B&w 602? 603? 604? (1 Viewer)

[MikeArcher]

Okay, I'm a college student and will be living with other people for the forseeable future. I want some quality speakers for HT and music listening, but I realize how annoying it can be when someone is playing their music too loud and you can hear it from every room in the house, especially the bass. So, in that vein I thought that maybe forgoing a subwoofer for a more full range speaker (603 or 604) would be a good idea. I do, however, have a fairly small room (10'x10' or so) and wonder if the 603's or 604's would be too much. Would I be better with a pair of 602's + subwoofer that I could unplug or a set of 603's or 604's and forget about the subwoofer? I am very interested in the speaker accurately portraying the music I'm listening to, so I wonder about the lower quality of 602's. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Mike

 

[Brian L]

The differences in the range are more or less just in the low end extension. Other than lower bass, I would not consider a 602 to be lower quality than a 603, 604 etc.

A sub/sat arrangement gives much greater flexibility to place the speakers where they will work best; the L/R for best imaging, the sub for best bass.

Keep in mind that a 604 is a pretty large box.

My HT rig is a set of series one B&W (604, 601, CC6) mated to an HSU 1225 sub.

A pair of 602s (or even 601s) with one of the new HSU or SVS subs (in the $500) would be a killer 2 CH rig, IMHO. You do not need to crank it to get good sound. In fact, boosting the sub a bit would work well for loudness compensation while keeping your neighbors form wanting to kill you.

BGL

 

[MikeArcher]

Awesome! Thank you very much, I think that's what I'm going to do.

 

[Dan Halchak]

The 604s and the 602s sound exactly the same. The only difference is the lower extension of the 604s. The 603s, to my ears don't have as good of imaging.

I think the 602s and a paired subwoofer would be the best option. Probably cost you the same as the 604s and you have a lot lower extension. Plus with the 602s you can put them on shelves, on stands, on whatever you need to, which will allow for more flexibility than a dedicated home theater that you might not rearrange much.