Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3
These grown-up standmounters represent a bold step forward
Standmount speakers | £749 | whf.cm/606_S3
Bowers & Wilkins may flaunt its flagship 800 Series of speakers as its crowning glory, but we have always had a soft spot for its entry-level 600 range. There are rave reviews throughout the range’s 20-plus year history, with the most recent 606 S2 Anniversary Edition a particular favourite – it’s our current Award-winner in the best standmount speaker £500-£750 category.
Its successor, the newly released Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3, has quite a lot to live up to as a result. It’s the top standmounter in the new 600 Series 3 range, and the bigger sibling to the freshly minted five-star (and very charming) B&W 607 S3 speakers. Can this updated 606 repeat that success?
Counting the cost
We tested the outgoing 606 S2 Anniversary Edition model at £599, but the new 606 S3 speakers that replace them have, inevitably, seen a price hike in the intervening years.
The new model is yours for £749 per pair. That’s a similar price increase to the one the smaller, entry-level 607 S3 model has undergone, but the 606 S3 remains firmly in mid-range territory.
Like their smaller 607 S3 siblings, the 606 S3s look almost unchanged from their predecessors, at least on the outside. The build quality is of a good standard for this level, with crisp edges, minimal fascia and a smooth finish that make the speakers look smart overall. You can get them in three colourways: white, black or oak.
The biggest difference between the two new models is, of course, size. The 606 S3 has a larger footprint at 34 x 19 x 30cm (and is considerably deeper than the 607 S3’s 21cm depth) and uses a larger 16.5cm mid/bass driver (the 607 S3 uses a 13cm unit).
The 606 S3 remains a two-way vented design, with a 25mm dome tweeter and the 16.5cm cone. While the mid/bass driver continues to use B&W’s proprietary Continuum material, for the tweeter the brand has decided to use titanium for the first time in its own-branded stereo speakers. The new material should improve resolution and refinement in the high frequencies, says B&W, while the grille mesh covering the new tweeter arrangement (inspired by the top-of-the-range 800 Signature Series) aims to deliver a more open sound.
Elsewhere, plenty of design concepts and technologies derived from the step-up 700 S3 series have been incorporated into the 606 S3 s
