seeking B&W advice (1 Viewer)

[Arron H]

Willem, thanks for bringing up the "looks good" factor. There is something aesthetically pleasing about towers. Also, if you do not already have stands, you may want to factor in this added expense if you go with 602s. Originally, I had the 602s but ended up going to the 603s because of the added cost of stands. Going with the 603s costed about $200 more than 602s with stands. To me, they are worth it. Also, the 602s are a preety large bookshelf. We have cats and the thought of the 602s on stands in the living room scared the $^*! out of me

 

[Willem Vos]

Another snag is the fact that if you buy bigger fronts, you apparently force yourself to go for a bigger center speaker as well...

The LCR600 (recommended by B&W for the 603 / 604) is a lot more expensive than the LCR60.

Maybe it's worth going for the LCR600 over the LCR60 anyway?

Also, does anyone own 602.5 S3's, and if so, are they any good?

 

[Mike Broadman]

I haven't heard the 603s, but off the bat, I would guess that there could be an improvement over using 601s, even if you're setting everything to "small." Higher-end speakers aren't just for bass.

I also use 602s, but for mains only, with the LCR as the center and a couple of really cheap surrounds (which I plan on replacing with 601s). To me, the 602s sound fantastic, and 2-channel music with the 602s and the sub (forgot what it's called, but it's the lowest-end B&W) is just kickin'. Thanks to the Avia DVD, my system is calibrated so that the sub sounds just right whether I'm watching a movie or listening to music. It's not intrusive but adds that extra kick when it needs to.

Willem, as for how it looks, I guess it's just a matter of taste. I don't really care, as my whole living room looks awful anyway (apartment, mismatched furniture, etc). However, I don't think the 602s look particularly good or bad. It's just a big black rectangle.

 

[Willem Vos]

Thanks for the reply, Mike

What LCR Center are you using in conjunction with your 602s?

 

[Willem Vos]

*bump*

 

[Bob-N]

I would not go with the LCR600 (or 60) all around. I've listened to that set up and didn't care for it. I can't describe it but this set up seemed (to me) to lack a bit of clarity in the upper range. Probably due to the MTM configuration.

I had (and still have) 602 series 2 as fronts and they worked well with my sub. I'd imagine with 602's all around (w/my LCR6 S2 center) would sound great also.

I also was able to compare the new series 3 602 and 602.5 and there was no comparison. The 602's sounded much cleaner, more detail and bigger sound stage. Initially, I had the same thoughts that I wanted towers for the fronts but decided to go with bookshelves all around because I had an excellent sub (SVS 20-39PC w/improved driver).

Unfortunately for my pocket book, I jumped over the 600 series floorstanders recently and got the CDM1NT's and am using my 602's as surrounds. But my ears are happy!

You gotta listen to them side by side in the same session w/ the same equipment and room to find out what sounds good to you. That's my bottom line advice.

Bob

 

[Noah]

thanks again--I decided today on my original setup (603-601-LCR600-ASW600), mainly because of the importance of the towers in my stereo listening. With black cabinets the aluminum woofer is mighty sexy as well (shallow, I know). This has been a most helpful thread--I will report back in two weeks when my Yamaha RX-V1200 and B&W's arrive; I am mighty curious to hear the combination. That is one thing that really fascinates me, namely the relationship between an amp (receiver) and the speakers it is driving. Anyone with any particular insight, please share.

Noah

 

[scott cerv]

And why not go with the 604S3's, I listened to those and thought they well well worth the money. I purchased the 602S3's for the time being and will move them to the rear when I move into the house. Also, this may seem like a dumb question, but can you have speakers set to small for DVD input and large for CD input?? I'd assume most pre/pro will allow you to do this?? Or can you set the Fronts to Small for CD but just put the Xover at 40-60Hz depending??

SC

 

[Willem Vos]

Thanks for the feedback.

I paid a lot of money for my sub, and I want to use it for both music AND films.

that means running the mains as small.

Seeing as the 604's bass section starts working around 450Hz it will definitely not be "wasted".

If I cut the theory BS though, music might just well sound better to some ppl with the mains as large...

Doesn't really matter for me though, as the 604's are above my budget anyway, the biggest 600s I can afford are the 603s

But I think they'll sound boomy in my small room (about 3x5meters) though.

If the 602.5s sound inferior to the 602s I'm not going for those. That just leaves the 601s and the 603s ...