Dissapointed with my new speakers


So a couple of weeks ago I replaced my 2 year old Klipsch RB25 bookshelves with a pair of B&W DM603 S2 floorstanders. When I first auditioned them I fell in love with their resolution and clarity however having lived with them for two weeks now, I am very dissapointed in the low-end and to a much lesser extent, the midrange.

On most songs, the bottom end seems very lacking compared to the Klipsch bookshelves and simply pales in comparison to the Klipsch RF82s we have in the living room. In addition the mid-range seems a little over emphasized. I can probably get used to the mid-range however, the lack of low end impact I probably couldn't get used to. I was thinking about adding a subwoofer but a half-decent one would start around $250 and go up from there and the speakers themselves are worth around $450-500. This got me thinking, maybe I should just switch to a different pair of speakers instead of trying to make the current system sound better. What do you guys suggest?

P.S.-I'm in Hawai'i so while I'm open to used speakers, shipping here will usually run about $250+ for floorstanders so I'd only have about $500 for the speakers.
skyline889
Make sure you have them wired correctly. If they are out-of-phase, the bass response will be weak.
07-10-09: Skyline889
I'm running them off of my Denon PMA-2000IVR integrated. It's a warmer high current SS amp so I was surprised at how little mid-low bass there was.
That should be a good amp/speaker match. That Denon is a big, heavy class A integrated with huge current reserves and the B&w has a pretty friendly impedance curve and its sensitivity is around 89 dB.

Also, the DM603 S2 was discontinued years ago, Stereophile reviewed the S3 in 2005, and the reviews of the S2 on Audioreview go back ten years. So it's definitely not a break-in problem.

So I suspect it's a room placement, spiking, or cabling problem, or a bit of all three. First thing to do is check to see if your speaker cables are wired out of phase to the speakers. That would easily account for why a floorstander known for dipping into the 30's has less bass than some Klipsch bookshelves.

Second, perhaps the cable itself is a mismatch and you need a very low gauge feed to the woofer terminals.

Third, maybe one or both of the woofers are blown. This is a 2-1/2 way system, which means it's a 2-way that gets augmented by the second woofer from about 450 Hz on down. If the woofers are blown, the mid/woofers still work but would have much weaker bass than when the lower woofers are helping out. This could also account for the bad tonal balance you're hearing.

Fourth, make sure the speakers are making contact through all the spikes or cones to the floor below. If you have hardwood floors, use cones (or spikes) plus floorsavers.

If all those things are OK, then you need to experiment with in-room placement. There may be some cancellations going on with the speakers in their current positions. How does their position compare with what you had for the Klipsch's?
Agree with all Johnnyb53 says. I would also suggest lugging them out to the room where your larger Klipsch reside and trying them in that system to see how they do there. - could be the current room size is too small for the 603s to open up, or the Denon is not as good a match as it seems on paper. Agree there could be a problem with on of the woofers - I always thought these speakers had a little too much bass!?!
My experience is what impresses on an audition doesn't always satisfy long term. But since you bought used you can swap out without too much pain$.

But before you swap 'em try changing associated equipment.
Interconnects, speaker wire, borrow sources, amps... Maybe they are pickier than your previous speakers.

I recently got some Spendor BC-1s that sounded pretty bad in my system. I swapped amps - some improvement. Then I swapped speaker wire - BIG improvement.
FWIW, your criticism of the B&Ws mirrors my own experience with their little brothers, the DM602 S2. I played around with various tweaks like bi-wiring, placement, and tubes, but nothing did it for me until I eventually cut my losses and moved on to different speakers.

Good luck.