is solid and tuneful. This depends very much on cabling and stands. Changing the interconnect changes the punch so the speakers can punch, just get the right cables. I drive the speakers from my rotel ra-02 amp. The combo sounds very good but if you like lots of bass rather than being there, you will be left wanting. Just as an interesting comparison of deminishing returns: I auditioned these with plinius sa-100 and arcam cd92 with arcam a85 as pre. These speakers really stunned me. The interesting part was when the guy at the shop gave me a listen to a pair of wilson benesch discovery speakers at 18 times the price. I can honestly say that the *real* difference was miniscule tonally. The wb's was a bit more musical, but only just. What I want to say that you can feel proud if you have these speakers. They truly are an excellent buy - get a nice plinius amp to go with them...

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Some from mission which was a dissapointment on the bass quality.

Tremendous bang for the buck

None

Picked these up to match with a Denon 3803. Always knew B&W was strong however these 602s went beyond my expectations. Because they are bookshelf, I went ahead and matched them with a sub and I would recommend that (some reviewers don't think so). I'll take it a step further which is to say that these 602S3s combined with the correct sub can be a formidable match for the B&W 703s without a sub (I own those in a different system)and you can end up spending half the money.

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B&W 703

Bass,fit and finish.The Sorrent light is the best finish,black they look like coffins.

The top is still a bit bright,avoid silver cables,use copper.NEED good stands.Rock and the hard place,300 pounds for speakers,500 for stands and cable,its worth it,they will amaze.

It,s true!An amazingly good buy at 300 pounds.Sound stage is huge,bass is good,vinyl,or CD.Easy to drive,no problems with Sugden A21A power amp.Bi wire with good quality cable.Ecosse works well.STANDS.You will not hear them at there best unless you have a solid pair of supports.For you flat dwellers with floor boards,try 3/4 inch posidrive screws straight into the boards.Sit your spikes into the top,works on racks to.[note if you have fitted carpet,wait until she who must be obeyed is out! To much,you can use the foam plugs to block the ports.This will also restrict,or draw in the size of the sound stage,experiment.It,s your ears.

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marantz CD17/2,linn Kollector,Thorens TD150/2,sugden A21/A Power.

Transparency with the ability to throw a huge soundstage. Excellent off-axis response allowing for a wide sweetspot. B&W's "trickle down" theory of its Nautilus technology to other product lines has made competing with the 602S3's very difficult for other manufacturers.

Cannot think of any.

Largest of the bookshelves from B&W's bread and butter line. In my case, they replaced an older pair of DM610i's (circa 1994). Remarkable how much speaker technology has progressed in the last 10 years. The sound is totally different. The Nautilus tweeter and the Kevlar drivers are top notch. Silky highs, not overbearing as the older pair, and very clean and articulate bass. You may want a sub for the "oomph" but can easily live without one as the speakers will go down into the 40hz range. What I like the most about these speakers is the incredible soundstage and their off-axis response allowing for a very wide sweet spot. Details galore and my wife and I am enjoying rediscovering our music collection. Worthy of all awards and praises they have recevied from the press. Once you get used to the British sound, nothing else comes close. Highly recommended.

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B&W, Infinity.