These are fantastic speakers. Great tight bottom end and sparkling highs. They are equally as good as my Tannoy Berkeley’s which I paid more for.

Aesthetically they are not as nice as the older speakers

These are fantastic speakers. Great tight bottom end and sparkling highs. They are equally as good as my Tannoy Berkeley’s which I paid more for.

Aesthetically they are not as nice as the older speakers

I purchased a pair at a local pawn shop for $425. The price was low because one tweeter dome was damaged, the grills and the feet were missing but all the parts were easily obtainable on ebay. I performed an A/B test using a NAD 7020 PE amplifier and compared them to my McIntosh XR6, McIntosh XR14, Definitive Technology BP2006, Klipsch RF52 II, Pioneer HPM-40, HPM-700, CS-99A, Infinity Infinitesimal RS 1. Klipsch Quartet an Klipsch, Hersey II. I listen primarily to jazz. I prefered the DM604S2 above all except Klipsch Quartets and the Hersey IIs and those speakers are overdue for a crossover rebuild. I don't agree with other reviews that stated that subwoofers were not needed. The value of the DM604S2 continue to depreciate while the Klipsch's are appreciating. For my money I would sell these and use the profit to rebuild the Klipsch's.

Excellent speakers. There is a reason B&W speakers are great, and these are why. The new ones just don't add up! I listened to the 685's and all the reviews point to how excellent they are, but for the price and just how it is - they are not! I think the old school speakers have a place in the music world and i think that the quality and so forth is dropping in and over time, and the replacements as beautiful as they are can't compare.
i did buy these second hand and they are a bit scratched up, but its the sound i am after, and what a great sound. I have a anthem solid state integrated amp, with van den jul clear water cables, run off a computer, using modi usb to analog converter. And it all works really well.
Very smooth and sexy! Plays any music as well.

It's my first serious Speakers after Philips FB249...One word its excellent...I've used it with different combinations, first with Creative X-fi Platinum sound card + Philips FA 145 amp. the result was very interesting...after i used it with Custom Made Tube amp. (mono+mono 2x100W) it sounded hard as a stone, Soft as Velvet and deep as Infinity...soon i'm gona drive them with C.E.C. 3300r i hope it will match very good...I've listened the 602s2 bookshelf with Exposure 2010 it was very good...

DM604 S2

It has been a wild ride!

I first tested out these speakers on a 15W amp to see how a smaller amp could handle them. Classic, golden sounding Pioneer SX450. They played okay and plesantly surprised me.

I then upgraded to a ARCAM A80 65wpc amp, and was using it with crappy cables (prob just as bad as most monster cable rubbish your average pleb uses). I got tired of crappy cable and got my mitts on some top of the range audioquest installer cabling. The single amp played them enough at parties, but not truely enough to power them safely at a higher volume, so I got an ARCAM P80 (65wpc) power amp and coupled that up for the bass.

Setup is A80 into mid/high and P80 into lows. Audioquest copperhead for line out to power amp. Image sub running cutoff freq of 40hz and boy, once the cables, speakers and amps wore in and bedded down the sound quality blew me away.

They have that 'pounding' sound when playing psytrance. Yet without loosing resolution. The highs, mids, bass are all very clearly defined and they can simply stonk along. With approx 130w per speaker in my setup they can be turned up enough that you can't sit in front of them without killing ya ears, yet you can walk around the house with crystal clear, undistorted sound.
They handle almost any music you throw at them. Black metal through to ambient.. they'll do it. The highs simply 'grab' you. I have not heard speakers that can grab my attention as much as these. It's even worse if you are under then influence - you simply cannot tear your attention away from them. It's almost too much!
The amount of times i've thought I've heard someones car pulling up or similar effects is astonishing. They reproduce sound that damn good that the sound source can easily trick you.

They'll fill a large lounge with ease, providing you a humungous sound stage up to the roof from wall to wall, in a small room they are a pain to position but boy.. they fill a small room to the extreme.

I have listened to $20k marantz systems and sorry.. but these things blew them away for about 1/3rd to half the total setup cost for me. If i'd bought them new then you'd be looking at about half the cost.

Weaknesses: Must have spikes, and bi wire (bi amp is better though :D). Neighbors don't like them... lol.
Physical size is a pain sometimes. A weakness is taht you'll always want to crank them. They're fine down low.. but compared to cranking when amps and everything is running at temp and warmed up good and proper.. not the same and never can be.

Great clarity Plenty of bass (for me)

vinyl covering

I recently replaced my Martin Logan Aeons front speakers with the 604's. The ML's are now my surrounds. I first heard the 604S2's a few years back and loved them. Unfortunately, at the time I couldn't afford them. I ended up buying the PSB 6T's. The PSB's were great speakers, but lacked the clarity of the 604's. One thing I found that really improved this speaker was adding speaker stands. I used a Lovan Jaz 600 and what a huge difference in sound. I couldn't believe how much better they sounded (if that was possible). The Lovans are a 6" stand. If you haven't tried this, you should.

Similar Products Used:

PSB, Tannoy, Paradigm, KEF, Rocket

Clear, neutral sound. Very musical.

Big and heavy.

This review is for the S3 model. I bought these speakers at the end of a two-year search. I began the search thinking I'd buy a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-960's, but the salesman played me three speakers I liked better, including the B&W DM 602's. Being totally confused, I put my search on hold until I came across a pair of Dynaudio 70's, which I liked a lot. Using the Dynaudios as the benchmark, I listened to the Vandersteen 2CE, Martin-Logan Scenario, Totem Staff, Snell E Tower, JMLab Cobalt. Almost as an afterthought, I auditioned the B&W DM603 and 604S3. End of story. I liked the 604's best. The high end is clear and airy while the midrange has plenty of punch. The low end is nice and full, with no need for a subwoofer. When I hooked them up at home, I nearly wept for joy! I told a friend that I have a symphony orchestra in my living room. And a jazz trio. And a 9-piece funk band. Every night, I can't wait until the news is over so I can shut the tube off and play some music.

Transparent sounding, tight bass, natural vocals, excellent build quality

Heavy, a bit plain-looking with the grilles on, can easily disturb your neighbors

The 604 S2s are stunningly good speakers. Transparent and accurate highs, neutral midrange, exceptionally deep, tight bass. And man will they play loud. These are the front speakers in our home theater (along with an LCR6 S2 center and 602 S2 surrounds). I was originally going to get five LCR6 S2s and a subwoofer, but got a great deal on these, barely used. Our other speakers are Von Schweikert VR4s (big $3500 audiophile monsters), and the 604 is every bit their equal, except perhaps below 40Hz. But the 604s have plenty of bass; I have absolutely no desire to add a subwoofer. Our HT room is a bit bright acoustically, but the 604s never sound harsh or shrill. Although we use them primarily for movies, they are excellent for music: The Buena Vista Social Club DVD-Audio disc sounds incredible, as close to perfect virtual reality as I've ever heard. I don't award five stars lightly. I'm very picky, and have plenty of complaints about some of my other components, but I've never found anything to dislike about the 604s. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Definitive BP 2000 Von Schweikert VR4

Excellent & plentiful bass, clear high frequencies, excellent midrange, wide & deep soundstage, excellent imaging, well suited for tube pre &/or power

Available only in black ash colour, well suited for tube pre &/or power

This review is for the DM604S2 speakers. I have owned them since May 2000. In a nutshell, to me, these are really nice speakers. I play jazz, blues, classical & classic rock music thru them. I have played music thru them on a completely solid-state system i.e. solid-state CDP, pre & power as well as w/ my present system which has a tube preamp. I have concluded that these B&Ws mate better to tube equipment than solid-state. I prefer the sweeter tube sound thru them. Although the frequency response is (only) to 40Hz, I find the bass adequate. I like bass slam & I find that my needs are mostly satisfied here. I do notice that these speakers sound best when the volume is turned up - I feel the speakers "light" up. The specification sheet says the efficiency is 90dB SPL but it doesn't *appear* to be true in my system. The Nautilus tweeter is fantastic, in my opinion. I really like the vocals thru it (eg. Patricia Barber, Ella Fritzgerald, Maria Callas, Patsy Cline). The speakers respond well to blues (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King) very well - plenty of bass & great midrange. Initially I had the speakers sitting on the carpet & the bass was really muddy. Using brass cones to elevate them really helped to tighten the bass & also raised the tweeter level 1.5 inches making it more suitable w.r.t. my listening position. I really like the biwire option. Though there is much debate on biwiring benefits, I saw an improvement in my system. I was using mid-line Monster speaker cable which I swapped out for a Tara Labs Prism single run biwire for a marked inmprovement. It is possible that I could have benefited from both brand change & single to biwire change. If I had a complaint then it would be that it was available only in black ash thus had (& still has!) a low WAF.

Similar Products Used:

Though I have not used the following products, I have listened to them at various hi-end dealer showrooms. CDM7SE, CDM9NT,DM605S2, Martin-Logan various incl. the top-of-th-line Statement, N804, Boston