can go loud; great for rock music

For the price, none

I bought my sons their first stereo system about a year and a half ago. I auditioned these speakers, along with some Paradigms (Titans, I think) and thought they sounded terrific. So - ended up buying the pair along with an entry level Yamaha receiver (35WPC) and a Yamaha 5 disc changer. Have had nothing but trouble with both Yamaha components (the receiver went back for repairs twice; finally got the thing replaced - it was basically DOA) but the B&W's have been a revelation. I've got an excellent stereo system (B&K amp, Thiel 1.2 speakers, Rotel pre-amp) but my room isn't the best. My boy's bedroom is a lot better for listening than our "stereo room" so I'm sure that accounts for a lot of what I'm about to say, but....There are times when I think their little system sounds better than mine. I'm not too analytical when I listen to music. I don't really listen for "soundstage" etc. I've subscribed to Stereophile for years, but I don't listen the way that most of their readers do. So, the message here is kinda simple. These speakers sound great. They can be played really loud; actually, the louder the better. Excellent for rock, but they stand up to quieter music too. Was listening to Incubus (some of their lighter stuff) and there was no doubt that the sound was better on the B&W's than my Thiels. Of course, all that may only mean that the Thiels aren't rock friendly. Anyway - you can't go wrong with these little speakers (they're good looking too)!

Similar Products Used:

Polk, Thiel

For the price, excellent musicality.

Slightly cheap looking. Not exactly fine furniture.

I wanted a sub-$300 speaker for my second system, which is used for phono listening and movie watching. The 302s were the last speaker I auditioned, and to me they were the best value. I bought them for $225.

I'm not gonna say they are "incredible", but I will say that for the money, they are very musical and enjoyable. You get a lot of performance from a small, unassuming (if not attractive) package.

One last note: as with ALL speakers at ANY price, the importance of the 302's upstream electronics must not be underestimated. While driving with my 15-yr old NAD 5155 integrated, the difference in sound between my $120 portable cd player and my $3000 rig was "quick, pull the freaking plug" vs "wow, crank it up". If you want gourmet sound, don't feed your speakers junk food. Not even Julia Childs could make a Bic Mac taste good.

Similar Products Used:

nht super1, psb alpha a/v and mini, acoustic energy aegis one, mirage frx1, b&w 305

Good tonal balance, imaging.

Not the deepest bass

I don't what you people are talking about how bad
these can sound, but look at at some of the hardware
you are using: receivers!!!! Japanese CD players!!!
lamp cord for speaker wire!!! audiolab!! sony(yuk!)
Try using SET tubes, Silver wire, Rotel, Rega, even NAD
and hear the results!! C'mon, get real!
These little guys work wonders with quality equipment.
Nuff said. 5 stars

Similar Products Used:

mission, psb

I bought them for the company, and prior to deliveryhooked them up instead of my normal Quads.

1) Sitting on the floor (don't ask)
2) On stands, but well away from any walls. This was
compensated for with a bit of bass lift on the
Quad 34 preamp.

After a few minutes, I found myself listening to
*music* through these little ones.

Transparency, Soundstaging, Crisp Presentation, Dynamics, Solid and Pleasing Midbass.

At this price the speaker is virtually perfect.

I bought these little gems almost 2 years ago. They were my first foray into the world of real hi-fi sound. I haven't looked back since.

I auditioned many speakers before buying the DM302s. I knew that I could not afford a top-shelf audio system, but I did want to begin reaching for that mid-fi range. I consequently spent many hours listening to the bookshelf offerings of companies like Polk, Mission, and Klipsch at chain megastores and even mid-fi stores like Bryn Mawr Stereo. While all of these speakers sounded good, nothing really blew me away enough for me to be able to justify spending hard-earned $$$ on a student's budget. Finally, one day, more in an effort just to dream, I walked into the local Super-Hi-Fi Boutique store. I told him what I was looking for, and he told me he had just the thing.

I have listened to the DM302s paired with a small 20-watt NAD 710 Receiver. This combination of speaker and amp can be had for under $500 AFTER TAX! Extensive listening to this system in different rooms and apartments revealed these speakers to be tremendously detailed and rich. True to the Prism Cabinet design team's claims, this speaker does demonstrate an amazingly uncolored sound, leading to remarkable transparency and very nice soundstaging. The midbass is TREMENDOUSLY impressive, with good punch, nice attack transients, and even a fair amount of impact. The highs are smooth, detailed, and crisp. The speakers are definitely pretty forward, but I like that sound, and the speakers are not fatiguingly forward. The detail you will hear from these speakers is the reason Stereophile gave the DM302 the Editor's Choice Product of the Year for 1997. The difference between these speakers and other bookshelf offerings from the many manufacturers in the mid-fi market is remarkable. And the 302s are cheaper than many of the competition. True, the bass will not play super low. If you're looking for dance speakers to play at parties, look elsewhere. But for critical listening and for movies, these speakers will play plenty loud and with far more detail than you could imagine at this price.....and if you're just getting into this, more detail than you've probably ever heard before. This is an efficient speaker that will play very nicely with a low-power, no-digital-frills receiver like NAD or Rotel, and I'm sure would also sound great with a Sony or Yamaha or Denon mass-market product.

You can, and will, listen to much better speakers. But at this price point, this is in my opinion THE value in high-end sound. I've since stepped up to bigger amps and better speakers, to the tune of a $5000 system. But the 302s are still satisfying, and I will keep them forever. Sometimes, just for kicks, I hook up the 302s to my Plinius 2100i Integrated 100WPC amp, and I'm amazed by how these speakers can keep up. There is no doubt that for anyone looking in this price range and even above, this is the speaker to own. Listen for yourself. It will be tough to turn this speaker down at $250. Happy listening!

Similar Products Used:

Prior to buying this speaker, I auditioned similarly-priced alternatives from KEF, Mission, Boston Acoustics, Polk, Bose, Klipsch.

music sounds great. HT sound is a given :)

They don't sound like a CDM series or Martin Logans (hey, they are bookshelf speakers!)

Took me a few weeks to survey all the audio shops in phoenix before I found these. I ended up with 302's in front, cc6 center, and energy eXLS10 for sub, I had a pair of ancient (but excellent) Infinity RS1s I put in the back, and I upgraded my ancient denon to a new one. oh yeah! The paradigm titans were close to the 302s in my ears, but the front b&w setup fit my cost/performance/upgradability needs best. The sound is better than in the audio stores, maybe because of less passthroughs, maybe because of my use of stands, but I'm not sure. Tweaking works. As always there is room for improvement for any low end speaker, but my energy sub matches very well with the 302s for music, and I love the overall sound. As for the other reviews, if these things don't sound good loud, get a better amp or a smaller room. I have these in a decent size room and I have cranked them loud enough to go deaf w/o distortion. The treble and sound dispersion are great and they really do sound larger than they look.

Sound, price, detail

Poor materials

I feel the need to make a some clearness: if you use these little, fantasticly musical speakers for HT systems and say that they have no bass because you pretend to feel your stomach vibre for earthquake movies, maybe you've made a mistake; instead, if you listen to these speakers, correctly positioned on good stands, far away from rear end side walls, and fed up with good cd or analog sound amplified by a good amplifier, you'll feel that these little speakers can make a miracle: they reproduce a full range sound (I've tested them and they go under the 50Hz with ease) with plenty of detail and sound really great.
The scene is really wide and open, the bass is one of the fastest I've ever heard, and the high is simply astonishing.
If compared with speakers that cost two or three times, they make feel you simply a fool to think about buying the others. Necessarily, you must use them in a possibly not too great listening room, and you'll enjoy the best value of them. If you are good to make hand works, I suggest you a simple upgrade that will transform these two in an even more fantastic couple. If someone is interested in this upgrade can write me for direct explanations at my personal address (mmarcolini@motoguzzi.it). Surely, to give 5 stars to these speakers is quite simple. They cost nothing, sound great, and with a little upgrade can make disappear many overvalued speakers on the market.

Price, front-ported, optional faux cherry finish, no #$! metal dome tweeter, really shines in a 'live' room

Cabinet shows it's weaknesses when pushed, a 'dead' room will kill this speaker

This speaker is a true value in today's market. Speakers get so expensive so quickly, and this little number does far too much for it's price. I bought these for my bedroom, which is a fairly 'live' room, lots of hard surfaces. What impressed me most was their quality of 'evenness', that they don't overdeliver one place to make up for missing somewhere else. Presentation is uniform all along the spectrum. The speakers really shine when mated with a Rotel integrated on clearance. I was not prepared for what came out of these gems. I was pushing them with a cheap boombox until I stumbled across the Rotel. Night and day with some higher quality amplification. Unlike, say, the Paradigm Atoms, which are initially very forward and have a nice bottom. But, like any hot relationship, they turn brassy and harsh and start shouting at you, and that nice bottom is looking pretty heavy. Nice for date, not for a relationship. But this is about the B&W 302's.

Unfortunately, if you start to make them sing, it gets ugly. The cabinet is a very light-duty construction (just pick it up and you'll see), and higher volumes will reduce music to mud. They are also very sensitive to room type. I moved them from my bedroom to my living room to see how they would respond. My living room has large, heavy, overstuffed furniture, drapes, etc. It absolutely killed the 302's. Dull, boring, lifeless are the words that come to mind. I was also surprised by the presentation. What was in my bedroom a rich, full sound became a diorama of what it could be. This causes me to question their suitability for home-theater. I was so stunned with their performance I was hoping to use them for HT, but this will not work in my room.

All in all, a very good speaker at a very good price, but are more suited to close-in listening, low to mid-hi volumes, and live rooms. By far the best speaker I've found in this price range. (under $300) If that's what you have, these are an absolute steal. If you have the space, consider reaching for the Magnepan MMG, at $500 a totally insane bargain. For bargain HT, consider the Paradigm mini-monitor, an impressive speaker.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, NHT

For small room applications these are great speakers. I have 4 in my bed room running off a Marantz SR8000 receiver and they sound great. they just need a little more boom but thats where the sub comes in. great combination. I am comparing apples and oranges in speakers and equipment between the listing room and the bed room.I found that for the price,size and sound you get you cant go wrong with these speakers

not enough bass

Good speakers and good sound and price

Similar Products Used:

Pardigm studio 100's v/2 in the front, Pardigm studio 40's v/2 in the rear, studio cc for the center and b&w psw1000 for the sub. also Rotel RSP 985 processor, Rotel RCD 971 cd player, rotel RT 955 tunner, Pioneer Elite dv-05 for dvd's and a parasound 2205AT amp.

hmmm...if aything...I'd have say no DEEEP end...and dead rooms kill it's beauty!!

These are maybe the best speaker made under $500. If you are serious about listeing to music, and no pounding it(rock and roll)...these are it!! Now replaced by the 303 model....I'd buy a used set. Heck after some use I found these speakers to warm up...get better sounding as they got older. Jazz, Classical, and vocals come out of places you never thought of. It is nice to hear the breathe of the singer...the fingers on the chords, the actual sound of the drum reverb.

I'd say if you are a first time buyer..here is what you need. Buy 4 of these (cherry or black finish, a matching center channel B&W CC3, and maybe an Energy sub(my preference). You'll never buy a new set of speakers for years and years. These puppies can handle most any type of music you toss at it. But if you just want a loud thrashy speaker....don't buy these..!!! These are for people who want to "hear" the music..not feel it...lol

I will move mine to a second set, leave the second set as rears, and buy maybe the 600 or 800 series from B&W for the new mains....plus the matching center.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic, Warfdale, Energy, Audio Research