Bowers & Wilkins' 705 S3 are LIKE NO OTHER loudspeaker

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🎥 Camera: John Darko / Olaf von Voss
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0:00 Intro & drivers
4:00 The listening begins
7:50 Best amplifier?
10:37 The elephant in the room
16:37 Crispy ambience
👉 As mentioned in this video...
Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3
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Zu DWX
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Wharfedale Linton
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Prima Luna EVO 400
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Hegel H590
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[@roofpizza1250]

I have no issues with them being made in China I just think that they don't pass the savings on to the customer.

[@ADREISTER]

Thanks for the Zu comparison. Very helpful, as I'm starting to realize B&Ws aren't my cup of tea. Preference of that warmer tone saves me a ton of cash😂

[@keesv8000]

Love the "...aluminum from Canadia."

[@bartjow]

Half of the time I have no idea what you're talking about but I so much love your enthusiasm with audio I keep watching your videos. Fun review again, keep it up!

[@shunpillay]

Thanks for an awesome review. Hope you feel better soon.

[@MichealC]

Great review, and prayers for a speedy recovery. Stay well..

[@fairmania]

I watched this after the Hi-Res more recent video, and thought your voice had changed. Thanks for battling on John, worth every moment, even the ramble mid way through :)

[@dannyb5874]

speedy recovery :) thansk for the review John

[@redstarwraith]

If the unspoken challenge in this video was "Where's Olaf?" - I found him. He's lurking in the reflection of your decorative silver ball.

[@j.b.5230]

This has to be the new thing. Each episode we need to find Olaf.

[@qevoh]

Yeah dude was there, I saw him too

[@TheMOOXTER]

😂😂😂😂

[@josenebrus8183]

Thanks for sharing John and get well soon gentleman 🎶👍

[@MikeYoungeasytravel]

Hi John, I wish you would also review the B&W 805 d4, and others in this price range.

[@LeezahB]

Excellent video!! Feel better!!🥰💖

[@ismarmeskovic]

Get well soon man and thanks on great content!

[@thewillwilliams]

Really clear review. Those Zu’s are the first speakers I have seen reviewed that I might like to replace my Linton’s with. Thanks.

[@bodhid]

Superb production values and review!

[@user-kx6jd7hb5e]

Thank you for the awesome review! I love Prima 400, and your video has helped me a lot!!

[@samuelwaters697]

Nice video, and approach to this review. I really like that you compared them with such divergent speakers. I own Zu DW’s, had 706s2’s, and have wanted to hear the Lintons for years.

[@JKadison]

The review was great and thank you so much for your review of the 702s3 to compare. I'm hoping to pick those up ASAP!

[@PAC-fp9hy]

John. The reason for the pod mounting is less to do with vibration because that will still carry through, although to a lesser effect. It is to minimise the diffraction of the high frequencies which are affected by the cabinet boundaries. It also provides a nice industrial design feature as you said.

[@Big-J-8579]

I'm sorry you have a cold. Hope your feel better soon.

[@mwalker2496]

John - reiterating a few requests here - we really NEED an 805 D4 review PLEASE!!!!! Need to see what that Diamond tweeter does...

[@Trebor2024]

Canadia? Canada! Canadian, yes! Great looking speakers!

[@LeeOades]

It's just an English-ism. 😊

[@jean-marcfroehlinger8749]

After 3 month trying different combinations, I opted, one year ago, for B&W 705 Signature (Midnight Blue) (on very heavy feets), Parasound Hint 6 Halo, Cambridge CXN V2 with Qobuz, AudioQuest cables and some good power cables. For Jazz, it's really a marvelous combo (My fave are female voices and also piano). I never ever tried something else since this time ! I know it's not on the top side of Hifi but enough for me.

[@AndyRat]

❤ get better soon

[@weeooh1]

Nice. Looking forward to the KEF R3 Meta comparison.

[@stijnvanderlooy5311]

I did not know John had the Cambridge set. Punches lots above its price level!!

[@syanhc]

Brilliant ❤

[@gregmatula9749]

Fantastic review!

[@nicovince9972]

Great review , as usual ! Get well soon John.

[@adsph]

Hope you feel better soon. Great take.

[@AlexandreLollini]

I use a dbx driverack pa2 to split as I wish between a sub and a pair of bookshelf, this enable each device to breathe and play louder without any problem. When each device receive ideal chunk of sound, this has an effect like room treatment or even opening a window. This adds clarity, articulation, oxygen.

[@TriAmpHiFi]

Yup, you got that right.......... And I would not have bought a Sub or Subs plus the stands to fix these B&W's. Put the monitors on top of a set of 10" point source floorstanders (like Tekton or Zu) as low frequency drivers. Cross them over wherever you want, 80, or 250. Whatever. Bam, now we got a pair of 3-ways that'll sound better than any sub & the source points will be more valuable than any used old Sub. It's the power of variable external crossovers People. lol Reggae. Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊

[@abxaudiophiles]

Beautiful sounding speakers. To me one of the best in the line up... Great review Darko!! Cheers buddy

[@saudisalim8957]

As always nice review

[@millmoormichael6630]

That’s a great way of explaining the need for a sub 👏

[@richardkorver7482]

I paired them with a marantz 40n. Maybe it's the AB amp characteristics but the high end details became more in balance with seemingly more low end. At least that is what I experienced when compared to different D class amps in approx and bit higher price range.

[@HiFi.DIVINE]

Good review, congrats!

[@VinceWatches]

Very accurate comments from @darko , B&W always tend to a monitor rendering so a good match with a warmer amplifier . And a subwoofer is always a superb addition , I did the same with my CDM7NT….highly recommended

[@mikemcdonald7149]

Feel better John!

[@ashleymackenzie7209]

Hope you’re feeling better soon!!

[@SimonMa1987]

Watching this, over my good old B&W 686. Witch honed my love for piano Music to new hights

[@markmcfeaters9116]

I have no problem running my musical fidelity m6 series 5 channel amp with a Nad M17 Master series processor. With bowers n wilkins speakers, 702S2 fronts, 2 705S2 paired together for the center and 705S2 for the rear. And for home theater a SVS PB3000 subwoofer. It sounds killer in stereo or home theater. The detail and pinpoint accuracy of sound is amazing. If this helps anyone. I love the musical fidelity amplifiers. The Nad processor is also amazing.

[@TriAmpHiFi]

It won't.

[@timvanrooyen]

Hope you feel better John. And hello Olaf!

[@sean_heisler]

Greetings from Omaha in the USA, home of Conor Oberst. I hope you re doing well, John, stay safe. Your videos are brilliant.

[@craigmurray3084]

Great video as always. Those 705 S3 need some visual bling like my 705 SIGs in Datuk Gloss. Oh and yeah, I use a sub with them.

[@priedits]

I have 703 S2 and best amp I have tried was Willsenton R8 with EL34 Tubes : )

[@leemartin2978]

The characteristics sounded not dissimilar to my Bowers and Wilkins PM-1 monitors, with the driver arrangement being much the same . I’ve had over 9 years of very enjoyable trouble free use out of those. You make a very good point re the bass. When I do upgrade my speakers, I’ll be looking for that easy gentle fuller bass , that’s not present currently. Certainly my PM-1 ‘s sounded better at higher volume levels . Maybe the floor standers are an option for me . Great informative video as ever

[@andersphansson8335]

Great review & video! Any review of Canton speakers?

[@GR8Tmate]

Get well soon Darko 🤗

[@albiepalbie5040]

Great vid

[@r3forge]

Thank you John, lovely as always. They look fancy. Pretty sure they will find lots of homes For 3k€ I'd rather get 2xGenelec 8330RAW + 7350 SUB + GLM kit and have a full range, room corrected, active set of awesome speakers. But I guess there is a market for these B&W too :)

[@carlosmanueldealmeida1774]

In the Project USA website you can see photos of the Project A2 backside 😉

[@RyanZNO]

I can safely say that B&W speakers also pair very well with the class AB offerings from Rotel. I have 702S3’s and 705s3 and they both sound absolutely wonderful through my Rotel stack.

[@ChicagoRob2]

Vintage 1995 B&W Matrix 805s sound amazing with the Yamaha A-S1200. Smooth, detailed, with zero upper-mid hardness.

[@dan-qe1tb]

Good choice. Rotel tends to try for a neutral sound in their amplifiers, letting the character of your speakers shine through. I had a Rotel cd player that I had paid $700 for in 2012, and I always knew that I was getting a good deal for the price. It had outperformed the Denon and the Marantz I had before. Rotel is a family owned company that has one of their core values, offering the working class a good value. They also insist on providing their own components instead of off the shelf ones (the capacitors, the transformers, etc), but not a higher cost for the consumer. Like NAD, they also offer a no frills approach, eschewing unnecessary glitz in their products, putting the money to where it affects the sound quality.

[@rikardekvall3433]

Summary = Bright speaker with some slight listening fatigue?

[@krischanrudolph6005]

Gute Besserung und Grüße an Olaf

[@RUfromthe40s]

the Linton speakers are on top of my choice for a new pair of speakers, i only have to hear others that might sound good but not yet had the oportunitie of traveling 400km´s to hear them in Lisbon

[@RUfromthe40s]

tube amplifiers even from early 60´s or custom design are the best but more maintenace than a regular integrated amplifier, i have one that was left to me by my grandfather and the speakers are really huge with 70watts like 2 meters high and with the size of a wardrobe ,two in mono sounds outstanding ,you can look at the speakers but feel like the sound is not coming from them ,it feels that the sound is in the air coming from nowhere,i think it´s because of using two speakers in mono

[@rondickinson8741]

Get well soon but in the meantime hang in there enjoying your videos

[@larryschwartz9883]

Get better soon John. You’ve had a rough year!

[@thanawitsagulthang6471]

I hope you get well soon

[@unityoc]

Sorry to hear you've got health issues again. Wishing you a speedy recovery from your old home Sydney, Australia.

[@michaelrossmaessler200]

John just before you mentioned your results with the Primaluna I was thinking what about tubes, how would they work put with the speaker. Glad you tried it. Excellent review as always 🙂

[@pedge66]

Hi John, nice video, I’m happy with my set up at the moment but I watch these out of general interest but more for music tips, I was already into FSOL and Amorphous Androgynous but thanks for turning me onto PBS, Deadbeat and Steffi to name but a few

[@onecreative1]

Great video. Speedy recovery mate. BTW, have you ever evaluated the Totem Acoustic loudspeakers? I really like mine, but I'm curious to see what you think of them.

[@NeilBlanchard]

I *think* that the time arrival would be from aligning the center of the voice coils? So the tweeter looks to be too far forward for this to work? The tweeter pod is designed, I think to have very little diffraction for the treble - but the top corner of the main cabinet would be a (slight?) cause of diffraction. And the hard rim/edges around the woofer will have some diffraction, but yes they do reduce the size of the front baffle, which reduces the response "step" that increases what we hear from a driver, mounted in a baffle.

[@ScottHallenbeck]

Agreed on time alignment

[@kevin60uk]

Great vid as ever as for your album recommendation totaly agree it's fantastic but I don't have it but do have the bluray by second sight films with DTS master audio 5.1 and PCM stereo mixes. Probably watch it twice a year when David walks onto an empty stage switches on his boom box and starts strumming you are hooked. keep the vid's coming

[@peterl8594]

Good stuff

[@kjbiz]

The choice of equipment really appealed to me on this one 🙏

[@timothyfreeseha4056]

I had the Cdm nt1 from a hundred years ago. The tweeter emerged from the top of the cabinet in its own housing, but not separately as it does on the 705 3 . I thought they were awesome speakers. Not bright or edgy in my room, nor terribly hard to drive. I think B&W can make great speakers. Thanks for the review.

[@user-mz6lt2pr9s]

Thanks for another great video John hope you’re feeling better! You have certainly been through the ringer with medical issues this year. Your thoughts match my experience with these speakers. Definitely needed a sub and I have a pair of SVS 1000 Pros. I compared to the KEF R3 Meta and the Metas were much better as a 3 way speaker at about 2/3 of the price. Will be interested in your upcoming KEF review. Be well!

[@davidprice-oh2ji]

Hey John... get well soon! Ii recently picked up a pair of ex-dem Mission 770s for a great price, and have been blown away by them, so dont reckon the BWs are for me. Great video, thanks.

[@stephantranquille6681]

Great review as usual. Considering the lack of deeper bass, I would definitely go for the bigger brother, the standmounters.

[@litenbrandbil]

I do agree with you John about the treble, I sometimes liked it, but most of the time it was too sharp for me. That's why I returned the B&W 705 S3. You review is very good, as I have had the same experience with them, looking forward to the R3 Meta comparison. I would like to see a comparison where Elac Vela BS 404 is included, should be easy to find in Germany, and a very different treble compared to B&W 705 S3 and Kef R3 Meta.

[@kazzzer4876]

I too would love to see a comparison of the 705 s3 with the kef r3 meta. My cousin has the 705 and they play beautifully with rotel. At one time I was considering the kef r3 meta but it happened that the elac bs 404 stood in my house. For the moment I think these speakers will play in my house for a very long time they are exceptional.

[@andrehorstman8003]

You Have to know the B+W's sounds good playing louder, and I like to listen most of the more relaxing. People should know that, I think.

[@citytianyu]

I checked my headphone connection twice for the "unfamiliar" voice from John in the beginning of the video. Of course I learnt why is that in the end. Take care, John.

[@andrewcrossley2448]

I auditioned the smaller 706 against AE500s. The B&Ws were dry and a bit brittle. The AEs were far more engaging. I bought the AE500s and the dealer supplied me with the same stands as you have. When -Audio T came to my house to set everything up, they also tuned my room with a stereo pair of the small but great REL T Zeros. Can I recommend that you demo some AE500s, possibly with a pair of RELs. I think you’d be surprised at how good they are. Bob Dylan’s man in a long black coat in full hires is amazing.

[@techsamurai11]

The Prima Luna seems to be a very good candidate for B&W. I wonder how Marantz would stack compared to the other solid state amps like the Hegel and Cambridge Edge. Interesting comment about this speaker and B&Ws in general for movies. They are surprisingly fun for movie watching.

[@vorpane]

Whoa, didn't know driver temperature affects impedance. Very interesting, thanks!

[@love2spinvinyl]

Totally agree on Talking head album, picked it up this week and, wow it really is awesome. They didn’t miss on the price with it though. I still have my original Oz first pressing on vinyl (i got myself as a kid) and tape of this, also an anniversary version on cd of it. The CD i hated as the new mastering really annoyed me. My record would only be graded VG these days and sounds ok. But to now have the whole concert and how well this was done, the clarity and how low the bass gets just gave me a massive smile while listening to it.

[@chrisclose7793]

Your spot on B&W separated the tweeter from the mid bass driver is to give cleaner response in the frequencies and I find the 705s very analytical sounding,the bass issue i personally think is down to cabinet size a smaller cabinet with smaller driver can't deliver bass say like my B&W dm602s which are a bit of a dinosaur design but they hit hard in the bass due to being front ported and nearly a meter tall I find yamaha works well with B&W as it can easily tame the bright treble

[@TriAmpHiFi]

If you think a 7" makes a big difference over a 6", just imagine what a 12" woofer is capable of.

[@restcarl83]

The rant was good!

[@DarkoAudio]

Glad you liked it!

[@tbr9286]

Take care Darko.

[@mrpositronia]

Ah, the Edge W is something I've had my eye on for a while now. Hoping to get one soon to power my Tannoy XT6f speakers. I'll use my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 as the pre-amp. I hope the combination works.

[@kaichiehchang2289]

I am selling mine on us audio mart!

[@sjqideez6626]

You really blew it out the water with this review 😆 Compared to your older speaker reviews, the difference was night & day 🤣 Wish you a speedy recovery dude.

[@Krell666]

Great video. Yeah B&Ws are definitely for a particular taste, I personally find them almost nails on a chalkboard. Get well soon mate!

[@hansoosterwal4073]

wish you well!

[@badgastein2]

The 705 S3 appears to be the successor to the B&W PM1’s which were bookshelf size, had a nautilus tweeter tube on top of the cabinet and cost about £2,500 with stands .

[@cyryx20]

I have one of those and they are still rockin'. They are pretty impressive for the size

[@RUfromthe40s]

what is bookshelf size are there standart dimentions to a shelf ,and the speakers buy them small but never put them on a shelf ,maybe if they are large and deep they might reveal a better sound, if empty with no books

[@stevengarner8524]

A decoupled tweeter wins hands down everytime, it let's the driver drive in its own space . Great video mate ..

[@Mulokaj]

Dear Darko, thank you for the great review. I will buy these speaker and stands. Did you do something under the speaker to make them more steady? greetings!

[@elray4932]

The Yamaha A-S1200 is a great match. Provides rich textured bass and controls the highs very well. Also, it integrates the sub-woofer very well. 😊

[@Qthepug]

My experience in various experiments over the years is that playing speakers full range as designed with a sub sounds better than rolling them off. Then adjusting the subwoofer’s crossover point to match. Having a dedicated active crossover may work, but no one has these anymore. Please try and get the Spectral or Linn gear if you can as these haven’t been reviewed in years. Also, perhaps the Musical Fidelity separates.

[@trevorbartram5473]

I agree when introducing a sub to a pair of stand mounts that you've been listening to for a while!

[@guillermosanchez8784]

Great video! Please do a side by side comparison with the Monitor Audio Silver 100 7g. Which one would you choose??

[@mikeroeder]

I'm looking forward to hearing what version of Stop Making Sense you think is the best. It would appear, as you suggest, that the 2023 vinyl version is the same mix as the 1999 "Special New Edition" since both credit ET Thorngren as mixing it. I was pretty disappointed when the 1999 version came out because it was missing "Cities" and "Big Business/I Zimbra" so it's nice that they have remedied it somewhat. It would be nice if there was a full hi-res digital version of this available. Back when this came out on VHS, I rented it and dubbed the whole concert to cassette, which I still have today.

[@rosswarren436]

Get well soon! Loved the albums featured in the video. Good stuff! The tweeter in a top mount will split people. Yeah, we understand the logic behind it, but some will think it looks too much like the vocalist was lazy and didn't put their microphone away after a session, or others like you, will think it looks functionally cool.

[@D_Chm]

When I grow up, I want to discover the world and find where Canadia is ;) Great video as always!

[@tomkoetting5954]

Saw the Talking Heads on that tour. Oh my!

[@davidrodger7495]

"...when honing in on the acoustic guitar and piano..." I'm a fan of those improving pigeons too.

[@Staybrown11]

Excellent review and video…makes me wonder what Qacoustics brings to the table with their concept 50. Same price…

[@KITFLETCH1]

This fascinating: the love of the light crisp airy detail of B & W as opposed to the fuller less precise warmer fuller sound of Wharfdales really shows that British speakers can cater for all tastes. The KEF will be an interesting contrast if you can do it.

[@LeezahB]

I just don’t understand why if a speaker is slightly warmer that it is automatically perceived as less precise or detailed. This is just a general comment, not a specific comment about the Wharfdales. Thanks!

[@Z-u-m-a]

Liked the aquarium analogy. John you should try some Audio Note speakers if haven't already - they all seem to have a fundamental 'rightness' to the delivery and tone, to me. From the cheapest to the costliest. Es are magic.

[@ianstyring9602]

Hi John. Nice video. Looking forward to the Kef R3 Meta review. Would you be able to get hold of the Elac Vela BS404 for a comparison? Get well soon.