B&W DM604 S2 worthy upgrade from DM603 ?


Hi all,

I have an opportunity to pick up a pair of B&W DM604 S2 speakers and I'm not sure whether it's worth the investment or not.

My current setup is a 5.1 consisting of DM603 for front left and right, a CC6 for center and DM601 bookshelf speakers on stands for the rears. I also have a Velodyne subwoofer.

If I pick up the new DM604 S2 speakers, the configuration would be: DM604S2 for front, DM603 for rear, CC6 center, Velodyne sub. The bookshelf speakers would be repurposed elsewhere in the house since I don't have a room configuration that lends itself to upgrading to 7.1.

I could also pick up a CC6 S2, but I'm not sure just the "S2" is a big enough difference to matter over my Series 1 CC6. Opinions on this would be appreciated as well.

I've never been at all unhappy with my current configuration, and I'm wondering - will I likely notice a big enough difference to justify the upgrade?

Thanks!
smhyde
Smhyde,
Tls49 has been very helpful here re. info & pricing. I just wanted to add my 2 cents re. pricing: I bought my DM604S2 back in 2001 brand new from the retail store for less than $800/speaker. They always went for a discount. I.E. the street price for brand new speakers was always less than $1600/pair. I believe I paid something like $1400/pair. Today we are in 2014, 13 years later. if you can help it, I would say that you should pay less than $600/pair today after 13 years & a little bit of rust on the bolts holding the drivers in the cabinet.
Given the info provided by Tls49, I agree that the DM604S2 would be a very nice upgrade for you for (hopefully) not too much money.
Of course, my opinion, FWIW. thanks.

Smhyde, if you determine that the rust is due to a salty environment, keep in mind that the internals of the speaker have been exposed to that same environment because this is a ported speaker. The same would not be true for a sealed cabinet speaker.

Tough call, but if this is due to a salty environment, IMHO, I would probably pass on them, unless you can get them extremely cheap.
Tls49 - that's my precise concern... I'd almost want to remove one speaker to look inside. I don't know if they would let me do that (or if it's really as easy as unbolting it).