Bowers & Wilkins - 706 S3 Bookshelf Speaker with 1" Tweeter and 6.5" Midbass (Pair) - White

Great sound and looks. And great service from Best Buy!

Very nice upgrade. Have not had them long enough to say anything more. As bookshelf speakers, they are big in size and performance. Needed to build a custom mount.

I critically listened to over 20 pairs of speakers over the last year to find these as my end-game speakers. I listened to the KEF R3 and many other KEFs, B&W 600 and 700 series, Polks, Buchardts, and Klipsches. This specific one blew all the others out of the water. I paired it with a Marantz M1. The sound quality, the soundstage, and the clarity were head and shoulders above anything I tested. The 706 S3’s wood finishing, the protruding woofer, and the tweeter clarity are in another league compared to anything else I tested. Funny enough, KEF Q1 Metas were pretty good at one-fifth the price. However, I just couldn’t unhear the 706 S3s. I had to get them. I first saw and listened to these at the Best Buy Magnolia, even though I had gone there to listen to the R3 Metas. I ultimately bought the B&W 706 S3s at Best Buy to support their business and keep the Magnolia showroom open in Brooklyn.

The 706 S3 was tested against MartinLogan Classic 9 ESL electrostats in the same placement--the corner of a medium-large living-room, flanking a large armoir (as entertainment center)--and, for this space, the 706 S3 offered modestly higher resolution than did the Classic 9. Dialogue and instruments have slightly more clarity, and subtle atmospheric and musical effects emerge with slightly firmer and more bodied presence, generating a livelier stage. The 706 S3 is paired with a good subwoofer, and the McIntosh C 53 preamp's equalizer is used to remove low-bass frequencies from the standmounts (letting the sub do the work in that region), so music and movies can be played very loudly without suffering compression or distortion. (Frequencies below 100Hz, which B&W documents as subject to distortion above 1%, are suppressed at a 12dB slope by the 25Hz knob on the preamp.) The McIntosh MC 462 amplifier delivers sufficient first-class power to drive almost any speaker, so competing speakers can be evaluated fairly, and the 706 S3 has exceeded our expectations, producing sound as articulate as its mocha wood veneer cabinet is elegant. The standmounts, when pair with a good sub, have more color and verve than does a $7500 pair of electrostats. Some patience with the McIntosh equalizer (to compensate for inevitable room dynamics) and some careful metering have yielded a nearly flat response. These speakers join the MartinLogan XT B100 standmounts as some of the best loudspeakers we've tested in real-world environments.

Best Buy provided these to replace high end 805N model bought in 2002 that they damaged from faulty receiver or its installation. These are as good if not better than the earlier ones that now retail at $9K. Best Buy acted ethically throughout and had Geek squad return three times to make installation good. They kep me appraised regularly even as customer service reps valiantly but imperfectly tried to get delivery info. The speakers are terrific; the experience ended well but was a slog.