Rear Speakers (B&W Question)

Oakmere

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Rear speakers.

B&W 601's or 602's?

The 602-S3's (Large bookshelf) are £200 a pair and the 602 5-S3's (Floorstanders) are £300 a pair. By the time you order decent stands for the 602-S3's they come near enough to £300! My question is, are a pair of 602 5-S3's as rears a bit overkill?

(I already have a pair of 602-S2's as fronts. The older speaker with the Mid and a single Bass driver.)
 
IMO you would still need to get some stands for the floorstanders to get them to a good height for surround duties. I run some CM4s (which used to be my fronts) for surround L&R on some 40CM stands to get them to a good height.

I also use 2 x 601s for surround back duties, on tall stands which is a great solution.
 
I had 602.5 for hearing at home. I didn't like them and gave them back. They were in my opinion to 'restricted'(not free) in the sound.
Therefore I advice you to go for 4 602's. (I understood that the small boxes are great.)
Jürgen
 
jhjerpe, if I am right in asuming you are suggesting placing floorstanders on stands the whole idea sounds quite bizare to me. It totally defeats the idea of floorstanders and I imagine would look rather silly on stands. If you are happy with that setup then each to their own I suppose.
Oakmere, have you considered dedicated surround speakers like the B&W DS6 S3? They are dipole speakers which will give you a better surround for movies, but are also switchable to monopole to better suit multi-channel music.
 
Originally posted by Stellavision
jhjerpe, if I am right in asuming you are suggesting placing floorstanders on stands the whole idea sounds quite bizare to me. It totally defeats the idea of floorstanders and I imagine would look rather silly on stands. If you are happy with that setup then each to their own I suppose.

In my opinion using floor standers as surround speakers would typically mean they are a lot lower than the ideal position. I had a pair of CM4 going spare, rather than sell them at a huge loss I opted to put them on some low stands (40cm), which looks fine to me (good height and nothing in the way!).

The point of floor standers typically is that they offer a fuller frequency range of than book shelf’s / satellites - this applies even if they are on stands surely? Or am I missing some fundamental law of physics.

Floor standers are never going to be the ideal height for surround L&R or surround backs, but if you want them, say because of a great offer or you already have some (me) then my slightly odd stand suggestion ‘stands’.
 
Originally posted by Stellavision

Oakmere, have you considered dedicated surround speakers like the B&W DS6 S3? They are dipole speakers which will give you a better surround for movies, but are also switchable to monopole to better suit multi-channel music.

Speakers such as the DS6 and 7 from B&W are great, my struggle has always been to find enough clear wall space for them. With di-poles you really need to be able to mount them on a wall without the usual domestic clutter. Curtain, book cases and such can really play havoc with side firing speakers. Swithcing them to mono-pole seems such a waste!

I had a pair of DS7s on home demo and thought they where very good but a bit over priced. If you can accomodate them I think they are a great solution.
 
Originally posted by jhjerpe
The point of floor standers typically is that they offer a fuller frequency range of than book shelf’s / satellites - this applies even if they are on stands surely? Or am I missing some fundamental law of physics.
I suppose the fuller frequency range is neccesary if you are not using a sub, although you could direct bass from your surrounds to your fronts below your designated crossover.
I got rid of my floorstanders recently because I was setting all speakers to small and sending everything below 80hz to the sub.
Oakmere if you have a decent sub then smaller surrounds may be more suitable. If you don't have a sub then perhaps floorstanders maybe better, although I still think floorstanders on stands would look silly. If you have a decent pair of front floorstanders and don't push your system too hard I think wall mountable smaller speakers would be more appropriate. IMHO of course.
 
Agree with the comments on using a sub and sats. One other reason for sticking with my 'silly' floor standers at the back is mainly for my SACD / DVD-A collection which I forgot to mention. I've never been impressed with the bass management of for these formats (to date).

Oh and really they don't look that silly trust me.... :blush:
 
I will be purchasing a sub (ASW675) once we move to the new house.

I suppose I will need to hear both speakers before making up my mind. It just seemed to me that I could be getting more speaker for my money!

thanks for the help guys.

EDIT : I'm going to take a look at the CDS6 S3 speaker. When I move house the room will be a dedicated HT, so hopefully the back wall will be clear. Thanks :thumbsup:
 

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