You need to undo that mistakeThe sight of this makes me feel sad as I downgraded from separates to 7.1.4 soundbar in April.
As so often with proprietary home cinema packages, it seems like the sub is the weak link - for the wrong side of £500 a BK would blow it out of the water.
I know this may upset the B & W enthusiasts out there but personally I've always considered their products to be a tad overpriced in relation to their performance.
That said, I'm sure it will find it's market with folks who want an all-in-one solution.
Hmm, I’m not so sure I’d agree. Nothing is overpriced if it sounds good - and good is individualistic.
I personally enjoy the sound of B&W stuff, so spending less money on something else isn’t good value to me
Indeed. I’m a big B&W fan and have something from them in all my systems.
I do agree about the sub in this package though. I’ve got the smaller ASW608 paired with a set of MM1s as my computer sound set up in a small room and it is excellent for that.
I’m sure that the ASW610 would make an ok sub for a full set up, but it would be left wanting compared to the (cheaper) BK XXLS400.
I never think subs have been B&W’s strong point - the ASW610XP might be better, but that is another price point altogether.
It's disappointing that they don't manufacture Atmos modules.One thing that bugs me about a lot of these packages (from most manufacturers) - none of them offer wall mountable surrounds.
I love my three B%W fronts (the original CM1s and a CMC) but had to go to another manufacturer for surrounds, rears and Atmos speakers.
This package is fine for people who have loads of room to use the standmounters as surrounds, but many people don't have that much space to spare.
Hmm after reading the review I don't know what to do; return a Sonos arc and get these or stick with what I have...tough call
I will be honest, the whole high-end Atmos sound bar vs AVR + Speakers is never going to be a straight forward comparison.Hmm after reading the review I don't know what to do; return a Sonos arc and get these or stick with what I have...tough call
Well i think the answer would depend of your room / order. If some small room with the fireplace middle and tv thrown in corner with the soundbar below then i could imagine this system would be so tricky to get sounding good there. If there is more space and you have "free hands" with locating the speakers some what optimally then it would be different scenario. The soundbar wouldn´t come anywhere close.
The most important part: The Bowers & Wilkins 600 S2 Anniversary Edition benefits from a few minor sonic tweaks, but based on memory it sounds largely the same as the previous generation.
And as you can still get the previous gen much cheaper you would save big bucks. Subwoofer should be swapped though (SVS, REL, BK, Arendal..) I hope people don´t get too fooled with the new range which is mainly refresh. It´s way to create hype and for the PR team to throw out nice sounding words about the changes. Below is the old range on sale:
Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series | Peter Tyson
Bowers and Wilkins 600 series at Peter Tyson. Browse our latest Bowers and Wilkins deals, with free UK delivery and finance options available.petertyson.co.uk
The original 606’s are even cheaper than that now at £329 - bargainWell i think the answer would depend of your room / order. If some small room with the fireplace middle and tv thrown in corner with the soundbar below then i could imagine this system would be so tricky to get sounding good there. If there is more space and you have "free hands" with locating the speakers some what optimally then it would be different scenario. The soundbar wouldn´t come anywhere close.
The most important part: The Bowers & Wilkins 600 S2 Anniversary Edition benefits from a few minor sonic tweaks, but based on memory it sounds largely the same as the previous generation.
And as you can still get the previous gen much cheaper you would save big bucks. Subwoofer should be swapped though (SVS, REL, BK, Arendal..) I hope people don´t get too fooled with the new range which is mainly refresh. It´s way to create hype and for the PR team to throw out nice sounding words about the changes. Below is the old range on sale:
Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series | Peter Tyson
Bowers and Wilkins 600 series at Peter Tyson. Browse our latest Bowers and Wilkins deals, with free UK delivery and finance options available.petertyson.co.uk
Just replaced my entire system (Q Acoustic 3020's & 3090) with 4x 607 and HTM6 and have to say that even pre run in, I am very pleased with the results. These are paired with my existing BK xls200 sub which seems ample for the room it's in. Happy camper given the sale price of the older 607's!
Very different sound signature to my ears (I'm no audiophile), a cleaner sound if that makes sense? Seems like they pull more detail out of source material. I've listened to a lot of music over Xmas period and noticing new things within tracks I am very familiar with (Howl & The Hum - Alternates EP sounds incredible through these).How are they different/better @AndyThorn ?
I currently have the 3020i/3090Ci combo and I've always found it lacking. Maybe it's just personal taste but I think they're too warm and laid back. Considering changing them and have been looking at the B&Ws.
Very different sound signature to my ears (I'm no audiophile), a cleaner sound if that makes sense? Seems like they pull more detail out of source material. I've listened to a lot of music over Xmas period and noticing new things within tracks I am very familiar with (Howl & The Hum - Alternates EP sounds incredible through these).
Space constraints prevented me going the 606 route and I was worried about FOMO, but they genuinely don't feel like a compromise.
I'm using a Denon X4500 pal. Seems like a good match as I believe the Denon has a warm sound, so balanced out nicely with the slightly brighter B&W'sThat's the sort of difference I would hope to hear if I changed my Q Acoustics setup for the B&Ws. The Qs are just a bit too wooly/indistinct for my liking.
What amp are you using @AndyThorn if you don't mind me asking ?
That's the sort of difference I would hope to hear if I changed my Q Acoustics setup for the B&Ws. The Qs are just a bit too wooly/indistinct for my liking.
" The 603’s foremost flaw is, in my opinion, the elevated treble response around the on-axis angle. Listening on-axis could make some recordings sound quite harsh, especially rock or pop music. It also gives many vocals a sibilant sound where the T, S, and CH parts of speech were overly emphasized. This can be greatly alleviated by positioning the speakers to be facing straight ahead so that they have no toe-in angle toward the listening position. As I said before, my hunch is that this is how they were intended to be positioned, but that isn’t stated anywhere in B&W’s literature for these speakers. For the best sound, keep the listening position around a 30-degree angle with respect to the on-axis angle as that will provide the most neutral direct sound. "
If you can't place sound position in your AVR setup, then you either have a bad AVR or you've not wired your speakers correctly or not placed them correctly (e.g rear speaker connected to front right or something).I will be honest, the whole high-end Atmos sound bar vs AVR + Speakers is never going to be a straight forward comparison.
I had the Samsung HW-N950 and the LG SN11 RG 7.1.4 ch and both give you a really excellent Atmos bubble.... the the dynamic range and bass is much better on a dedicated speaker setup but the localization of the effects is better on the sound bars, probably due to their smaller more direct focused drivers.
What I mean by that is that you can tell which direction the sound is coming from more easily..... especially with the Atmos height effects.
On my 5.1.2 AVR setup, the bass and LFE are just simply amazing, no sound bar will match it, over-all it is more natural sounding experience and the effects blend in nicely, its a lot harder to determine where the sounds are coming from as they are everywhere lol.
Hi,If you can't place sound position in your AVR setup, then you either have a bad AVR or you've not wired your speakers correctly or not placed them correctly (e.g rear speaker connected to front right or something).
I've got an inexpensive (less than £1200 all-in) AVR 5.1 setup, and I can accurately locate sounds in space. While playing video games with multichannel sound mix, I can for example tell that something is behind and to my left. On this setup I noticed that the xbox main menu sounds also move around... That is, if you navigate to a menu item central to the screen, the sound is louder through the centre speaker and so on.
Hiya,Just replaced my entire system (Q Acoustic 3020's & 3090) with 4x 607 and HTM6 and have to say that even pre run in, I am very pleased with the results. These are paired with my existing BK xls200 sub which seems ample for the room it's in. Happy camper given the sale price of the older 607's!