Four great speakers that all deliver, but only one is a winner
Rarely do we have a Group Test packed with such quality. You have just read about three truly excellent speakers and a fourth that misses greatness by a small margin.
Bowers & Wilkins routinely serves up terrific speakers, so when one comes along that doesn’t quite hit the mark we are more disappointed than usual. It is not that the new 705 S3 aren’t hugely capable. Judged on hi-fi specifics such as detail resolution and stereo imaging these speakers border on excellence. They cast a huge soundstage, no doubt helped by the tweeter-on-top driver arrangement, and deliver a combination of clarity and precision that’s hard to better. But that is not enough to make them a truly satisfying listen. In this company they sound overly analytical and are unable to communicate the energy and drive in a piece of music as well as their rivals.
Move away from sound quality and they are on much surer ground. Build quality is as classy as we would expect for the price, and the styling, while not universally admired in our office, is at least interesting and distinctive. The dedicated stand, while expensive, works really well both visually and sonically.
Dynaudio’s Special Forty and ATC’s SCM19 come next in our pecking order. While both are exceptionally capable, they have differing sonic characters, so the choice between them depends on your taste and the partnering system.
The Dynaudios are the more energetic listen of the two. They deliver a hefty chunk of bass for their size, and punch hard. Detail levels are impressive, as is the way all that information is organised. While the Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 sound cleaner and crisper, the Special Forty communicate the emotion in music far more convincingly. That’s why they rank higher for us.
Retro style, modern tech
The ATC should be your choice if you value honesty above all else. They don’t embellish the recording at all, so if you have a less than perfect production these speakers won’t hide the shortcomings. Similarly, play a great recording and these standmounters sound wonderfully natural. As they are a sealed-box design there isn’t as much bass as similarly sized ported rivals deliver, even though the lows are taut and tuneful. Also, they need an amp with some grunt to tr
