Customer Ratings & Reviews

I prefer bookshelves over tower speakers for 2 channel for their tightness and accuracy. The 685s2 stands out among the rest in its price range. Its bass hits low and loud without being boomy. The highs are crisp but never bright that you could listen to music all day without getting fatigued. The sound is neutral, uncolored and remains true to original recording. I removed the subwoofer in my stereo setup when I switched to 685s2. My NAD 375BEE integrated amp drives the 685s2 with such ease and authority. My friends ask where my subwoofers are hidden in my 15x18x30 ft room, yes with 30 feet cathedral ceiling! These speakers handle loud (party) and whisper level volumes (night listening) with finesse and accuracy. I sometimes drive them with my tube amp and the 685s2 is nothing short of remarkable.

warm and accurate speakers with balanced mids, highs and lows...5 stars for value because paid $360 for the open box pair... 4 stars if full price... best buy has been good to me

I went to the magnolia room in the sunrise location and listened to all the book shelf center channel combos and the bnw was the best. After getting home I was so glad I spent the extra $

If you want to get the best performance from your home audio system, spend your money on speakers.

These are fantastic speakers at this price! Listening with my Pro-ject turntable, the soundstage is huge, bass is punchy and deep, highs are nicely detailed, and the midrange is huge. They are tremendous fun to listen to. For music (90% of how I use them) I don't bother with a sub, but a sub does add some punch for action movies. They'll sound good out of the box, but will really open up in a couple days. Similarly, some fiddling with their placement also added to their sound (they like a little 'toe-in' to maximize soundstage). With their low-ish impedance, they also like a good amount of power (60+ of good, clean wattage should suffice). These are not what I'd call boomy loudspeakers, but instead are accurate monitors, they'll do your music justice! Highly recommended.

In my audio system, I have been using Mirage speakers for years. However, when I started integrating my audio-only system into an A/V system, the Mirage started showing their age. On big booms, the speaker cones started waffling really bad. I thought they were going to come right out of the cabinets. So I started looking into better speakers. I spent many hours in the Magnolia room with different techs. I researched Definitive Technologies, Martin Logans, Elac's, and Bowers & Wilkens. I absolutely fell in love with the Martin Logans for audio, but for video, the coned speakers couldn't handle the powerful booms, and the electrostatics sounded flat. I didn't care for the sound from the ELACs, and the Definitive Technology speakers sounded awesome for video but lacked a little in audio. The Definitive Technology BP-9080ST speakers sounded awesome across the board, but also cost 5 times more than the 685 S2s. The first time I heard the 685 S2 speakers, I knew they were the ones. We used Jurassic Park, Die Hard, and other movies to get the big booms. For music, I listened to Randy Newman's Land of Dreams CD, Dire Straits Love over Gold CD, and Metallic's Black Album CD. These speakers sounded great across everything we sampled, and that was with OK cabling sitting on a wall shelf. I tried other speakers for about a month or so before I finally bought these speakers. Once I got them home, I temporarily placed them on a set of Chicago Spika Speaker Stands, filled with steel shot and sand. These speakers brought new life into my living room. It is not a very big room, and these speakers completely filled them. The sound was much better than even in the Magnolia room. I have been using them for over a month, and every day I am very happy that I chose these speakers. They are driven with a Denon AVR-X1400H through Tributaries Series 4 Speaker Cables. I had been looking at the Martin Logan Dynamo 500 subwoofers for the room. However, after installing the 685 S2 speakers, I no longer need a sub. The room is not a large room, and the 685s more than fill it with tight low end. I have removed the sub from my list. For people with large to very large rooms, you might still need a sub. I purchased the STAV 24 S2 speaker stands that go with this speaker. They are very heavy, eliminating the need to fill them with any dense material. They look good, and by placing my hand on the side of the cabinet, they do a much better job at removing the speaker cabinet vibration than my Chicago Spika's. The 685 series speakers don't offer a bolt-on option for speaker stands. I have read different reviews where people expected them. Most of the higher-end speakers I have dealt with do not offer bolt-on unless the stands are meant to be part of the total solution. In that case, either use the spikes on the speaker plate (that's what I am doing), or if you require them to be more secure, use Blu-Tac. Blu-Tac is meant for just that purpose, and from what I read, they do a great job. Everyone's taste is different, and what sounds great to one person doesn't to another. To me, these speakers are one of the best speakers you can get in its price range. And if you are looking for a single speaker solution for both audio and video, then you really need to look at these speakers. I highly recommend these speakers.

[Note: BestBuy carries 2 different models of B&W 685 S2 speakers. The model shown on this page, 685 FP35343 (SKU 4827037) - the model I bought - has a 1" decoupled double-dome aluminum tweeter; the other model, 685B S2 (SKU 1277365), has a 1" aluminum dome tweeter ... and costs $50 less. I initially posted this review on the wrong model, but can't figure out how to delete or edit that review.] I recently bought a Sony STR-DN1050 receiver at BestBuy. I also bought the Sony CS5 bookshelf speakers and the Sony CS9 active subwoofer, but felt the CS5 speakers were too bright / trebly. I replaced them with a pair of Bose 301 speakers, and was surprised at how hollow the sound was (I had run Easy Setup on the Sony receiver for calibration, but may not have configured the subwoofer correctly). I returned the Bose 301 speakers and was intending to purchase the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers and the Pioneer SW-8MK2 active subwoofer (both designed by Andrew Jones), but I wandered into the Magnolia studio while at the store, and after comparing the Pioneers (which the salesperson brought into the studio for me) to the B&W 685 S2s, I was amazed how full the B&W sound was - highs, mids and lows. I should note that my primary use of these speakers - and other audio components in my system - is listening to music (mostly rock, jazz, folk, bluegrass). I did play a bit of The Dark Knight on my BluRay player, and they sounded fine. I did not do a side-by-side comparison between subwoofers. I've read some less-than-positive comments on AVSForum about the B&W ASW610 subwoofer, and after a few weeks with this setup I'm still tinkering with the settings on the Sony STR-DN1050 and the B&W ASW610. I mention this here because I read another review here (and another elsewhere) suggesting you don't need a subwoofer with the B&W 685 S2s. That may well be true ... but the more I've read, the more I believe that a subwoofer rounds the sound out nicely. I've tried the speakers with the subwoofer disabled, and I like the overall sound better with the subwoofer enabled. One thing I did not initially note about these speakers is that the are considerably deeper (12-3/8") than the Sony CS5, the Bose 301, the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR and all of the other speakers I saw out on the main floor of BestBuy. I did not think to examine the depth of these or others speakers in the Magnolia studio. The B&W 685 S2s are designed to be mounted on stands, but due to our room configuration, and constraints imposed by my wife, I have to mount these in shelves, and they overhang the 11" deep shelves by about 2". [Note that the 685 FP35343 shown on this page is mounted on a stand, but the stand must be purchased separately.] The B&W 685 S2s are about 5x more expensive than the Pioneers, 3x more expensive than the Sony CS5s, and 2x more expensive than the Bose 301s, but after listening to the B&Ws,, I knew I would always be dissatisfied if I didn't upgrade. My last speakers were a pair of floor-standing Laser 150s, which included 10" woofers, and they have lasted me 30 years (my daughter has them now), so I'm hoping the extra investment will amortize out over a long period.

I recently added a pair of 685 S2 to my sound system I am in the process of upgrading my system I recently purchased a pair of 686 S2 speakers for my back speakers in my 5.1 surround system. The speakers sound amazing they produce have clear sound with strong bass combined with my 686's music & movies sound clear with excellent bass I am looking forward to upgrading my center & sub woofer to the Bowers & Wilkins 600 series in the future. I would highly recommend these speakers.

Speakers have a great sound They have and improve tremble over the first series 685 A more controlled base for the frequencies they can handle. When paired up with a good receiver don’t be afraid to push them as they not only play really loud but they really give you a spacious soundstage a normal volumes as well. Highly recommended five stars two thumbs up They can be either used as front means or surround speakers they will do the job well really well

Excellent sound right out of the box and only getting better with use. Very easy to connect to receiver and elegant in appearance. Would highly recommend!

Very nice and clean sound. I came from Bose 301's to these, and I can say that I am pleasantly surprised at how much cleaner sounding these speakers are. The Bose 301's definitely have more bass in them; however, the overall mid-range sounds produced by this speaker are unmatched!

Great, balanced bookshelf speakers with classic English sound. Relatively dry presentation with excellent midrange, accurate treble and slightly rolled off bass. Definitely a great way to wet ones beak in the world of hifi.

Best speakers I have owned. Plenty of bass and full rich sound. Watching TV and movies as well as listening to music has taken on a new dimension.

These are absolutely amazing speakers. Absolutely amazing! They sound great. They are crystal clear and are some of the best sounding speakers which are still affordable. You will not be disappointed. The sound is very natural. I use them as surrounds and for multi-channel stereo music. They are stunning.

The speakers have an excellent sound, and good dynamic range. Outstanding sound for such a small size.

The B&W 685-S2's have been well reviewed in several publications and have come away with some well desirved high marks, Their sound quality is outstanding across the range that counts, great at the top end and very good base quality for bookshelf speakers in their price range. The design is padestrian but fine unless you spend a lot of time looking at your speakers, I don't. The construction seems solid as mentioned in several reviews. The quality I look for in speakers, floorstanding or bookshelf, that sets great speakers apart from very good speakers, is their ability to move the sound stage away from or toward the listener as the volume is decreased or increased. I didn't find this ability in the 685-S2's. At background listening levels the sound stage seems to me to be in the distance. Bringing the volume up increases the loudness but doesn't seem to move the sound stage proportionally toward the listening position. I have been spoiled, in this respect, by the old Quad's like the 63's and some of the Spendor floorstanders. Maybe, it's just me.

Sound is crystal clear and they were easy to set up.

In my opinion Bowers Builds the best speaker on the market. The best sound, the best build quality, and best value for my money. Everyone has different taste and some people think Bose is quality, but these are in a class way out of Bose's league.

You don't have to take my word for it. Almost every professional review source calls these speakers the best you can buy for under $1000. Well they're right. Connect these to a quality amp/receiver with a good source and your music will shine.

Bowers and Wilkins never disappoints. The only issue I had was to install it with the stand Bowers & Wilkins - STAV 24 S2 Speaker Stands. I finally ended up putting two sided tape under the speakers and they hold great with the stand. The sound quality is amazing and crisp, no distortion at all.