Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo B&W 602s3 vs Axiom????

I am about to purchase a pair of B&W 602s3 bookshelf speakers to be used as mains with my Yamaha receiver. Does Axiom offer any speakers which can match the dynamic intensity and musicality that the B&W's offer? I am interested in either bookshelf or floor standers.

Listen to a pair of M22ti's, and you'll probably forget all about those B&W's.

The B&W's sound "muddy" in comparison. I demo'd both before making my own purchase.

Well, I finally should get my speakers Monday, and this is the big comparison I am looking forward to make. I really like the way the b&w 602 s2/s3 speakers sound...I personally was very impressed by these speakers.

I guess only time will tell.

all the editors at audioholics.com thought the m22ti was a better speaker for less money. i think the comparison was in their speaker face off III.

I demoed the B&W in store. Try Sublime Lovin, it's what I got (or whatever the title of that song was...was big on the radio years back). The B&W really messed up the sound of the singers voice in comparison to other speakers IMHO.

I had a good listen to the B&W602 just about 2 weeks ago. I could not do a side by side comparison with my M3s but what I heard for that 20 minutes was enough to let me know that the Axioms were far superior to them.

The highs were more transparent in the Axioms and revealed every bit. The B&Ws on the other hand though crisp sounded a little laid back. The midrange was very laid back in the B&Ws and voices sounded colored. Phil Collins' voice sounded quite chesty. The bass was muddy and again congested with little punch. Particularly striking was the constricted soundstage. Mostly, I felt as if a good part of the music was missing or somewhere behind. And all this in a good demo room in the shop.

I think you should just order either the M3s or the M22s for the 30 day free trial and have a good listen. You can always return them if things turn out otherwise. I myself was considering the B&W DM303 but never looked back or regretted my decision once I went with the M3s.

Aqua,
Maybe the demo room wasn't so good after all.
Just a thought.

I have listened to B&W's extensively....and I don't care for anything below the CDM NT line. The CDM NT series, IMO, is where B&W begins to get better.

Anyway, to me the 600 series sounds muddy(lack of detail) and unresponsive. I think the bass is the largest contributing factor to their sounding muddled...just not tight and detailed at all. Just my 2 cents..

Chess, I had the same doubt about the demo room and so took a position just 4 feet in front of the speakers. The sound was better now but still overall muddy. Its just that I would expect a lot more out of speakers priced at $600 per pair. Especially after being benchmarked against the Axioms. Just my 2 cents too....

I agree with Mike, and would even say that the CDM NT is barely competitive against the Axioms to my taste.

I recently listened to the CDM NT's in a local friend's house, and the sound was decisively brighter than the Axioms (this is no side-by-side comparison, so I am relying on my auditory memories). To my ears, the Axioms achieve a fine balance of crispness and details, without getting too bright, aggressive or fatiguing. The inner transparency of music resulting from this balance wasn't there in the CDM NT.

In order to outdo the Axioms, IMO, you have to go for the upper models of the Nautilus 800 series. I also recently listened to the 802's in another local buddy's house. Although I very much liked the tonal accuracy of these speakers (way better than the CDM NT), they did not succeed in making themselves sonically invisible (tried several different speaker placements), which the Axioms are always so good at.