Here goes!
First of all let me state that I have not heard any of the upper tier Infinities in the last 5 or 6 years, and I'm not a big fan of the Primus series, but then again I’ve only heard them in the listening rooms of major retailers which are notorious for having poor setups acoustically. However, when I was younger I was a big fan of the upper level Infinities. My first set of speakers were EPI and all the speakers in my car are aftermarket Infinities. What I’m trying to say is that believe Harman International has a history of making good speakers and I imagine that the Betas and Alphas draw on that history.
As for the B&W 600 S3 line of speakers…well, personally I’m a fan obviously. I feel that they are fairly natural speaker with perhaps a slight emphasis on the midrange, in so much that the mids tend to be little bit forward but always clear and distinct. I find their imaging to be exceptional often presenting a sense of depth to the soundstage, but that really seems to be dependent on the source material being fed to them. Which is perhaps the main point, you feed them a crappy recording, and it will sound like crap, you send them a signal that was properly mastered and they sound phenomenal. An example would be track three of Coldplay’s Rush of Blood to the Head. It sounds as if Chris Martin is setting right in front you singing…it really sounds like he is right in front of you, it makes me feel kind of funny inside sometimes…lol. For me and my ears the B&Ws are what I prefer at this price point. However, at this price point there are ton of contenders which should be considered so you really need to do some listening to find out which speaker will give
you the most bang for
your buck.
I had the 603s for 28 days before I went to the 604s. The main reason being that I do a lot of 2.0 listening. The other reason is that bass management in universal player only allows the R/L channels to be set to large. I wanted a little more bass when I cranked up. The bass roll off of the 603s was very pleasing to the ear, but I just wanted a little more oomph as you put it. The second thing I was after was true 3 way design of the 604 and the in cabinet isolation of the midrange driver. The 604 defiantly have more bass, but better mids…sure, maybe, to close to call. Of course, if you’re going to be using a sub in conjunction with these speakers’ bass extension really becomes a mute point. Further thoughts of mine on these speakers can be found
here. In that thread you will also find my thoughts on the LCR60.
As for the DM 600s, I’ve never used them for any other application other than as surrounds. In this application they perform well. I have no complaints to report.
The only reason I now have the LCR600 is marketing. With pink noise it does seem to be more timber matched with 604s; however in real world application I am unable to distinguish a significant difference from the LCR60…perhaps a little more fuller on the lower end.
Well, those are my thoughts. Hoped it helped. Here are some links to outside reviews of both series of speakers. Keep in mind the subjectiveness of such reviews. Let
your ears be the final judge.
http://www.hometheatermag.com/loudspeakers/1104infinity/
http://www.ultimateavmag.com/speakersystems/805infinity/
http://www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/infinity_beta50_betac360_betaes250_sw12.htm
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=427&page_number=1
http://www.guidetohometheater.com/speakersystems/903BW/index.html
