Monitor Audio Bronze Reference 2 (Vs. B&W DM602 S3?)

peteruk

peteruk

peteruk

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Hey all,

I'm looking to upgrade from my current Mission M72 speakers I'm using at the moment. My budget is around £150-£200.

I've had a general look around, and although I don't usually consider new items (budget constraints and all), the Monitor Audio Bronze Reference 2 (or BR2 for short) seemed to be a very good option to go for.



I've also heard the B&W DM602 S3 is a tough contender too, but I'm not sure if it's actually any better, and would probably be out of my price range even used.

For the record, my current main specs (if you need to know sound card or speaker wire etc, just ask):

Mission M72,
Atacama Nexus 6 Stands,
The amp I will be using these with is a class-T type I'm building myself.

All opinions and recomendations welcome!

Thanks,
Peter
 
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Ignore reviews. Speakers are very room and system sensitive. The only way to asess them is to have a listen at home before you buy. I failed to do this a few years ago and bought speakers which sounded great in the shop but horrible in my home and my system.
 
If you like bass then go for the B&W's I have the set mentioned, use them as stereo speakers connected to a stereo amp and also for surround, cant fault them for either, but then again I like metal music, and they eat the bass. Very clear even at low volumes and love to be driven, best £300 I've spent. I also got some decent stands for them though, helped a lot since they seem powerful enough to destroy less sturdy things.
 
B&W speakers are boomy and uncontrolled in the bass department, at least my B&W 601's are.

Oh and buy better speaker stands, Nexus 6 are rubbish. Even mass loaded they have very little weight to them.
 
I trialled both. I found the MA coped with classical music better but the B&W's were much sharper with guitar music. I plumped for the B&W's and never regretted it.

Go to you local hifi store and trial em is the best advice anyone can give.
 
Personally, I would stay with your M72s for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, B&Ws are uncompromisingly harsh/bright. I find them incredibly fatigueing to listen to for any length of time - and that goes right up to the flagship 800 series speakers that I borrowed for a while.

This is using my own (warm!!) amplification. You are building perhaps the harshest, brightest amplifier known to man. My honest opinion after 5 minutes of listening was "My ears cannot take this any more" - and that was using my nice, warmish M35i speakers. I persevered for a good 30 minutes more with all sorts of music - it didnt do ANY of it justice.

So my advice to you is that you should shelve plans for a new set of speakers and get some good amplification to take advantage of what you already have - perhaps some of the nicest small/budget standmounts this side of £400...
 
squiffy said:
B&W speakers are boomy and uncontrolled in the bass department, at least my B&W 601's are.

Oh and buy better speaker stands, Nexus 6 are rubbish. Even mass loaded they have very little weight to them.
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I strongly disagree with everything you just said. My old B&W's had tight and controlled bass, not boomy at all, that is the MA's forte.
I also own a pair of nexus 6 stands, they are far from flimsy and weigh in excess of 10kg when mass loaded.
 
Having used my B&W DM602's is 2 rooms for extended periods and heard in a demo room I reckon the room they are placed in makes a lot of difference to bass (suprisingly for front ported). The tightest and best bass was in the acoustically treated demo room (not too suprising). When I had my brothers room which was bigger, the bass varied depeding where you were but could be very good. In this room it tends to be quite boomy or very quiet, it is very non-complementary. I agree about the harshness, I wouldn't want to listen for long without my treble set way down on the tone controls (yes, I use the dreaded tone controls :eek: ;) ). With that lowered I find I get a good clear sound :)
 
Clarkey said:
I strongly disagree with everything you just said. My old B&W's had tight and controlled bass, not boomy at all, that is the MA's forte.
I also own a pair of nexus 6 stands, they are far from flimsy and weigh in excess of 10kg when mass loaded.
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Tight and controlled yes - but shockingly lacking. Playing something ludicrously bassy yet with a relatively large bandwidth (Christina Aguilera - Get Mine, Get Yours springs to mind) just shows them up hugely for their lack of ability to shift air and overpowering top end. Loads of slam though, until the crossovers catch fire.
 
Clarkey said:
I strongly disagree with everything you just said. My old B&W's had tight and controlled bass, not boomy at all, that is the MA's forte.
I also own a pair of nexus 6 stands, they are far from flimsy and weigh in excess of 10kg when mass loaded.
Click to expand...


I own and have owned several speakers, Kef Q, Kef Reference and Ruark. B&W bass is slightly exgarrated and boomy, using Audiolab setup so not a lack of power/current.

10kg for a speaker stand is light weight, I also have Target R3's which weight 40kg each and far superior. They're worth the extra. With the Nexus they're easy to knock over/tilt but with the Targets you need to push them really hard to even tilt them.

Still I guess if you've never checked out other stands the Nexus seem ok. Same for the speakers.

TargetR2.jpg


B&W speakers are overated, and only sell/hyped up because of adverts and awards.
 
A relative of mine has B&W DM604 S3s and they produce the most incredible sound I have ever heard in my life. I can't see how their cheaper speakers can be that much worse?
 
squiffy said:
I own and have owned several speakers, Kef Q, Kef Reference and Ruark. B&W bass is slightly exgarrated and boomy, using Audiolab setup so not a lack of power/current.

10kg for a speaker stand is light weight, I also have Target R3's which weight 40kg each and far superior. They're worth the extra. With the Nexus they're easy to knock over/tilt but with the Targets you need to push them really hard to even tilt them.

Still I guess if you've never checked out other stands the Nexus seem ok. Same for the speakers.

TargetR2.jpg


B&W speakers are overated, and only sell/hyped up because of adverts and awards.
Click to expand...


great, but those stands would almost certainly cost significantly more than the kind of speakers we are talking about here.
 
squiffy said:
B&W speakers are overated, and only sell/hyped up because of adverts and awards.
Click to expand...

are they ?, are all these people wrong then, http://www.audioreview.com/sf-1/pid-22292741/sb-1/pgindex-2/productreviewscrx.aspx or just not educated enough audiophile wise to know what a good speaker is, I'm not critiscing, I am genuinely interested as I've been after these speakers for ages ever since being blown away buy a pair of old DM600's hooked upto a seperate amp and cd player (I think it was a nad amp and a marantz cd player), DM602's seem to get such rave reviews that I thought they would be the perfect choice and can only sound better than the DM600's, is there any other speaker around the same price (£350) standmount or floorstander that you would reccomend ?,

I listen to all types of music, mostly trance and classical though (I know strange mix), I like a bit of bass but controlled, A punchey but slighty warm sound would be nice, I imagine the DM602 to sound a little like a studio monitor but with extra bass, my cd player is the old classic Rotel RCD-965BX, I love it bits and can't see myself changing it very soon, I even have a spare one for backup :o, for such an old cd player I feel it really stands it's ground compared with entry level cd players of today, my amp is an old yammy atm but am very soon to be upgrading to a budget Arcam av receiver.
 
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Reading through peoples thoughts so far I think your best bet is to nip into a decent shop and if possible audition the speakers you're interested in. People have their own tastes on what sounds good/bad so go with what sounds good to you and you'll be more than happy!
 
There are some very strange opinons on here, I mean, quite how you can write off the whole range of B&W speakers saying its all hype and advertising is beyond me.

I had a set of Mission 751 for prob the best part of 10 years, I loved the sound from them, I listened to quite a few newer speakers (my budget was £500) and I couldnt find anything that impressed me enough to part with my hard earned cash.

In the end I listened to a set B&W CDM1 se and I was impressed enough to buy them, they have huge bass for a floor stander and its pretty well controlled too, not as tight as the little missions but heaps more slam.

The one thing I would never say my B&Ws are is harsh either, the missions could sound a little brittle and lean, especally when partnered with my cyrus III amp, compared to these my B&W sound lush, not overly warm and bloated, just very musical and involving.

Oh, I picked my CDM1 se up for just over £200 second hand, nearly within your budget but I still wouldnt buy a set based on anyones opinion, get yourself round some dealers and listen for yourself.
 
Just like musical taste, everyone has their own opinions and there's not really a 'right answer'.

I have Monitor Audio Bronze 2's (previous revision to the current one), and I think they sound great. I went against better judgement and bought mail order without auditioning, based on reviews.

To be honest, I've done that from the year dot and maybe I've been incredibly lucky, but the sound from my components has always pleased me.. A hi-fi shop will almost never have the same partnering equipment as you have, so to lug it all there is tiresome, but there's a certain price level where I think it's wise to make the effort.

At the moment they are partnered with a Yamaha 757se AV amp, and a sixteen (!) year old Philips CD618 cd player and Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 1.

They sounded better with my previous NAD 340 amp, but that's cos it's a dedicated music amp. Before that I had a 20w Rotel RX-810 amp and JPW Sonata speakers, which also suited my CD system sonically.

As I say - maybe I'm just dead lucky! I'm sure there are combinations of components out there which sound terrible... If you buy reasonably middle of the road components then you're (probably) going to be satisfied - that's just my experience anyway.
 
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