Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 £2600
B&W sets an impressive level of speaker performance, but is it enough?
View online review whf.cm/705_S3
The 705 S3 is the top standmount speaker model in B&W’s 2022 700 Series 3 range, and features plenty of acoustic technology trickled down from the step-up 800 Series Diamond range.
There was a perhaps unsurprising price hike on the previous model, the 705 S2, which does move the speaker into a higher, more premium price range.
It’s a good thing the speakers look and feel premium, then. We always find B&W’s speakers to be elegantly put together, and the new 705 S3 is an even classier design than before.
Part of that is down to the slight curve to the speaker’s front baffle – it looks more svelte. The cabinet is a touch slimmer, too, and the build quality and finish is impeccable.
The two-way design incorporates B&W’s distinctive solid-body tweeter-on-top enclosure, which is milled from a single, solid block of aluminium and houses the 25mm carbon-dome tweeter. An evolution of the tweeter-on-top found in the 800 Series Diamond, the enclosure has been lengthened while inside you will find a longer tube-loading system that reduces distortion by further eliminating soundwaves from the back of the tweeter, resulting in a cleaner performance. It is isolated from the speaker cabinet more effectively, too.
That curved front baffle isn’t just for show; it’s also designed to reduce cabinet diffraction. Coupled with the slimmer profile and less cabinet real estate around the midrange/bass driver, this should mean you should hear less of the speaker cabinet’s effect at play on the sound quality and more of the music itself.
This is further emphasised by the returning 16.5cm Continuum cone mid/bass driver, which is now also lifted from the front baffle in an external ‘pod’. The driver also benefits from a new motor system and improved chassis, which should result in a cleaner presentation.
Both the tweeter on top (which overhangs the front of the cabinet slightly) and the mid/bass driver are positioned in such a way to ensure perfect time alignment, says B&W. Additionally, the bass reflex port now has a larger diameter to deliver a bigger, more expansive sound.
Even the back panel has been refreshed, with a sleek mirrored plate set behind the bi-wire speaker terminals – now in a single row layout rather than staggered as previously. The terminals have more substantial contact connections, too. There’s a sense that everything has been cleaned up and streamlined. B&W shows a clear attention to detail
