"Love" - pronunciation

How do you pronounce "love"? I know it's something like this in IPA: l^v
but I don't get it - it sounds like "o" or "o:" (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?love0001.wav=love )... and it sounds different when compared with other words that have same pronunciation - e.g. "but" (b^t - http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?but00001.wav=but ) or "come" (c^m - http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?come0001.wav=come ). Sorry if it's stupid question, but I just don't get it :( Thanks in advance.

At least here, those words all have the same vowel quality, save nasalization:

"love" [L\V:f] or [M\V:f]
"but" [bV?]
"come" [k_hV~:m]

I myself have not heard of dialects having a different vowel, aside from vowel length and nasalization, in "love" from "but" or "come'.

I pronounce "love" as ["lVv]. As far as I know, all dialects use diaphonemic /V/ in this word (realized as [U] in Northern England, as [6] in Southern England, and as [V] or [6] in North America).

<<and it sounds different when compared with other words that have same pronunciation>>

That's because different speakers are used in those recordings. ;-) For example, the vowel in the third recording seems closer to [6]. But phonemically, all those speakers are definitely using the same vowel.

<<How do you pronounce "love"? I know it's something like this in IPA: l^v
but I don't get it - it sounds like "o" or "o:">>

This "o"-like vowel is typical of Northern English speakers who are trying to emulate RP or any kind of southern accent.

it's love [l@:v] for me

Generally speaking Luv (Dove) downhere in England and LooV up north.