A very affordable, smartly designed monitor that is a safe bet for anyone wanting an accurate, musical loudspeaker for stereo or theater.
If I had written this review a few years
ago, it is likely I
would have filled it with glowing praise and
many exclamation points. Hearing the 303s for the first time awhile back was a monumental occasion. It raised the bar, pushed the envelope, and
set the reference at this price point for all of the
other speakers that I would listen to in the future. I tried to be objective and cool when I
auditioned them, but in reality, I was powerless to avoid buying the pair on
the spot. They tore through the shrouds
of consumer apprehension and endless choices and screamed (in a tonally
balanced and well-focused voice), “this can be yours all
day long, forever” (even though I knew that they might be fibbing
just a bit).
I found their looks appealing and the maple veneer and metallic accents
went over well with my lady too, so into the
trunk they went.
But, I didn’t write this
review years ago. I wrote it today and today, the quality of these
speakers is exactly the same. The sentiment of,
“Holy cow, I
can’t believe these speakers do so much for so little,” has been
broken in over time and now
I think, “Of course the sound is amazing, they’re DM303s!” I have
gotten used to the fidelity and solid soundstaging and
they have earned my respect. Be assured, you are not reading the insecure
persuasions of a listener charmed by some zingy tweeter and a fat bass
bump. I have listened to many types of
recordings over the little B&Ws in different environments, and in different
applications. The wealth of detail and
depth of presentation they deliver never falters or fails to draw you into the
music.
When they arrived to my house, they weren’t greeted by a
nice high-end Pioneer Premier disc player, or a fat Rotel amp. The snazzy stands from the demo room were
substituted with cheap but handy plaster pillars, sitting inside a
less-than-optimal listening environment.
I had no delusion of achieving the jaw-dropping experience from the demo
room, but still the new B&Ws were eagerly installed into place. I was excited to hear the improvements they
would bring to my system. I couldn’t
wait to be surprised by the wealth of new information I would find on my
recordings and I was not disappointed.
They stepped into my system and almost immediately began
making suggestions for improvements. I
listened to what they had to say, and within a couple of month, I had changed my amplification, CD player, and
cables based upon their recommendation (but ultimately chosen
by my budget). In fact, I dedicated a
new room to them, one where I could attempt a proper setup and give them room
to breathe and let it all out for me to take in. Once getting their positions determined and
the new cables burned in, the system’s overall performance began to reveal
itself. Images tightened up and
focused. Both width and depth of the
soundstage expanded. The larger scale
dynamics were now powerful and encompassing.
I felt I was hearing much more of the B&Ws’ natural character, even
if I was still using run-of-the-mill gear
upstream. In easy comparison, I knew I
was a large step closer to what I had heard back in the audition room, what I
had paid to hear. And that meant: a large, focused stage conveyed in realistic size and
space and detail that allows you to hear and see
into your recording, both enabled by: an easy, extended treble response that is airy without
being sizzly, a fast, clean bass and midbass
that make you think they are playing deeper than they really are playing, and nearly dead-on vocals.
It can be so hard for human voices to come through
believably, but these B&Ws get it nearly perfect and
in my opinion, better than a $300 pair of speakers should be expected
to. Their only error in the overall
performance that I find repeatable occurs in the upper bass/lower midbass
region. There seems to be a narrow band, perhaps
around 200Hz, where notes just seem a little thicker. A certain level of chestiness becomes evident
with some male voices and bass notes.
It’s a small flaw that took me a few weeks to even discover, and usually
isn’t detectable with most music, but it does become worse when driven harder
than necessary. If the rest of the bass
region didn’t sound so good, this issue would probably never have been
noticed. Different room and mount
combinations may help alleviate the issue.
Over the years, I have come to respect these attractive
little speakers for what they do and for how they do it. Audio design is often a practice in
compromise, and in the end the B&W DM303s are no exception. There is no ‘magic’. Price is kept low with effective choice of
materials and components, and smart assembly methods. The high sound quality is achieved by
focusing design on what these drivers and cabinets can do best. If, upon auditioning, one finds the sound of
the DM303s unsatisfying, then that listener is either simply spoiled by
insanely good-sounding (and likely expensive) gear, or is simply deaf. Well done, Bowers & Wilkins.
The Verdict
