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Buy a sub or ditch my new speakers altogether?

I recently picked up a pair of B&W 602.5s, brand new, for a song. Turns out to be the wrong song, and it was a final sale. :/

They have loads more midrange and high end detail than my former Allison CD6s, but the Allison's 8" woofers had the B&Ws beat in the low end.

The B&W's lows are boomy and pretty out of control, and when listening to TV at a lower level, there's almost no bass at all. The port plug tightens up the boominess, at the expense of even less bass overall.

So, the question becomes, do I put these brand new B&Ws up for sale, and look for something else, or do I pick up a subwoofer and attempt to salvage the sound? I am quite happy with the 602.5's mids and highs. I find it interesting that many reviews of the next (discontinued) model up, the 603, mention needing a sub, despite having a dedicated 6.5" bass driver.

If I do end up getting a sub, for say $500, I'm then into the current setup for $900. This begs the question, what could be had sans sub, with similar punchy mids and clear highs, but with deep(er) clean(er) bass, in the same price range?

Logic tells me that a 2 mains and a sub beats the low end capabilities of a $1000 speaker with no sub.

Many thanks for any advice.

rkny
rkny OP
47 posts
 
The Solo has a pre out, but not a dedicated sub out. Maybe the Movie version does. A sub, as my audio dealer (and Veroman) put it, will be more of a band-aid on the problem than a solution.

I auditioned the B&W 683s today. They are the speakers I want and should have bought from the beginning. Now I'm faced with the untidy task of selling the 3 day old 602.5s and somehow sneaking the 683s into the apartment without my girlfriend noticing the switch. B&W has made this pretty difficult, as they don't sell the 683 in light oak finish in the U.S...the 602.5s are light oak.
thuhaile
105 posts
 
Just tell her that the 683s are less expensive than the 602.5s :)
bjesien
1,338 posts
 
You mentioned rushing in to buy something to try saving a buck. Maybe this speaker is not what you like?

Try to get out and listen to few more. Bring the Solo along to establish a baseline. Dealers should be able to explain why the Solo would or wouldn't work in a given setup. Proceed with caution.

You will probably find a speaker you like better without the added expense and consumption of a sub.

Good luck!
pmm
239 posts
 
Buy a Sub, keep the 602.5`s. B&W`s are known to be deficient in their bass output, a dealer confirmed this to me. I own the 804`s and a pr./Polk 10B`s. For comparison, I listened to track #6, "Holst: The Planets" (Previn, Telarc). Great track for bass output! Get this CD to audition your bass.If your speakers have decent bass, this track should impress you. My 10B`s, as for many forms of music, do justice for the bass here. For my B&W`s, to the contrary, the bass is almost non-existant. With that being said, the 804`s blew-away the 10B`s in the midrange and higher frequencies: I discovered background Percussion inst.w/ the 804`s as opposed to the 10B`s, plus more detail in the music. What I finally did for the bass w/ 804`s, I connected a Velodyne F1500 Sub (the best $1500 I spent).I now have an excellent sounding system.
veroman's avatar
veroman
299 posts
 
Bjesien may be onto something... it can be easy to fall into the mindset of upgrading within a single brand, we are all creatures of habit and comfort. i second his advice to audition other lines. granted, i am not a big fan of b@w but there are lots of fantastic spkrs. re:WAF, a nice set of monitors and a good sub is always a winner. just a thought. happy hunting.
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