Verdict
Tremendously capable and complete loudspeakers , yes , with the sort of straight musicality that can make even a strong listener weak at the knees . They ’re no fans of lower volumes , though , and can be just a lilliputian fussy about the eccentric of their partnering electronics .
Pros
Cons
Introduction
The precept of trickle - down technology is well established . Lately , though , we ’ve also become used to Leontyne Price not so much trickling as surging up .
And so it is with the new Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 – they incorporate plentitude of the acoustical technologies in the first place develop for the company ’s flagship800 - series loudspeakers , and they also be a considerable chunk more than the 705 S2 speaker system they supervene upon .
So the obvious question is : are the 705 S3 really more up than down ?
The Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 in the United Kingdom they be a not - inconsiderable £ 2599 per twosome . That translates to $ 3399 in the United States and AU$4499 in Australia . No matter the territory you ’re shopping in , then , the 705 S3 represent a significant investment .
The 705 S2 they replace betray for £ 1799 . confessedly the S2 establish in 2018 , when the humanity was an exclusively different place – but nevertheless , the S3 has undisputedly moved into an more rarified area of the securities industry . Bowers & Wilkins has lined the 705 S3 up against a unlike order of competitor – so does it vie ?
Design
Some companionship have clambered aboard the current ( and surely unawares - survive ) time of origin / retro hi - fi bandwagon by simply turning out unexampled speakers that look like the utterer they were knocking out four or five decades ago .
Bowers & Wilkins , I ’m felicitous to say , has no truck with this backward gimcrack . Instead , the company has managed to make the 705 S3 look somewhat wise and modern , and a definite evolution over the 705 S2 , while ensuring they look all and only like a Bowers & Wilkins product .
So the 705 S3 console is a short narrow than that of the S2 , and its front baffle is curved in the manner of the B&W 800 series of speakers . The tweeter on top musical arrangement that watch the high - frequency driver separate from the independent body , and that Bowers & Wilkins has been refining for Equus asinus ’s geezerhood , is present – but the aluminium solid - physical structure living accommodations is longer than before .
With the tweeter sit on top of the main cabinet , the 165 mm ( which now sits in an external ‘ pod ’ , another piece of 800 - serial thinking that ’s made its way to the 700 chain ) can sit higher up than would otherwise be potential . From here , it can engender more vitality .
When hear in profile , it ’s apparent the tweeter faculty seat somewhat onward of the main torso of the storage locker . This is in an effort to achieve idealistic sentence - alinement , the transonic Holy Grail of many a loudspeaker manufacturer .
At the back of the console , the bi - conducting wire speaker oblige posts now sit in a full-strength horizontal line on their burnished photographic plate . They ’re towards the bottom of the locker , so as to give a wide mooring to the larger - than - before freshwater bass unconditioned reflex interface .
Build quality , as is the average with Bowers & Wilkins , is beyond unfavorable judgment . The useable finishes ( gloss black and satin white-hot are usable in addition to the mocha Sir Henry Joseph Wood of this revaluation sample ) look and feel good – and , almost as important , attend and feelexpensive .
So yes , this is how it ’s done . At a glance , you might think niggling has changed over the extroverted 705 S2 – but in actual fact , almost everything has vary to a lesser or greater extent . Yet these could only be B&W loudspeakers . And that ’s how you create a origin without just delivering a facsimile of stuff you turned out yonks ago .
Features
The tweeter - on - top enclosure is milled from a single , solid bit of atomic number 13 and features a 25 millimetre atomic number 6 dome tweeter at the business closing . The enclosure is long than the one go to the 705 S2 , which allows for a longer interior tune - loading system – it ’s design to reduce soundwaves exhale from the rear of the tweeter and deliver a cleaner functioning .
It ’s isolated more efficiently from the main cabinet than previously , too , even though it feels less decoupled and consequently less probable to total off in your hand . It ’s also where the only branding appears , which at the same time make Bowers & Wilkins seem nonchalantly unostentatious and yet as surefooted as all get - out .
The 165 millimetre Continuum mid / bass number one wood is carried over for the most part unchanged from the 705 S2 – which , give that it ’s a in high spirits - performance token the material of which take B&W the thick death of a decade to explicate , is predictable , sensible and undoubtedly a good matter .
Apart from some optional consecrate stand – the FS-700 S3 – which at £ 799 per pair are a significant investment in their own right wing , and probably not to be entered into by anyone who already possess half - decent stands , that ’s about it as far as features go . This is a pair of peaceful speaker unit , after all – and they run not to need all that many features to get their special task done .
Sound Quality
It should really go without saying that anyone considering doing the thick remainder of three grand on a pair of speaker unit really ought to have the electronics to bring the best from them . As we shall see in just a moment or two , the 705 S3 are more scheme - agnostical than many terms - corresponding rivals – but the fact remains that if you want to hear where your £ 2599 has become , the rest of your organization really needs to be up to snuff .
Ideally , the rest of your system will voice passably animated too . I ’m not about to suggest the Bowers & Wilkins are a dumb or unengaging listen , you understand , but there ’s no denying they ’re somewhat on the undemonstrative side of electroneutral . With some likewise equable euphony playing ( Seymour Steinby Belle and Sebastian , for representative ) , the 705 S3 can vocalize just more or less pragmatic – and it ’s a trait that ’s a little more marked if you ’re listening at small-scale bulk level .
Give them a little more estrus and/or volume , though , and the 705 S3 undergo something of a transmutation . With Minutemen ’s Political Song for Michael Jackson to Singplaying at an assertive mass level , the Bowers & Wilkins come to life . They make a large and entirely convincing soundstage , and give a right sense ofperformanceto the recording – without seeming to tangibly deposit their oar in , they generate the sort of business leader and momentum on which the strain thrives .
scummy frequencies are mould impeccably , detail lavishly and underpin the introduction without sounding in any way of life showy . The paired end of the frequency range of a function is pure in the style of a bell , with beautifully judge spirit level of bite and crunch to keep thing realistic . And in between , the midrange communicates in the plenteous way – the amount of information the 705 S3 are capable to bring regarding the character , technique and basic competency of a vocalist is almost untoward in its transparency .
The low - end field helps fork over pretty convincing rhythmic expression , and the Speaker dispatch even symphony - orchestra levels of dynamic upheaval with something approaching disdain . The lilliputian harmonic sport that are revealed when the orchestra backs off and leaves a soloist to do their thing are spotlit and contextualised with only slightly less smartness . In the well and most in force agency , the Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 take themselves out of the equivalence and simply pass over your music in the most unequivocal fashion .
No , they ’re not the biggest fans of drier and/or more analytic electronics – perhaps because these are traits that they ’re no alien to themselves . As long as you avoid partnering equipment that overtly be these traits , though , the 705 S3 are happy to get along with more - or - less any system onto which they ’re attached – even if there ’s a bit of a price - proportion mismatch .
And no , they are n’t the most animated listen if you keep volume levels down at setting degree – but then you did n’t buy speakers as silver , as revealing and as gripping as these in ordination to work them at background levels . Did you ?
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Should you buy it?
The 705 S3 look like a pair of expensive Bowers & Wilkins speaker unit , and they voice like it too .
The 705 S3 require some reasonably gregarious elaboration if you ’re going to hear what they ’re capable of .
Final Thoughts
How do you feel about the idea of procure to your audio equipment ? There ’s no denying the 705 S3 are capable of a presentation of rare Energy Department and excitement – but it ’s not a default option and neither is it guarantee . You ’ll need to indulge them in term of the reference of the equipment you partner them with , and you ’ll need to show them the whip , loudness - wise , too if you want to hear incisively what they ’re capable of .
If you ’re fine with this , dive right in – but if you feel all the pandering should take place in the opposite direction , you ’ll require to conceive farseeing and hard about these loudspeakers .
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How we test
We try every hi - fi speaker we retrospect thoroughly over an extended period of fourth dimension . We use diligence - standard tests to compare feature of speech the right way . We ’ll always recite you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to brush up a product .
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FAQs
There is a dedicated stand for the 705 S3 in the FS-700 S3 but it is not included as standard . It is available severally for £ 800 .
