B&W 600 Series Surround Help (1 Viewer)

[NickC]

Many of you have helped me select my current setup, but it isn't completed yet.
Current Speakers:
Mains: B&W 602 S3
Center: B&W 60LCR
Surrounds: ?????

Now, I can go multiple routes, but I am looking for opinions, suggestions, feedback, or whatever from poeple with similar setups or without.

My choices for Surrounds are

Another set of B&W 602 S3's(not sure if this would be overkill for surrounds, or if they would just be under used),
A set of B&W 601 s3 or 600 s3????

A listen to music, not multi channel yet, but I will upgrade at some point, whenever a mainstream format comes around, I play Video Games, and watch movies,I would say 50%Games/40%movies/10% Music right now, all this is in my bedroom, but will eventually be used in a theater type room, something else to keep in mind are the rear speakers, I would prefer the surrounds and rears to be the same in a 7.1 config.

Please share your thoughts

thanks

nick

 

[LewB]

I have B&W 602 S2's for my fronts and had the LM1's recommended to me by the place I bought them at. They are in my living room which is medium sized and they mounted quite easily on the walls. I ran the surround cables thru the walls so it looks pretty good. The speakers do the surround job nicely. I used the AVIA test DVD with a Radio Shack SPL meter to set the levels to make sure they didn't get lost. The LM1's make a nice surround assuming a medium sized room with an amp/receiver that's not too big, I'm using a Rotel RSX972.

 

[Mark C.]

My buddy just set up his first home theater based mostly on my recommendations. For the fronts, he chose the 601s for R/L and the 60 for the center. Initially, he planned on getting the 600s for his rears, but when he compared the 600s to the 601s, he felt it was no contest and definitely worth the extra cost of going with 601s for the rears. You might feel the same way comparing the 602 to the 601. Your system would be sweet indeed with 602s all around.

Good Luck.

 

[Lam Nguyen]

Nick,
I think the 601 s3 would be good enough for your system, the 600 s3 would be fine also if you want to save a little.
I m using the 600 s3 as surrounds with B&W 7nt's and it does a great job. The LM 1's is also worth considering if you must hang your surrounds. I took my LM 1's back for the 600 s3 because the later just has more depth to it. Good Luck.

 

[Denny_S]

I recently upgraded my HT speakers to all B&W 600 speakers, with 604 s3 as mains, lcr600 s3 as centre, 601 s3 as rears, and an asw650 sub.
I believe that all the new 600 B&Ws are designed to match or compliment each other very closely.
If you decide to go with 602s for the rear for music it should be perfect. But for HT the 602s might be under-used. Using a pair of 601s for surround would be a very good match. The 602s use 7" kevlar drivers and the 601s use 6.5", this is a good enough match.
With my setup, the 601s sound great with the 604s out in the front. Imaging is perfect, pans from the back of the screen to front (and vice versa) are seamless.

 

[Bob-N]

I would recommend the 602's if you are 100% sure you're going to multichannel music. For HT, I think it's not as critical to exactly match your mains. I've got 600's mounted on my rear wall with CDM line up front and center. It sounds good to me.

Bob

 

[NickC]

So i should get 602 s3's if i plan on getting into multichannel music, other wise go with 601 s3's, for those of you with the 601's, can they get fairly loud?

 

[Mark C.]

The 601s are very capable surround speakers and not bad as mains, either. I'm using my 601S2s for surrounds, but when I first purchased them I used them strictly in a stereo system and was very pleased. Visitors were quite surprised how much sound came from such a small speaker.

 

[Liam Shan]

I also had 602s3 mains and an LCR60 center, and like you, was wondering how to complete my setup. I listen to mostly music (%70), so music performance was my priority. I wanted to ensure my rears wouldn't lack when running music in 5ch Stereo. I now use my 602s for rears (and 603 fronts) and they perform beautifully.

When auditioning, I found both the 600 and 601 excellent(!) for their size and price, and yes, the 601s could produce and very clear and full sound at quite high volume. For gaming and movies, the 602s are probably not worth the extra investment, unless you have money to burn.

So, judging by your current usage, IMHO 601s would be more than sufficient, and even for multichannel music, they would be very nice. Only if you intend to run your surrounds for full range music often, will you get the rewards from the larger bass/mid driver on the 602s.

 

[NickC]

Would it be a good idea to get 602's for surrounds and 601's for rear center, since multichannel music is only 5.1 right?

 

[Brad Newton]

I'm interested in the 603's for my home theater, but was told that they are not shielded. My tv is direct view & I need shielded fronts & center, due to space restraints.

 

[Denny_S]

Brad, the 602.5, 603, and 604s are NOT shielded.
If yot have a direct view tv (as I do), you will have to place the speakers at LEAST 20" off to the sides.
The LCR60 and 600 are both shielded.
If you can afford the space though, these speakers are really great for both music and HT.

 

[Lam Nguyen]

Yes, the 601's can get loud and sounds bigger than what it is. These are legitimate stereo speakers. The 601's got really high marks from WhatHiFi, a reputable magazine from England. The reason why I went with the 600 s3 was because of the cost.