B&W 600 S3 User Manual

GROUP TEST MULTICHANNEL LOUDSPEAKERS

B&W

MULTICHANNEL PACKAGE: DM602 S3/DM601 S3/LCR 600 S3

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SOUND VALUE £899.85

CONTACT  01903 750750 www.bwspeakers.com GUARANTEE 5 years

he dominant force in
specialist hi-fi loudspeakers
today, B&W has serious

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quality speakers to fill any
market niche you care to think up,
and a few more besides. But when I
started unpacking these new Series 3
600s, it felt a bit like welcoming a
family of old friends.

The 600s have been B&W’s
bedrock budget range for more years
than I care to remember, and usually
drop by in pairs every two or three
years.This time I seem to have got
half the family at once, with a pair of
large standmount DM602 S3s for the
front left/right, an even more
substantial LCR600 S3 for the centre,
and the smaller (but by no means
miniature) DM601 S3s for the rear.

The familiarity was all the stronger
because my well-run-in set came in
traditional black ash woodprint,
which is still popular in some
territories.The photographer,lucky
chap, got to play with the new light
oak Sorrento finish, which is much
closer to current British tastes, and a
major reason for evolving the new
Series 3 range.

The DM602’s heritage goes back
more than twenty years.When it first
appeared, this stereotypical 20-litre
standmount looked attractively
compact; in today’s company it looks
decidedly bulky. Since the laws of
acoustics have remained unchanged,
this is basically a reflection of how
fashion has driven the speaker
marketplace,for good or ill.

Whatever, this generous two-way
has a good size main driver with cast
frame and 140mm diameter Kevlar
cone, plus B&W’s tube-loaded
25mm metal dome tweeter. No-one
would describe it as stylish, but then
that’s not really the point.The
purpose is to offer the best sound
quality for the money, and the shape
is determined by the single and
relatively large main driver.

The DM601 S3 is similar only
smaller, roughly 14 litres in enclosure
volume, and has, over the long haul,

600 S3

STEREO PAIR: DM602 S3
SOUND VALUE £299.95

probably been Britain’s most popular
hi-fi speaker. It has a correspondingly
smaller main driver, again with a cast
frame but using a Kevlar cone
118mm in diameter.

The same main driver crops up in
the LCR600 S3 centre speaker, only
here there are two, one as a bass/mid
unit, and the other just to reinforce
the bass end, and both with shielded
magnets. I was a great fan of this
model’s LCR6 predecessor (
but the fact that it’s the bulkiest and
heaviest of our centre speakers by a
significant margin, and pricey too at
£350, might put some people off, so
B&W has introduced a smaller, lighter
LCR60 at £200.

Although the LCR600 S3 looks a
bit pricey at £350, and helps take the
system up to £900 in total, I doubt
anyone will cavil at the £250 asked
for the pair of DM601 S3s, or the
£300 for the pair of DM602 S3s, as
each has a reassuring solidity. Just
bear in mind you’ll need stands to
support both of these.All the S3s
have twin terminal pairs, and all have
reflex-ported enclosures, but are also
supplied with port-blocking bungs –
handy if you need to place them
close to walls,for example.

Even though it’s a standmount,the

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DM602’s bass extension can match
most floorstanders.All three models
have good extension, and can
therefore be designated ‘large’,
though try using the supplied bungs
to block the 601 ports if you’re using
them near a wall.The LCR centre
speaker makes a pretty good balance
match with the DM602.

CONCLUSION

HFC

198),

Large standmount speakers are not
the most fashionable format around
these days (especially in the black
finish version), but this B&W combo
unquestionably delivers the sonic
goods in both stereo and
multichannel modes. Decent-size,
high-quality main drivers mounted in
compact standmount enclosures still
make plenty of sense,whatever the
prevailing trends.

"THE 600s HAVE BEEN B&W’S
BUDGET RANGE FOR YEARS AND
USUALLY DROP BY IN PAIRS
EVERY TWO OR THREE YEARS."

MULTICHANNEL
SOUND QUALITY

The good stereo balance carried
through into the multichannel tests,
the combination of all three B&W
models creating a convincing all
round coherence. No other system
was more successful at creating the
warm and cuddly envelopment of
the whole musical event, and expe­riencing this combination made a
strong justification for the benefits
of surround sound music.

The good size centre and
surround speakers made a worth­while contribution towards building
up the wraparound soundfield,
while the meaty DM602s at the
front delivered weight and drama
with little obvious contribution from
additional box colorations.

TWO-CHANNEL
SOUND QUALITY

Despite its modest price, the
DM602 S3 came close to the top in
the unsighted stereo listening tests,
impressing particularly with its scale
and authority.‘Very low distortion,
clean, effortless and detailed with­out being tiring’ was one panellist’s
reaction. ‘Robust. Paints a big,
colourful picture/soundstage.
Easygoing, lots of headroom; gets
into the groove’ said another.

Criticisms were minor. Presence is
a little restrained and reserved,
which slightly suppresses fine detail
and expression, and the treble is
also just a tad exposed, but not to
the point where the sound
becomes harsh or aggressive. One
listener felt the speaker was
holding back a little, delivering the
verdict: ‘Nearly very good’.

HI-FI CHOICE www.hifichoice.co.uk february 2002