punchy bass, smooth midrange and upper frequencies, looks

umm......demand a lot of power

WOW!!! These speakers are truly the best I have heard yet in this price range. I was in the market for a pair of Paradigm Studio 80's to replace my older Paradigms when I stumbled across these. I swore by Paradigm for a long time until I heard these speakers and the Paradigms side by side. In my mind there is no comparison. They might sound a bit warm but that is much better than the rough, scratchy sound given off by the Paradigms. B & W is a name I always associated with the Matrix models that costed way into the thousands. I had low expectations for these until i got to sit down and listen. They blew all else away(except for the Nautilus 801s) of course. The smoothness of the sound and the tight bass is not even close with other speakers in the price range. You would have to listen yourself to understand. I have two Marantz monoblocks(200w each) powering them and the overall volume, bass, and clarity is unbelievable. A subwoofer only ruins music with these speakers, but for movies is undoubtedly still needed. If you have a powerful amp and a desire for a natural souding speaker i would recommend these by far over anything else.
MY SYSTEM:
Denon AVR-1700(used as preamp)
Marantz MA-700 pwr amp
Mirage PS-180 sub
Kimber Kable 4TC speaker cable
AudioStream interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Reference Studio 80, Paradigm Monitor 7

Full bodied bass, clear mids, crisp highs

conventional box design

After much research on speakers I found it all very opinionated, at times very frustrating, but when you come across a speaker that fills you with emotion when listening to The Phantom menace, makes you wanna get up an dance with the funky sound of Jamiroquai,youve got a speaker that is for you. When my local B & W dealer Pacific Hi Fi ( Liverpool) first cranked up these babies I was excited, they filled up the room with sound that was (for the price) aboslutly awesome. The room was not sound proof nor was it perfect, but I have spent one year looking for speakers to upgrade too and now I have found them. I Give 5 for value and 5 for their unlimited application. Well Done B & W!

Similar Products Used:

monitor audio, klipsh, infinity

makes me feel good ~ clear & precise.

auditioned it just very recently, completely fell in love with it. BIG QUESTION.....will my Yamaha RXV-495 60-70watt/channel amp. be enough to power these babies?...of course, I will upgrade later on..but for the meantime, are they "good enough"?

help~

Very smooth, natural sound. No vocal coloration. Smooth, accurate bass.

Almost non-existant soundstage, lack of "air", price.

My speaker search is now over. On the way I auditioned, at length, many fine speakers in the $700-1200 range. While these B&W's were excellent in many respects, I don't feel they justified the price tag. They simply were not able to throw up much of a soundstage. The speakers were always easy to point out with my eyes shut. They are solidly built and have very neutral, balanced sound, but I prefer speakers that image better and are more transparent. (I went with the Vandersteens, btw - see my review).

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Monitor 7, Tannoy M5, NHT Super2, Vandersteen 1C, Mirage FRX-7, PSB Image 4T, Mission 703, Polk RTi-55

Very accurate and clear vocals from the tweeter.
Midrange reproduced up-front instruments (acoustic guitar)with little error.

Tweeter to bright when play above moderate volume.
The cherry wood vinyl could have passed as wall paper.

I am just a novice audiophile so the words I use to describe the speakers may not be the official audiophile term but you'll get the point. I A/B a pair of new B&W 603 S2 and new Swan Diva 5.1 at my house. The speakers were played for one hour before comparing. Maybe that’s not the norm for "breaking- in" (if there really is such a thing). I did however listen to a pair of "broken-in" B&W 603 S2 on two separate occasions at the audio store and they did not sound any different than the new ones I took home. I ran the two pair off an Onkyo TX-DS 696. I played Rush- Moving Pictures, Sara McLachlan- Surfacing and some lame country western cd my wife owns. I first listened to the Diva's and my first and immediate impression was that the Diva's sounded better than the "broken-in" pair of 603’s I just demoed at the audio store 1hour prior plain and simple. I then A/B both new pair: The background instruments stood out much more with the Divas and I think that was why they sounded better overall. Vocals from the B&W's sounded more accurate and more in front of the music than did the Divas. I did not think the vocals sounded to bright on the B&W's until I turn the volume up past 45 units on my receiver. At that point Getty Lee sounded like he was eating a bowl of Rice Crispies (snap, crackle and popping). Maybe cleaner power would fix that? The Diva silk was more laid back and did not change at higher volumes. I immediately could detect total imaging with the Diva's and could not with the B&W's although the vocals being out in front of the instruments on the B&W's could be a form of imaging? Bottom line was at a lower volume (45 units and lower on my receiver) the B&W's metal dome sounded better than the Diva's silk. The acoustic guitar sounded a bit more accurate and clearer with the B&W's than the Diva's. The feel of bass with both speakers was very similar. I just assumed I would feel more bass with the B&W's 7" drivers compared to the Diva's 6" drivers but that was in no way the case. The Diva's bass was more accurate and tighter than the B&W's hands down. Maybe this next observation doesn't mean squat but, when I pulled the drivers out of both speakers the Diva's magnets were almost double the size and weight of the B&W's. In my opinion the back side of the B&W drivers looked weak and cheap compared to the Diva drivers, and I would have thought- by that shocking discovery- that the B&W's would have fallen hard against the Diva's but they didn't they just fell a little short with the overall sound. I returned the B&W’s and kept the Diva’s. My review is strictly based off the comparison between my two final choices of very good speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Swan Diva 5.1

Such a stunning bass for such a small speaker! For some it might bee too much, for me it´s fine (although I had to place them in the corners!). Use spikes and close the back bass channel, and it will be o.k.
Very clear mids, perfect finish.
Compared to DM 601S2: Music has "body" because of that "built-in-subwoofer", which works from 120 Hz downwards.
Compared to Nautilus 802: Small lack of deep bass an top heights, less impressive soundstage. But that must be the difference between 600$ instead and 8000$ ;-)

good clarity, ,strong midrange, fair price for the quality of them
decesnt bass

none for me

I paired these babies up with my denon 2800 reciever and it works like a dream. I have to disagree with claims that say these speakers are to boxy i've had them for some time now and the work fine. They handel clasical nicely with great clarity and covers movies with a decent amount of bass.(despite what others say the bass is by no means overwhelming people who say that must want to use tweaters as there mains or something) Good speakers highly recomend them

Similar Products Used:

Mission 70's
Jamo's (not sure of model number sorry bout same price)

Look great - Sound Great

nothing

Wow ! Great for Home theater and Music. Makes the room come alive

Look great - Sound Great

nothing

Wow ! Great for Home theater and Music. Makes the room come alive

Deep bass capability

2 dimensional sounding, boxy, midrange bloat, raspy treble

I listened to the B&W603S2 using B&K amps, Yamaha DSP A1, Adcom amps, ect and come to the same conclusion everytime. These speakers are aweful. They sound very bloated and boxy. They image poorly and have very little definition when compared to speakers listed above.
TO make matters worse, the 604S2 have built in powered subs and they sound like a boom box or bass car.
B&W 600 series of speakers are some of the worst speakers they ever made, but most people wont know any better because they are buying a name. Avoid these speakers if fidelity is important to you.

Similar Products Used:

RBH Signature 1266 SE
Pinnacle Classic Gold Aerogel
Monitor Audio SIlver 5
Paradigm Studio 60V2
Snell E.5 Tower