I just had to reply to this since I had just the opposite experience. I think I listened to the B&W offerings for a couple of years before I finally bit the bullet. I really liked what I heard of the 602s3's in the store. I was so happy. Finally, I will have a decent set of speakers. I figured it would cost me a couple K, but I was prepared for that. I took them home and hooked them up to my mid-hifi Yamaha receiver. OOPS! Man, did I make a wrong turn. My weak amp just couldn't get any sound out of these. The sound there was consisted of bloated bass and nothing else. I had to turn the volume knob twice as high as with my old speakers just to hear them. To make a long story short, I returned them very quickly and opted for an Axiom setup. I will admit that, at times, the M22s are a little more forward than I like, but I haven't been able to find another speaker that bests them, yet. And, I've looked.