B&W 601,602 & 685

Hi Tristy

The excellent 602 S3's any day

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I've had a set of 601 S3's & thought the bass was pretty good. Was running them off an Arcam Alpha 9 Amp & Cambridge Audio Azur 640C.  Think maybe you should consider trying another amp or source first. I tried an Arcam FMJ AV amp once with them & the bass was awful which surprised me

Thanks guys.

The 602 S3s dont come up for sale often

Ive only just upgraded to the Denon 1911. Dont get me wrong the bass is very good. But I know I can get it deaper by upgrading. Looking at the frequency resposne of the speakers show this.

The 602 and 685 are very close on paper.

602 s3, utterly fabulous. i will never part with mine! good luck finding some as they are superb.

Another tick for the 602s.

Tristy, Try some other speaker cable, the qed silver anniversary does lack a little bottom end itself. Try some qed xt350 speaker cable on your speakers, that will  give them a bass lift, as well as sounding better too. I used both cables before so i know how they sound ,and on b&w speakers as well.

I changed my QED S.A Bi-wire for twin runs of Atlas Hyper 2.0. Much more natural sounding. I even turned my sub down a bit.

Hi Tristy. 

I have a 1911 with 602 s3 at the front and 601 s3 at the rear. I couldnt get the smooth bass you are chasing until I bought a dedicated 2 channel amp. 

It made such a difference even though up until that point the 1911 with 603 was the best system I had owned. I could never go back now though. The 1911 doesn't have an option to run a seperate amp, so i bought a Beresford speaker switch so only have one pair of fronts

I use chord carnival cable with chord crimson plus ic's

Thanks guys for your replies Sorry for slow reply, been away.

But whilst been away a Pair of 685s have arrived. I couldnt find any 602 S3s, was looking for a while. But typical there are a few on ebay now!! Oh well. If I dont like the 685s I can easily sell them on ebay for the same price the 602s come up for.

I will try them tomorrow night and see how the 685 sound.

My brothers tried them at parents and he said they lack the sonic ability and sound my 601 S3s have. But hes only heard the S3s at my house on stands filled with sand etc. The 685s hes tried in his bedroom placed on top of a table. Not quite a fair test.

We will see tomorrow night.

Hi Tristy

If 602 S3's are now available then try and get a pair asap and then move on the 685's. 602 S3's are still excellent speakers. They rock

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

lol good thinking

I take it you dont like the 685s much? lol as your confident id ditch the 685s

I really liked my 602's, but then something else came along that I liked more.

Good speakers though.

Hi Tristy

Like i said earlier on 602 S3's any day    Old is gold

What are you waiting for

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

lol Rick

I better get to it then haha

How do you find the 602s better?

Everyones ears are different so I take peoples comments on forums and revies with a pinch of salt. But Ive seen a mix of comments, some say 602s sound fuller. Others say 685 has better detail etc. 685s have better bass tightness. 602 does lower etc