ever listen to B&W speakers?

gmorris
gmorris Posts: 1,179
edited March 2004 in Speakers
Has anyone here ever owned or listened to B&W speakers before?

This past Saturday, I went to a local Hi-Fi shop, and spent about 2-1/2 hours listening to my CD collection on a pair of B&W DM601 Series 3's. The system consisted of a Yamaha CD player, Classe Preamp, and an NAD power amp. The interconnects were some generic jobbies, but the speaker cables were some nice, thick Monster Cable M series stuff.

I liked the 601's very much. It was my first time hearing B&W speakers. It took me some time to adjust to them. We did not use a subwoofer (which I do at home), so it took a bit to adjust to the lack of bass. This let me focus on upper bass, mid & high portions of the music.

The most obvious difference between the 601's and my beloved R30's was the treble. The 601's are just plain better. I could go into all kinds of descriptions about this, but I think most will understand....

As usual, I came home and fired up the R30's, and was still extremely impressed. I could hear a few things lacking, but all in all, I'm still amazed that the entry level R30's sound as good as they do. 3 cheers to Polk Audio!!
Bob Mayo, on the keyboards. Bob Mayo.
Post edited by gmorris on
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,083
    edited March 2004
    I had, now hoosier21 has, courtesy of RuSsMan a pair of 601S2's....probably my favorite small speaker that I've owned.

    I wrote a review of them some time ago, suffice to say, I'm a big fan of Bowers and Wilkins.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • disneyjoe7
    disneyjoe7 Posts: 11,435
    edited March 2004
    All in All a positive for Polk... Even at their entry level speakers Polk impress you, nice to hear. :p




    Originally posted by gmorris
    As usual, I came home and fired up the R30's, and was still extremely impressed. I could hear a few things lacking, but all in all, I'm still amazed that the entry level R30's sound as good as they do. 3 cheers to Polk Audio!!

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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,773
    edited March 2004
    I think they sound..........

    boring
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,723
    edited March 2004
    Boring is the perfect word to describe the sound of B&W speakers, every last one of them.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Neild
    Neild Posts: 6
    edited March 2004
    As it happens I have a mixed setup of Polk RM's which I use about 3/4's of the time and B&W that I use for 2 channel listening. The Polks are more well-rounded, especially for home theatre, but I do like the richness of putting some classic stereo through the B&W's. In short if I had to live with only 1 set, I'd go with the Polks
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,986
    edited March 2004
    Originally posted by F1nut
    Boring is the perfect word to describe the sound of B&W speakers, every last one of them.

    Mine sound anything but boring. Every last one of them.
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,201
    edited March 2004
    N801's powered by a pair of Krell mono 300s wired with Transparent playing Norah Jones on Krells SACD standard running threw a Krell pre amp...Boring I think not.

    B&W are priced according to there worth in the market.They sell extremely well.

    As much as I love polk,B&W is a higher end higher quality speaker line.They can pretty much out perform most of whats offered today and there price points.They however are not perfect in anyway.I have found faults but overall one of the very best speaker lines avalible.Inwalls and even there entry level are very impressive.

    They are also easy to drive speakers as yoou can pretty much drive them with anything.Considering quality matching of course.

    Rotel and B&W go together extremely well.Very nice matching system.

    And thats the bottom line cause Mantis said so....;)
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • gmorris
    gmorris Posts: 1,179
    edited March 2004
    I also did not find the DM601 S3's boring at all.

    The 601's had a more forward presentation than my R30's. That alone would qualify them as not boring. The tweeter is also a fantastic unit. The highs are very alive and present, but never, as the salesman put it, fatiguing. I found this to mean that the highs never got shrill or annoying. They never caused me to tire from listening to a CD because the highs were annoying.

    I'm not saying the forward presentation of the B&W's is better or worse than the laid back presentation of the Polks', just that it is a big difference. I think that is mostly a matter of taste.

    As far as being overpriced, BAH! My R30's retail for $400 a pair (although I paid $200 at CC for mine, SCORE!). The B&W 601's retailed for $450. Was the $50 increase worth the increase in performance? HELL YES.

    Overall, I had a good time listening to the B&W's for 2-1/2 hours. Fun way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon. It gave me something to compare my Polks to.
    Bob Mayo, on the keyboards. Bob Mayo.
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  • PolkWannabie
    PolkWannabie Posts: 2,763
    edited March 2004
    If boring in a speaker implies that nothing is added, nothing is removed and nothing is glossed over, then I would heartily agree that B&W's are boring.

    In my experience B&W's will certainly not hide weaknesses in up stream components or source material and they insist on having lots of clean, high current power. This is especially true of the upper end models in the Nautilus line.
    Rick
    HT+ Sunfire TG IV, Dual CG Sig II's, CinePro 1K2, Oppo 981, Audio Technica PL120, Polk SRT's & F/X1000's, Samsung 71" DLP
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  • shack
    shack Posts: 11,154
    edited March 2004
    Originally posted by gmorris
    but never, as the salesman put it, fatiguing. I found this to mean that the highs never got shrill or annoying. They never caused me to tire from listening to a CD because the highs were annoying.
    My experience is exactly the opposite. I have yet to hear B&Ws (on a wide range of gear) that I did not get tired of the highs fairly quickly. My demos were mainly the 300s, 600s and CMs. They have such a good reputation that I have gone back for additional demos and still come away with the same impression. I have tried...I guess they are just not for me.
    "Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right." - Ricky Gervais

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  • kingtut
    kingtut Posts: 813
    edited March 2004
    My listening experience was the floor-standing B&W Matrix Series at a friend's house. They sounded impressive with good recordings, and they made the flawed recording sounded worse. They sounded great w/jazz and easy listening, but not that good with pop & techno. My impression is the floor-standing Matrix are good, but they are too big and too pricy.
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  • gmorris
    gmorris Posts: 1,179
    edited March 2004
    Originally posted by ATCVenom
    And that is B&W, you will find those who love em, those who hate em. Listen and decide which camp you belong in....

    Very true, but it is a strange statement...

    In the short time I have been involved in this hobby seriously, I have found that I like every pair of speakers that I listen to. Sure, some speakers may do this or that, while others do that or this, but to me, these are just differences, not GOOD or BAD.

    I have not heard a pair of speakers yet that made me say, "I don't like these speakers." I just enjoy hearing something new, whether it be good or bad, right or wrong, I enjoy listening to the music.
    Bob Mayo, on the keyboards. Bob Mayo.
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  • PolkWannabie
    PolkWannabie Posts: 2,763
    edited March 2004
    Or Acoustitrash ...
    Rick
    HT+ Sunfire TG IV, Dual CG Sig II's, CinePro 1K2, Oppo 981, Audio Technica PL120, Polk SRT's & F/X1000's, Samsung 71" DLP
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  • gmorris
    gmorris Posts: 1,179
    edited March 2004
    heee heee heee, Jensens....

    I of course meant high quality speakers, aka Polk, B&W so on.
    Bob Mayo, on the keyboards. Bob Mayo.
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  • gidrah
    gidrah Posts: 3,049
    edited March 2004
    Someday I'll own Jensen Imperials and laugh at all of you. Mmmm, Imperials and McIntosh all day.
    Make it Funky! :)
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