B&W / Bowers & Wilkins DM 603 Series 3 Speakers in Black, Audiophile Stereophile Product of the Year

Fantastic Audiophile Set of B&W DM603 Series 3 Bi-Ampable / Bi-Wireable Floor Standing Speakers with All Original Drivers Including Nautilus Tweeters and Kevlar Midranges and Pristine Cabinets Finished in Black Ash. These are B&W’s Best “Bang for the Buck” Speakers & “Stereophile Product of the Year” Award Winner in 2005 / $1,450 MSRP!

The Bowers and Wilkins (B&W) speaker line is perhaps the most prestigious and successful loudspeaker manufacturing company in history. The Nautilus is the top of the line for B&W, but at just a small fraction of the cost the DM603 is far and away the better sonic bliss for the buck tower speaker from B&W. With the DM603 S3, you truly are getting everything that B&W is famous for in terms of signature sound and quality. If you are looking for the speaker that delivers audiophile sound at an affordable cost, this is the speaker to get – as you move up the B&W product line the improvements that you gain with each incremental increase in expenditure are no longer distinct steps of higher sonic quality, but small nuances. These DM603 Series 3 speakers have the same crispness and clarity that B&W is renowned for, and at 90db these are exceptionally easy to drive with almost any amplifier.

I have owned a number of speakers over the years that are fussy to deal with – either hard to drive, or they match up only with select amplifiers, or require exacting room placement and boundary concerns. These B&W DM 603 Series 3 loudspeakers are the antithesis of the fussy speaker. They sound exceptional with virtually every amp that I have thrown at them, and in any environment. If you are looking for that great set of speakers to start building a system around – these are the ones to get. They will sound awesome with a receiver, and get better and better as you upgrade the quality of your amplification.

Please note that B&W made three versions of these model DM603 speakers:

• 1989 … Model DM603 first introduced
• 1996 … Model DM603 Series 2 introduced
• 2005 … Model DM603 Series 3 introduced (these are the speakers I am selling)

There are significant differences in the design of each Series, the major difference is the quality of the tweeters. These newer DM603 Series 3 speakers are without question the best version of the DM603 model, and also sold for significantly more than the original at the end of their manufacturing run ($1,450 versus $1,000), and command significantly more on the used audio market. Note that some online descriptions say that the lower (aluminum) woofer on these speakers is a passive radiator - that is incorrect. It is a true third driver with a magnet.

Functionally and cosmetically the drivers all work without issue – they look superb and play flawlessly. The fragile tweeter dome surfaces are absolutely perfect – not a single mark. Both upper Kevlar midrange cones and lower aluminum woofer cones are pristine with no marks. One of the two Kevlar midranges has a dust cap that has had a small piece of paint flec off. This is purely cosmetic - the dust cap is unaffected from a performance standpoint, but it's a blemish nonetheless. I've touched it up as best that I can, but is still visible upon close inspection. Cosmetically, the speaker cabinets are finished in Black Ash and they are in fantastic condition – no scrapes, no dinged edges, no stains, etc. There are really no blemishes to speak of other than some scuffs on the bottom surfaces and some slight glazing to the bottom two inches to the cabinets from years of contact to a soft rubber bumper of a vacuum cleaner - this is not easy to see unless you are on your hands and knees truly scrutinizing the cabinets. The textured front baffles look like new with no marks. The rear bi-wire terminations also look like new and have the original factory gold bi-wire shorting clips installed. Even the grills look pristine with no holes, no frayed fabric, no stains and no broken grill frame elements. As you can see from the photos, these speakers have been meticulously cared for their entire lives.

SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE B&W DM603 SERIES 3 SPEAKERS:

* Drive units
… 1x 25mm Nautilus metal dome - high frequency
… 1x 165mm Kevlar - bass / midrange
… 1x 165mm aluminum cone woofer

* Sensitivity: 90 dB spl (2.83V 1m)

* Nominal impedance: 8 Ohms (minimum 3 ohms)

* Frequency response: 44 Hz – 22,000 Hz ± 3dB on reference axis

* Crossover Frequencies: 150 Hz, 4,000 Hz

* Power handling: 25W –150W into 8 ohms

* Harmonic distortion: second and third harmonics, less than 1%, 55Hz–20kHz (90dB SPL, 1m)

* Maximum recommended cable impedance: 0.1 Ohm.

* Dimensions:

… Height: 910mm / 35.8”

… Width: 204mm / 8.0”

… Depth: 287mm / 11.3”

* Finish: Black Ash

* Weight: Approximately 42.9 lbs. (19.5 kg) ea. unpackaged

Very few items in high technology are a safe investment, but these B&W DM 603 Series 3 speakers are one of the very rare exceptions and have some of the best resale value of any speaker brand or model in the world. While many speaker brands are fortunate to return 20 – 25%% of their original retail price when re-sold as a used item, these B&W DM603 Series 3 speakers have consistently re-sold for 75 - 80% of their original purchase price – almost unheard of for consumer speakers.

There is a reason for this demand – QUALITY. Quality of manufacture, performance quality, quality control and also the quality and track record of the brand name – B&W.

Reviews are universally excellent for these speakers. These speakers retailed for $1,450 for the pair when they were new, and the AudiogoN Bluebook shows an average used resale value of $870 no matter what the condition. The speakers that I am selling are in incredible condition – both functionally and cosmetically. This is easily one of the most popular and desirable of all of B&W’s speaker models, and they have had a lot of hugely popular models. My preference is not to package and ship these large tower speakers, and so I am offering them for local sale in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am happy to deliver these for free if you are local to me in the San Francisco, Berkeley or Marin County area.