I recently auditioned the 302's and was very impressed. I own a pair of the DM 601's so when listening to the 302's I naturally compared the two. The 302's immediately sounded very nice, producing a quite large soundstage and great imaging for the size. The midrange is very clean and the highs are quite smooth neither bright nor dull. I found the bass to be actually quite good, where the midbass was very warm and full, low end punch was slight given the size. The 302's definately conform to the family of B&W loudspeakers- they are VERY musical. I have no doubt they will as well excel in home theater. If compared to the 601's I would say the 302's would lack a bit in the midrange, lack a bit in the 601's well extended highs, lack a bit in clarity or detail, and may be more prone to exhibit a strained or "weakness" trait in the sound if driven to quite loud levels- but the 302's do use smaller drivers, perhaps less accurate driver's. But overall, especially for the price, these little gems are killer. You couldn't go wrong with these if your looking for speakers in the $200-$300 range. When looking at this price range I would have to rate these five stars.

I've had a pair of these for about 3 weeks now and am very pleased. They are part of a new bedroom stereo outfit. I spent a good amount of time comparing the speakers in the local salons. I listened to the PSB Alpha, NHT super zero, Mordant Short 10si and Kef Q15. The Alphas, like most small speakers had a bit too much mid-bass emphasis. The NHT's had no bass and did not seem to be in the same league as the others. I know they are highly praised, but for the time being, I will have no sub and they were unlistenable without one. The Kef was a bit too rolled off at the top and the Mordant, while spunky, seeemed a bit unnatural. I was willing to go the $400 for the B&W 601's, but they didn't sound appreciably better to me.
I, too, don't have a problem with the bass. There is no overemphasis in the mid-bass, but these little guy's do pump out a good amount when the material calls for it. I like to test bass response with the Sony/bernstein recording of Copeland's symphony for organ and orchestra. The sustained low organ notes will cause my pwered subwoofer in the family room to break up. I experienced the same thing when driving the 302's with an old Sony receiver, but when I hooked up the new Audiosource amp, they really got down and produced lots of loud, clean bass. A great buy

Great highs and mids. Looks.

None.

These speakers are amazing bookshelf speakers. Buy 4 of them, a B&W CC3 center and add a sub for <80Hz. You'll have a GREAT homecinema. Nothing can beat it at this price. Unlike Calvin, my backpanels are perfectly aligned. I think the build quality is great. The speakers blow my parents' Technics speakers (which are much larger) away.

CHEAP!!!, Unity from top to bottom

Get a sub.

What a speaker. For less than half a RCA cable!

First my system:

Yamaha RXV1
Pioneer CD burner (killer transport)
Atlantis Harmony stands
Tara Labs RSC interconnects and speaker wire
B&W ASW1000

After placing my speakers 3ft from the back wall 2.5 feet from the sides, and sitting in a equilateral triangle. This puts my seat in the middle of my listening room. I've listened like this for about 3 months. Before I was in an apartment using them nearfield by my bed. Back then I ran them of a little sony 2ch. I'm glad I went with the Yamaha. It's just so smooth.

In other words, highly recommended. This little speaker loves power and quality DAC's.

Similar Products Used:

Mission, NHT

Very accurate and efficient. Great imaging. Fantastic value

Lacks a little on the low end.

These little bookshelfs are a tremendous value. Retail is a mere $250, and I found it hard to find anything better anywhere near that price. Theses little babies image beautifully, and match seamlessly with the cc-3 center channel. They are a very efficient, and even sound great with my JVC receiver. They do lack a litlle on the low end, but what do you expect for a $250/pair of speakers. I match mine up with an Energy 10" sub and they sound unbelieveable for both music and HT. I think everyone needs to realize that in nearly every applicaton where a subwoofer is used with these speakers, the 302's should be set to small anyway (they're not full range floorstanders capable of sub 35Hz extension), so the frequencies below 80-100 HZ are non-cosequential. With this in mind, I would have to say that these speakers demonstrate a fantastic value for someone in the market for speakers that provide an excellent soundstage and pleasing midrange and highs.

Similar Products Used:

Energy e:xl-16

Great speaker for the working man. Get B&W performance at a fraction of the cost. Clearness of these speakers is amazing.

Expect to get your bass from some where else in your setup, because these speakers will not provide it.

I think these are great entry level speakers for the new home audio fan who wants the quality that only B&W gives you.

Auditioned these pretty little speakers, they sounded good in the showroom. But I have a Yamaha rxv-495 receiver at home....will these speakers "match"??? help...:(

Auditioned these pretty little speakers, they sounded good in the showroom. But I have a Yamaha rxv-495 receiver at home....will these speakers "match"??? help...:(

I have listened to these B&Ws... I like the other models (P series and others) even though I would not buy them for myself, I found them very respectable...However, what's wrong with you guys and the 302?
Why all this acclaim?
Just play them at moderate level (70-75dB) and place your hand on top... Can't you feel all these vibrations from that thin cheap plastic?
Do you really like the bass? It doesn't even have the capability to play upper bass!
To me, the 302 falls in the low class category along the Bose 201 Series IV... The B&W are just more expensive. But hey, it's got the B&W logo on it and that is fashionable....

Full rich sound at a bargain basement price

None so far

These are my first pair of home theatre speakers, and I couldn't be more pleased with them. Listened to many other brands; some too harsh, others too bright, and the really good sounding speakers seem to cost in the $400/pair and up range. You probably won't find a better sounding speaker for under $400.