Which B&W speakers?

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

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Joined
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Been after some new speakers for a while and have been pointed in the direction of B&W 602's by a number of people.

Having checked out prices etc, I see you can get the floorstanding 602.5 speakers for £100 more.

Now my amp is nothing to shout about (100w Sanyo jobbie) and will be upgraded in the next 6 months or so to soemthing a lot better, but for now will suffice.

Also, the room size which I know is something you guys ask about it set to change in the next 6 months or so too as I'm renting a flat and will be moving in the summer.

So the question is, are they worth the extra £100? Or should I still to the 602's with some stands?
 
I can't help but think that driving any half decent speakers with a cr@p amp is bad news.
All you'll do is have your speakers showing how bad the signal is that's being given to them.

Sort out your amp and front end, stop worrying about being able to willy wave with bigger speakers.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
I can't help but think that driving any half decent speakers with a cr@p amp is bad news.
All you'll do is have your speakers showing how bad the signal is that's being given to them.

Sort out your amp and front end, stop worrying about being able to willy wave with bigger speakers.
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It's also much easier to dmage good speakers with a weedy underpowered amp than it is to damage lesser speakers with a good amp. I'd upgrade the amp then the speakers after all you won't be bothered if you dmage the old speakers but if you dmage the new ones you will be gutted.

Also as said consider some other brands, go to a good HI-FI store and listen to as much stuff as you can what sounds good to your mate may not sound good to you! a few hours auditioning kit saved me a £100 as I prefered the sound of a cheaper CD player withe the speaker and amp combo I went for.
 
I've asked around a few people 'in the know' and here too in the past and these speakers have been recommended by most of them.

My current speakers are shagged, popping and cracking all over the place and most music sounds like it's being played from a tape, whereas they used to sound pretty decent (by my standards anyway).

I can't afford an amp and speakers at the mo so thought I'd do it bit by bit.

I'm going to get along to a decent shop soon and test some stuff out, just wanted opinions on floor standing versus bookshelf.

I listen to rock music mainly, with a bit of hip hop thrown in there every now and again. Current room is average size, but as I said I will be moving in a couple of months probably to a bigger place.
 
I've asked around a few people 'in the know' and here too in the past and these speakers have been recommended by most of them
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Look at What Hi-Fi recommended speakers, and that pretty much sums up why people "recommend" them. B&W 600 receive "awards" which in turn buyers purchase them, and recommend them also.
 
Personally, I wouldn't be considering floorstanders unless I was spending over £1000. For budget speakers stick to standmounts and invest in suitable stands (massive or not) and spend the time and effort to set them up correctly.
 
Buy something like a pair of monitor audio B2's and a second hand arcam amp. My combo soudns fantastic, and the warmer arcam amp (delta 290), really sound sublime with my more detailed B2's.

Don't just go for B&W because loads of hi-fi mags or random people say so. Book a demo at a good hi-fi store and spend a good few hours compare setups.

Try speakers from Quad, MA, B&W, AE, Wharfedale 9.1's, with amps from NAD, arcam, maybe even CA. You really need to listen to loads of combo's until YOU, and ONLY you are happy with sound.
 
Go for the DM602's you won't regret it, people on here seem to think it's fasionable to go against anything that 'What Hi-Fi' reccomends, B&W speakers are nice speakers regardless whether 'What Hi-Fi' rate them or not, I defo would'nt pair them with your currunt amp though, I'd have a scout around on the bay, if your budgets real tight look for a cheap Rotel amp and if you and stretch a little go for a better Nad/Arcam amp.
 
lowrider007 said:
Go for the DM602's you won't regret it, people on here seem to think it's fasionable to go against anything that 'What Hi-Fi' reccomends.
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Have to say that your comment is more than a little unfair.
As stated many times on this forum, it's more important to find the sound that fits you than listen to other peoples recommendations.
Positive comments might be sufficient to justify a dem, but certainly aren't enough to recommend a purchase. You might well hate my speakers, whereas others would probably love them. It's all personal choice and THAT is what we should be recommending to people unfamiliar with the complexities of kit choice.
So if anything your statement of "should buy these, because I have some", is far less helpful.
 
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Mr_Sukebe said:
So if anything your statement of "should buy these, because I have some", is far less helpful.
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I'm not saying go for the 602's just b-cos I have a pair, I'm saying go for them b-cos they are a dam good standmount speaker, he said he will be moving to a bigger place so he will need a speaker that will be able to fill the room which the 602's are good at doing, he like's listening to rock and hip-hop and the 602's are quite bass heavy so should suit his genre of music (if you like your bass that is), and anyway if i'm being honest, the OP'er was happy listening to a Sanyo amp that was most proberbly paried with some low end speakers so tbh I think any half decent standmount paired with a secoundhand Rotel/Nad/Arcam amp will be a pleasent upgrade for him.
 
The larger B&W 6xx have bass, but it's not what I would call controlled bass.
You don't even know the size of the room. You're just recommending them because a) you have them and b) because they have awards.
 
squiffy said:
The larger B&W 6xx have bass, but it's not what I would call controlled bass.
You don't even know the size of the room. You're just recommending them because a) you have them and b) because they have awards.
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I really don't undertand this, you truly believe that I am only recommending the 602's b-cos "a) you have them and b) because they have awards", lol, over the last ten years I have had many different types of speakers, Mission's, Acoustic Energy, Rogers, etc and the 602's are my fav speaker i'm sorry if that offends you, the 602's are a good standmount (for the money) and nothing can take that away, now it just so happens that 'What Hi-Fi' rate these speaker highly but what can I do about that, sell them them because I shouldnt own anything that has been awarded stars by 'What Hi-Fi'.
 
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amp first then speakers

its a matter of gettin what you like. dont get any equipment without hearing it first!!

on the b&w discussion i liked them when i heard em a few years back but ended up gettin some quads
 
The plot thickens....

Mate of mine lent me some Kef speakers which he isn't using at the moment, and if anything the sound quality is now worse.

I know sod all about hifi equipment (as I think you've all guessed) so forgive me if some of the following sounds obvious.

I'm using a fairly cheap cable (and it's 5m long) to connect my Creative X-Fi music soundcard in my PC to the amp. I've ordered a new 3m cable which was £30 so this might improve things somewhat. Also, my music collection is entirely MP3 which I know isn't as good as CD, but they're all at minimum 192kbps and many are above this.

The sound I'm getting from the Kef speakers (sorry, no idea what model, they're bookshelf jobs and they weigh a ton) is quite mushy and not at all clear. I'm assuming this is what people have said about a poor quality amp driving good speakers? I also had to hook them up to the amp using some random speaker cable I found in a draw as my old speakers had the wires pre-attached.

I'm thinking perhaps it's new amp time first in view of the above, with some decent quality speaker cable?
 
Decent quality cable does yield an improvement, but not so much as a good amp will. The cable is the last link to be upgraded IMO.

Get a good amp first, then good speakers, good cable always comes last IMO.
 
Big Chris said:
The plot thickens....
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not really. kef are often hard speakers to drive so you need a good amp. a poo amp would make kefs sound dog.

get an amp. go second hand and you could pickup up a lot of amp for not much money
 
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