I bought a pair a month ago, i have to say that listening to them in the shops they sounded much better than what i hear at home, for obvious reasons!But i also heard some of the run-off-the-mills like JBL, Boston Acoustic, Bass, Polk (average models) etc and some better ones like Mission KEF so forth. B&W sounds much much better (clearer and balanced )than the first group and i find still clearer and precise ( specially mid range) than the second group.
I am giving four stars only because the quality of sound does not come through so far in my place, if i could get the same result as what i heard in the shops, i would definitly give it a 5 star rating.

For the people that say these speakers have no bass are nuts!!Maybe they need better amps or receivers because my 603's
are AWSOME! I have to rate these babies with 5 stars.

Simply AWSOME!!!!!!!!

I love my 603's They sound great through all ranges. Bi-wire them and and the sound is awsome!!

I just bought a pair after having listened to a lot of other speakers in the same price range ( from JBL to Tannoy and Mission) . They sound really great !I recommend it .

You have to audition the 603's. I shopped for over a few stressful months till I listened to the 603's, I could not believe how many speakers in this price range simply could not reproduce bass effectively. The Paradigms were muddy, the Polks sounded artificial, the Boston VR40 (well I just couldn't even drive them) was pretty decent, but that was a much more expensive speaker before the closeout. The 603's have wonderful bass extension and with the acoustic damping plugs provided, you can tailor the bass to your level.
I have found these speakers to perform very well with almost anything I have thrown at them. The sound is rich and full. The bass can be a little heavy without the damping plugs in, but like I said before you can tone it down if you need to. I prefer to have more available to me than not enough.

I have auditioned Paradigm, Boston Acoustics, NHT, Polk, Mirage and KEF's and these are the best speakers in the $800-$1,000 price range. YOU MUST TRY THEM at least.

Speakers are only as good as your personal tastes. There are alot of Audiophile snobs out there so you need to just do what you think sounds the best to you. If you end up with Bose or Infinity or Polk, well thats great for you. Don't let anyone bully you into buyings something that you don't like for a brand name. I've found that many people in the stores give so many lame reasons to buy their speakers..just do what sounds the best to you. Hope this helps.

John

When I auditioned the B&W 603 speaker system as a music only speaker system, my impression was they sounded a little unclear in the midrange. Since it was in a showroom, it is possible I suppose that the unclear midrange sound could have been the result of the music CD that was playing. To me the B&W 603 sounded good, but a little unclear in the midrange. Now if I could have taken that speaker home with me and listened for awhile, then maybe I could really get a much better idea of how the speakers really sounds! That is the true test of any speaker system. How will it sound in my own listening environment??? How will it sound with a wide variety of music. You know, Mozart to ACDC!!! But since I was unable to take them home with me, I will have to judge these speakers on how they sounded to me that day in some showroom. Good, but not great! 4 stars!

B&W is an English speaker-factory who really knows how to make great high-class speakers. When this is said, let`s go over to the DM 603. The first thing you notice about it, is the fine detail and the relaxed sound.They are not the kind of speakers you have at a big boom-boom party. Because there isn`t much of that in them. I, personally, found them a little bit too slim in the bass area. But this is a matter of taste. They do fine in the home theatre as well. If you are looking for a really loud-playing speaker, this is not the best pic. I played them on my H/K AVR 80 and found that I couldn`t really push them too far. The sound brakes up and gets all nasty. But as I`ve said earlier, this is not a loud-playing speaker.All in all I find this product real good and recommend it to all who are looking for a floor-standing speaker in budget-class.
Because of the, a bit too slim bass, I can`t really give them a full five star.

I went into my local stereo retailer planning to buy a omplete system. I tested the following speakers
Paradigm, B&W, Klipsch, and Definitive Tech..

First the Paradigm's: I liked these because of their wonderful price / performance ratio. I thought the bass response more than adequate but overall the sound was a little overdone. It lacked something in the mid end I think. They were nice though and made it difficult to decide. Next came the B&W's. Beautiful. Deailed, crisp mid's and high's with a wonderfully clean sound. It just lacked some bass punch. The dealer hooked up a Paradigm PS1200 sub and there I was standing in Heaven. The bass filled in that exact area I was looking for and those B&W's gave me goosebumps. B&W is right when they say listen and you will see. I saw and am not going back. I can't emphasize enough the imortance of bringing in your own CD's. Bring CD's your familiar with as well as all kinds of music. Test each out on each speaker and one will stand out as the B&w did for me. Best of luck.

I've own the B&W 603 spearker for two months. I found the sound is great and met the requirement for different kind of music. For the similar price range, I can't find other better choice! I would like to recommend it if you want to pay about US$600 ~ 700 for a new pair of speakers.