@rbalagopalan ,
@efernand1 ,
@Naturelover ,
Thank you for sharing your opinion. I just had the audition of these B&W 603 S3 at a second-hand equipment seller. We played these speakers through NAD230, Cambridge Audio Azur 851, and one Arcam AV receiver (I do not remember the model number, but it was really huge. I guess more than 100W per channel). Before going into the sound details, the physical aspects I would explain. One mid-range had got damaged, so it was replaced with a new original mid-range unit. One woofer was little depressed, but no change in the bass quality. Rest seemed fine. And yes, there were no spikes.
Now the sound quality. The speakers sounded too bright and harsh with NAD 230, especially at high volumes. I could not even continue after 5 minutes, it was so fatiguing. Although NAD was just the entry level amp, still such sound quality I had never expected. Then I played through Cambridge Audio. The sound was remarkably better, but the bass was less punchy and overall presentation was smoother. The mid-range was smooth and good for Jazz kind of music. At high volumes it tended to go harsh again, but still better. The problem was when I played it at low volume. I could clearly hear the distortion at the high frequency. The highs were not clear and mixed up. I played a song with high bass with high treble, and I heard the vibration noise. It was coming from both the tweeters. I thought the problem is with the amp, so I asked the seller to connect with the Arcam. Arcam's presentation was more like of home theatre ones. But, it was smoothest of all. I checked again for the high-frequency distortion, it was still there in the same magnitude. I immediately rejected the speakers. I was not all impressed. Either the tweeters had got damaged because of some reason, or the tweeters in 603 S3 were always bad, as many of the reviewers have mentioned. 683 s2 was clearly better on almost all fronts costing INR 1.35 lakhs at Decibel, Chennai. Let me put a more humble example. My father is an electronics hobbyist. He had made an amplifier himself on Crescendo circuit. Speakers were also made by him manually, with Bolton 40W 8ohms tweeters. And those insignificant and cheap tweeters were at least 5 times better than this pricy bullshit tweeters.
Then I saw B&O Beolab 4000 active speakers (I guess MK1), which have not been put on sale through advertisements. Small speakers with 4-inch woofers and small tweeters, with 50W per channel. I just wanted to check these cute looking lifestyle speakers. The seller played these speakers through Arcam. And what a surprise. These speakers were really magnificent. Well rounded sound. Although not as loud as B&W's, not as transparent as B&W's, but what a pleasant performance. Treble was remarkably better with limited quantity. Mid-range was smooth like butter. But, the bass was the most surprising factor. Never felt that it is lacking in picking any frequency till 60Hz. Close your eyes, and you can never tell that the speakers are so small. The cohesion between two units was so good, that it was able to produce a significant amount of soundstage. I tried with Bluetooth to check its performance in the digital content. And it was equally good here. Loved listening each genre. For the comparison, even B&W 683 s2 was pathetic with the direct Bluetooth content and aux-in connection. I understand Hi-Fi systems are not supposed to be used in this manner. But still, if something performs better in every condition, in my opinion, that system is better. After thoroughly listening, I felt these B&O are better than B&W, Monitor Audio, Focal, Energy, Jamo etc in sub 1.5 lakh range, which I have auditioned till now. Not to mention, there is no need to waste time, money and energy in finding the right amp. The best thing was, all genres were presented beautifully, no skewness. Perhaps the sellers are not having adequate resources or they just don't bother, but they do not match speakers with the perfect amps. I am saying this because I have checked B&W 604 series at my friend's place with a DAC, Quad pre-amp and some Power amp, I do not remember. He played through a laptop, still, the sound was mesmerizing, although lacking bass. I must mention these are purely my perception, people can have a different opinion.
Some user reviews:
http://www.audioreview.com/product/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/bang-and-olufsen/beolab-4000.html
The new B&O Beolab 4000 unit costs GBP 1800 (Around INR 1.8 lakhs), but the seller quoted a price of INR 32 K, without wall mountings. Quite reasonable, I guess.
Now, the confusion. This situation changes whole thinking process for me. If I buy B&O, I can not think of traditional systems. No integrated amp, no power amp. One pre-amp with phono-in will be needed, that's it. And I am not sure if such an old speaker set (10-20 years old) is worth spending 30 k plus. Besides, in-built power-amp means more trouble, if something goes bad with the inner circuit.
Thank you for patiently reading my opinion. Would really appreciate some guidance from your experience.
