Differences between 602.5 and 603 ??

[Tha Freak]

Beside the price,

what differences should I expect between the two ?

The 602.5 are floorstanding but seems closer to the 602 bookshelf...and the 603 seems to have a "weird shaped" extra bass woofer...

It would be paired with a Rotel RC-972 integrated amp and a Rotel RCD-991 CD player…

Also, what could be a "good" price (canadian) on a brand new pair at a dealer ?

[Sim reality]

Take a look at this article:

http://stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/805bw/

I have 603 but haven't listened to the 602.5 but i do think that the cabinet would be too big for just the midrange driver ( I have seen reviews saying it sounds a little boomy). I would save your money and go 602 over 602.5 and if you were going with a floorstanding speaker go 603 or better.

Oh... And the funny looking bass driver was B&W trying to create a shape that would be stiffer then a cone (mushroom cap evidently). No that cones are bad, but if you were allowed more mass (because you are not trying to vibrate the speaker as quickly) then why not try and make the driver stiffer?

[Tha Freak]

anybody else??

[JürgenW]

Take a look at this article:

http://stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/805bw/

I have 603 but haven't listened to the 602.5 but i do think that the cabinet would be too big for just the midrange driver ( I have seen reviews saying it sounds a little boomy). I would save your money and go 602 over 602.5 and if you were going with a floorstanding speaker go 603 or better.

It's a while ago I did a listening test of the 600's. The 602.5 I liked least. They sounded in the midrange to much demped, for me good to hear with voices from the radio. Compared with my Matrix 3/2 (which I used then quite a lot). The later ones gave a spacey, open and relaxed sound.
After that I compared the 603 with the 604. I expected from reviews that I would like the 603 more. But that wasn't the case. The 603 sounded more direct, but also more forced; the 604 sounded more back-laid, but also more open and especially more natural. I registered that most with an old Callas recording and a piano-recording (Granados): with the 604 I heard more the natural sound of the piano; also with a recording of a classical guitar and a very nice recording by Maria José Pires, Schubert, Le Voyage Magnifique, DG).
In general I had the impression that the 604 sounded more muscial, with a tendency to pleasant shading.

(To make it short: all ended with buying a CDM 9NT and some month further: having used from that moment on the Matrix 801 as the main speakers, but that's another story.)

Jürgen