| Product: |
B&W DM 601 S2 |
| Date: |
25/11/00 (7496 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Excellent all round performance, Price
Disadvantages: can sound a bit bright with some amplifiers
If you read HiFi magazines or talk to a serious enthusiast it won’t be long until the conversation turns to size....
Of room that is!
Large freestanding floor speakers may look nice but are they really the answer for smaller rooms?
And lets face it how many of us have large enough rooms and are able to move all of the furniture into the optimum position to suit our HiFi, not many!
Sometimes what we buy is about lifestyle choices as much as an acoustic one so nine times out of ten we all end up buying small bookshelf speakers.
Well there’s no stigma attached to the size of your woofer and tweeter in fact most of the major manufacturers actively work in the smaller end of the market and there isn't a problem with either sound quality or quantity if you select the right system.
The rule of thirds should apply here if you are going to spend £800 on an entire system then you should distribute your cash evenly between the source (CD player etc), amplification and speakers.
Leaving the first two for those who are DooYoo experts on CD’s and Amps I’ll concentrate on speakers.
Assuming £250 to spend on your speakers there is a bewildering range to choose from, I know I’ve spent many hours in a demo room listening to most of them and that raises a key point.
Music is a personal thing and so is the way you like to hear it, so no matter what a magazine, shop or even a friend says you must listen to them for yourself.
Any retailer worth buying from will have a demo room and they should be able to replicate your system so you can try each pair of speakers with your amplifier and CD player.
Don’t forget the music either, you need to demo each pair with the same tracks preferably a track that you know well and know how you want it to sound.
Presuming I've convinced you to spend a few hours in a demo room what would I recommend you tr
y?
The B+W DM601 S2
They offer a superb blend of power and subtlety in one package, with excellent reproduction of the entire frequency range in equal measure.
I listen to everything from Acid Jazz to the sounds of the 80’s and the B+W’s never fail to deliver.
Crisp bass and a melodic midrange make for superb jazz listening and the 80’s belters sound great too.
So how can a small speaker for £200 sound so good?
Well unlike many manufacturers’ B+W have remained a loudspeaker specialist and not diversified into other products.
This concentration on one product has led to a drip feed of development from the 800 Nautilus range down into the 601’s.
So the tweeter uses the same compact magnet design as the Nautilus series and a 165mm Kevlar main driver cone.
That’s all a bit techy but to the average music lover it means top end performance from a small inexpensive box.
When compared to its rivals such as the Mission 771’s the 602’s sound far more purposeful and able to fill a room much larger than you would ever give them credit for.
And that’s the real selling point of the B+W’s they really do make you rethink your opinion of small speakers.
I have a few words of caution that are also to be found in the instruction book (but being a bloke I don’t tend to read instructions) so here they are before you spend the money!
Even though these and many similar units are often described as "bookshelf" they do need to be placed at least 50cm away from the wall in order to get the best performance.
Also I would strongly recommend investing in a good sturdy pair of loudspeaker stands, it isn’t retailers trying to make a fast buck from extras, good stands and cables help you get the most from your speakers.
I enjoy listening to music but I don’t want the speakers t
o have more prominence in my front room than me, that limits what I can buy, but it shouldn’t mean I have to suffer poor quality.
The B+W 601 S2’s are without doubt the best small speaker on the market, whether you are upgrading your system or dipping your toe in the water for the first time they should be on your list.
But don’t take my word for it go and give them a try and let your ears decide.
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