B&W 640i vs. 604S2

[Aslund]

I am currently looking after some used speakers and have my love on those two after hearing good about them on the net and from friends.
But I have never managed to see a comparition of those two against each other, can anyone supply some information that can ease my decision?

Regard

Sebastian Aslund

[PDN]

Sebastian:

Looking strictly at their specs, the 640i is a 4 ohm nominally rated speaker as compared to the DM604 S2 which is sn 8 ohm unit and their sensitivities are comparable (90dB and 91 dB). So right there, your amp or receiver will need to be fairly powerful to drivie a 4 ohm speaker vs an 8 ohm. But you may have that covered. I'm also not sure which is an older model but my guess is the 640i is older. The DM series I believe was introduced later so that's something to consider also. Is there any way you can listen to them both first before buying or is this strictly an internet sale? Specs aside, this is the best way to determine which you like better. It's soley your taste and ears that matter and no one else's. Which ones are more musical, warmer, produce better soundstage and imaging. These are the questions to ask. I was inches away from buying the DM604 S3's in 2007 but went with the DM603 S3's instead. FOr my room config, the 603's are plenty large but I was tempted. In retrospect, they may have been overpowering. But I was very impressed with the DM604's. Now these were the S3's and not the S2's but if the S3's are any indication, I'm sure the S2's are great also. Each series brings improvements.

[Aslund]

Thanks for your reply PDN, problem is that I am not that pro to hifi. I might hear difference when I hear them side by side, but I can't momories them to make a conclution seperetly.
My problem is that used 604 cost something near twice of 640i and would know if it was the price worth,

Regards

Aslund

[PDN]

Can I ask you what size your room is? The double in price explains much. The 604's have got to be newer and more up to date.

[Aslund]

the room is 25 m2

[j dan vignau]

I can't imagine that the older 640s would sound as good as the 604s which were current until recently. B&W is a good enough company that they don't make newer speakers sound worse their older ones. Having said that, I have heard both, albeit years apart, and prefer the DM14/1400s ("In"-Active Ones) to the 640s. If I bought 604s I would probably want a different tweeter, but I would never buy 640s; however, don't pay double for the 604s. If a 640 cost about the same as a 602, I would go for that.

[Wempie Pauned]

Hallo, the B&W DM 640i is an old speaker. I have this speaker for about 7 years. I have modified the cross over by replacing the BENIC capacitors with SOLEN and internal wiring with Cat5 computer wire. The result is astounding! I didn't try jet, but if you feel the tweeter is harsh you may try change the tweeter capacitor with PAPER IN OIL. I still keep this old speaker at home. My another speaker : QUAD ESL-63 completely renewed all panels.

[harley .guy07]

I used to sell B&W speakers about 15 years ago and I would say that they both are of good quality but unless you want to do the work that Wempie did to his I would put my money on the DM 604 since they are of newer design and from my work with them they have improved performance over the 640's. But I will commend Wempie for modifying these speakers and improving them. I too have a pair of highly modified Paradigm Monitor 7's from the mid 90's and after modifying the crossovers(putting in way better components and adding a zobel network to the midwoofers so the crossovers work more effectively) plus adding some 1 1/8" soft dome tweeters in custom made tweeter pods they are totally different speakers form stock. I do know you can take a speaker that was origional meant to be a good midrange speaker and take them to the next level and get high end performance out of them if you know what you are doing. Some people are willing to do this kind of mods and some people simply don't want to or they just do not have the knowledge to do so effectively. Part of my job working at the shop back then was modifying and repairing peoples speakers to either bring a speaker back to its origional brilliance or to modify to make them compare to speaker well above their origional price range. In fact I had a friend stop by my house this last weekend and heard my modified Paradigms and he preffered them to his 1600 KEF's that he purchased a few years ago. that just backs up what I said that with a little studying and calculations you can take a mid higher quality speaker to the next level.