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REVIEW: B&W DM 604 S2 Speakers

63.166.216.16


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Model: DM 604 S2
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $1600
Description: 4-driver, 3-way, reflex port floor standing loudspeaker
Manufacturer URL: B&W
Manufacturer URL: B&W

Review by Bombaywalla ( A ) on May 28, 2003 at 10:26:19
IP Address: 63.166.216.16
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for the DM 604 S2


This review is for the B&W DM604S2 speakers. I bought them brand new & have owned them since May 2000. In a nutshell, to me, these are really nice speakers. I play jazz, blues, classical & classic rock music thru them. Compared to some other speakers that I have heard (Martin-Logan, Newform Research, Excel Array, Piega) these B&Ws are on the dark side of neutral. I have played music thru them on a completely solid-state system i.e. solid-state CDP, pre & power as well as w/ my present system which has a tube preamp. I have concluded that these B&Ws mate better to tube equipment than solid-state. I prefer the sweeter tube sound thru them – it seems that the rather forward Nautilus tweeter is tamed somewhat with some tubes in the signal chain be it just the pre or power or both. Although the frequency response is (only) to 44Hz, I find the bass adequate. Data from the manuf. shows that the –6dB point is at 34Hz. So, I’d say bass down to 40Hz is easily possible tho I have not measured it myself. Data from the manuf. also seems to indicate that one of the bass drivers directly below the Kevlar mid is designed to take over the mid so that there is a seamless transfer while the lower bass driver is totally dedicated to sub-bass duties. I like bass slam (& there is plenty!) & I find that my needs are mostly satisfied here – my room will not support bass lower than 40Hz in any case. I do notice that these speakers sound best when the volume is turned up - I feel the speakers "light" up. This could be a bad thing in that I could be losing details at low volume listening. The specification sheet says the efficiency is 90dB SPL but it doesn't *appear* to be true in my system. I think that this “complaint” is consistent with every other B&W speaker review I have read.

The Nautilus tweeter is fantastic, in my opinion – very revealing. I really like the vocals thru it (eg. Patricia Barber, Ella Fritzgerald, Maria Callas, Patsy Cline). The speakers respond well to blues (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King) very well - plenty of bass & great midrange. Another thing I noticed with these speakers is that they perform their best when they are as free standing as possible. They do not need an bass reinforcement from the side &/or rear walls.

Initially I had the speakers sitting on the carpet & the bass was really muddy. Using brass cones to elevate them really helped to tighten the bass & also raised the tweeter level 1-1.5 inches making it more suitable w.r.t. my listening position.

I really like the biwire option. Though there is much debate on biwiring benefits, I saw an improvement in my system. I was using mid-line Monster speaker cable, which I swapped out for a TARA Labs Prism single run biwire for a marked inmprovement. I could have benefited from both brand change & single to biwire change. A further improvement was perceived by me when I upgraded the TARA Prism to a Master Gen 2. Now I have the Master Gen 2 feeding the high frequency while the TARA Prism feeds the low frequency (until I can find another 6-ft Master Gen 2 speaker cable!). The immediate improvement has been in the high frequency clarity, extension & more life-like images. I played some music thru the Master Gen 2 driving the high freq. & then switched back to my earlier setting to TARA Prism driving the high freq. Boy, what a difference. The Prism sounded like Hell! Everything was muted, rolled off & the sound spectrum seemed shifted downwards. Until I replaced the TARA Prism with the Master Gen 2 I was in an (ignorant ) bliss!

One other “cosmetic” complaint: that these were available only in black ash thus had (& still has!) a low WAF.

Associated gear

Harmon-Kardon CDP

CAT SL1 Mk 3Preamp

Symphonic Line RG4 Mk 3 mono block power amps

Similar products

CDM7SE, CDM9NT,DM605S2, Martin-Logan(various models), N804, Boston Acoustics (model?), Newform Research R645, Piega C3 Limited & C10 Limited, Excel Array (Rick Craig’s design).


Product Weakness: Tweeter can bare the truth too much, requires lots of clean power amplification, loss of details at low level listening, cabinet not damped enough hence bass can be boomy, comes only in Black Ash.
Product Strengths: Revealing tweeter, excellent high freq. extension, life-like midrange, plenty of bass slam, biwireable, suited to a wide variety of music.


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: see review
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): see review
Sources (CDP/Turntable): see review
Speakers: see review
Cables/Interconnects: see review
Music Used (Genre/Selections): see review
Room Comments/Treatments: see review
Time Period/Length of Audition: see review
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): see review
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: B&W DM 604 S2 Speakers - Bombaywalla 10:26:19 05/28/03 ( 38)