Has anyone auditioned or owns this model? I am looking for a low cost pair of monitors for at home with the stuff I do on the computer. I would be driving them with a 30-35 Watt per Ch. tube amp (read: low damping factor).

Any opinions?

Thanks,
Geiginni

i listened to them next to the cdm1-nts and 800 series. i ended up buying the cdms.

in my opinion there was a significant step up from the 600 to the cdm, (now 700 series) and while the 800s were "better" than the cdms, they weren't so significantly better as to justify the extra price to me.

hope that helps some,
nick

i don't understand why people like B&W speakers so much, i guess. every pair i listened to (used to work for a dealer) sounded really harsh in the midrange/upper-midrange frequencies. if i was you and looking to get some bookshelf speakers for cheap, i'd get some Mission speakers long before B&Ws. actually, i would never get B&Ws, so i guess you can take that for what it's worth.

they don't make them anymore, and i'm not sure what the modern equivalent is, but the mission 750's were the best *cheap* bookshelf speakers i ever heard. the dynaudio contour 1.3 was the best, to me, without question, but they're so much more expensive. the mission 750 is small and sounds great. i'm guessing the 780 is the current equivalent, though i'm not sure at all.

there are actually two pairs of 750's on ebay right now, selling for less than the two pairs of 601s on ebay are going for. if you can find a place to listen to some mission's, specifically the 750 (or 780, possibly) i'd really recommend it. but then again, i never heard a pair of B&Ws that i liked.

my observation of the B&Ws is coming kind of more from "a dude in bands who got more and more into recording and stuff (ie not doing studio work full time)" - is that i notice "good" recordings sound really fucking good, like any old jazz records, or classical stuff, or like the bad seeds records, or a lot of the stuff done at electrical - they all sound great. when not recording, they are my main stereo speakers now. when i have a session, i cart them in.

but then i find stuff like, say the refused record (shape of punk to come) which i always thought kicked ass, and sounds great in the car or on headphones, sounds like dogshit on the b&w's. it was actually a pretty big letdown (you mean i really thought this sounded good?!) this holds up for a lot of heavily compressed recordings - where on crappier speakers, they sound "ballsy" - on the b&w's they sound "retarded"

they make good recordings sound really, really good IMO - and bad ones not so good. the recordings i've done on them give me the impression that they sound good - they let you know when you start dicking with stuff pretty clearly.

i used to have some jbl monitors which always sounded funny to me - the audio spectrum just didn't seem to add up i guess. (how's that for technical?)

I'm looking for something reasonably "acurrate" that will translate other "acurrate" recordings well. This comes down to early "Golden Age" true stereo recordings of orchestral & enseble music, early jazz, lounge, and some Zeppelin, Prog., and well recorded rock - a'la Electrical.

Shitty punk and indie recordings mean little to me. If they're poorly recorded and mastered they SHOULD sound like shit on any reasonalbly "acurrate" loudspeakers.

I have yet to spend time with the B&W 601s, and yes, if I have the budget I am considering the 701s. I've listened to some Paradigm Titians and Monitor 20's which were OK for the money, but I wasn't terribly impressed.

My home stereo speakers right now are a pair of JBL LX500's I bought while still in high school (about 12-13 years ago). They were, to me at the time, the finest sounding speakers in the store. My tastes have changed, along with my amp. I can't stand 3-4" midrange drivers. They are 90% of the reason these speakers annoy me. Also, the fact that the LF driver does not pair well with the low damping factor of my tube amp exacerbates the problem.

The only problem I see with the B&W's is the dealer in Madison is full of "audiophile" assholes that can't talk straight about performance and treat anyone who isn't prepared to spend $5000+ on components like worthless peasants. I fucking hate so called audiophiles that don't have a solid background in pro audio or commercial sound - it's just endless bullshit speak....

I own a pair of the DM601s3 and really enjoy them. You have to realize that all the bookshelf speakers in B&W's current line (I haven't heard the 705s) are bright sounding. There is a distinct mid-high bump in their frequency response. The most noticable difference among the various B&W models is the bass response. The bass in the 600 series (600, 601 & 602) speakers is rather sluggish. ('scuse the audiophile $$ word) What I mean is that the cheaper the speaker, the cheaper the construction of the cabinet which leads to cabinet resonant artifacts in the lower frequencies. If I were to get a new set of speakers, I would probably go with http://revelspeakers.com/products/overview.asp?ID=8. You can find a pair used in the $1400 range. Hope this helps and good luck.

geiginni wrote:The only problem I see with the B&W's is the dealer in Madison is full of "audiophile" assholes....

Mr. Geiginni,

Don't know if you'd be interested or not, but Audio Emporium here in Milwaukee is a B&W dealer. I have always found them very pleasant, honest, helpful, etc. to work with. I've mainly dealt with the owner Dave.

Here's their link: http://www.audioemporium.com

Mr. Geiginni-
30 to 35 watts of tube power, I guess will work, the Bowers & Wilkins, she's not so efficient, even the small ones, she responds the best with beefy solid state amp.

Mr. Stackmatic is right, Milwaukeez Audio Emporium is worth the drive. Way low audiophile asshole factor, they don't waste your time and treat you like a human. You could also audition some Paradigms while you're there, great speakers for less, you'll be surprised.

Jay

Thanks for the advice, all.

I've decided to go with a pair of the B&W 602 s3. They sound fantastic, are relatively efficient, and have a bit better bass extension than the 601's.

I also listened to a pair of Paradigm Monitor 5's, but I think I like the imaging from the 602's better.

I also checked out MB Quarts, Totems, ELAC, Mission, but for the price point nothing beat the B&W's in my opinion.

toomanyhelicopters wrote:i don't understand why people like B&W speakers so much, i guess. every pair i listened to (used to work for a dealer) sounded really harsh in the midrange/upper-midrange frequencies.

This is why I settled on a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.3SEs -- such an exceptional tweeter. Nothing harsh about them. Very accurate, not too sweet, and non-fatiguing.