brandon11983

Today I learned more about audio in a few short hours than I have since I became obsessed with it. I learned first hand, that quality sound is purely subjective. What sounds good to you or the next guy may or may not sound good to me, and vise versa. I have heard a lot of good equipment in my short time as an aspiring audiophile. I've heard $22,400 Wilson WATT/Puppy 7's on a $60,000 Naim front end, $4,000 Von Schweikert's on a wonderful all tube Rogue front end, imposing Dynaudio's on pristine Mark Levinson Reference gear, and ultra articulate Focal.JMLab on Innersound. I was impressed by all of these at the time. Today I heard speakers like I have never heard before. And they sell for $599. They were a B&W DM603 S2. They are the largest in the 600 Series bookshelf speakers. They have a 7" Kevlar woofer, and 1" aluminum dome tweeter. They are in a front ported, bass reflex enclosure. I absolutely fell in love with their sound. I was as bold enough to call them the best sounding speakers that I have ever heard. And I know full well that I say that for all the wrong reasons. They may not be the most excruciatingly detailed speaker in the world, they may not be as accurate as the Wilson's or as linear as the Von Schweikert's, but I just love their sound. They are a bookshelf, so their low bass is rather lacking, but their midbass will make your eyes water. Very forceful and controlled, never sloppy. I was talking to Adam, my boss-type, as we were listening to them, telling him how the Von Schweikert's did go lower, but what the B&W's did do was much more powerful. Maybe thats wrong to like. Maybe the B&W's have too much midbass. I also liked the highs that they brought to the table. As some know (I'm looking at you juju...) I am a big fan of an aluminum dome tweeter. I like how they are just a little bit bright, but not shrill like a typical titanium dome. These had everything I was looking for in the highs department. Maybe that is wrong too, maybe they were too bright.... Cymbals were lifelike and present, and you can practically hear the fingers plucking acoustic guitar strings. I was also surprised at their ability to fill our moderately large listening room/sales floor with sound. My thoughts before were bookshelf=small sound for a small room. Needless to say, my viewpoint has been shifted. These had no trouble whatsoever in filling the room with accurate sound. They never really seemed to show their size. They remained very accurate at all volume levels. I was so impressed by these speakers, that I was ready to trade in my excellent Definitive BP-10's for the B&W's with stands right then and there. But alas, they have already been put up for sale on eBay, and the auction is near close with many bidders. The only concern I have at this point is how they would sound on solid state electronics. I never switched the 90wpc Rogue tube amp out for the 125wpc solid state Paraound Halo. You can rest assured that I will be doing that tomorrow before they are shipped out.

My final conclusion is that right or wrong, I absolutely loved the sound reproduced by a humble $600 bookshelf speaker. At long last, I have found my next speaker. Will it be the last? Certainly not. But it is all that I could have hoped for at this stage in my journey as an audiophile. I'm going to make a few phone calls to a B&W dealer that we get along with, and those will be mine in not much time at all. Are you proud of me juju?

__________________
Well behaved women rarely make history.