Bowers and Wilkins 705S2 (user review)

‌I have owned the Bowers and Wilkins 705s2 bookshelf speakers with accompanying stands for the last four years. I purchased them along with Rotel 15 series separates (RC 1590 preamp and RB 1582 power amplifier) and a Bowers and Willkins DB4S subwoofer. Using a Bluesound Node 2i for streaming Spotify and Tidal this system is the nicest system I've had the pleasure of living with.

So what is it that I like about these 705s2 speakers? First of all, they are excellent with jazz which is one of my favourite genres of music. Their ability to present a convincing soundstage with different types of jazz music never ceases to impress me. With these speakers drums are really fun to listen to. Symbols are portrayed so accurately through the Carbon Dome tweeters which I find are a dramatic improvement from the CM series which was the previous line speakers the 700 series replaced. In fact, I think the entire High frequency range has been improved significantly by using carbon in these high frequency drivers. They are significantly smoother than the CM series which I found to be often shrill with certain genres of music. Bowers implementing carbon dust on these aluminum tweeters remedied what I considered to be a major flaw in the CM series and I find the new tweeter really opens the speaker up to being more palatable with a wider range of music. But that's not all that makes these tweeters special. They are also housed in a solid block of aluminum which sits on top of the cabinet. The purpose behind this design is to decouple the tweeter from the main cabinet that houses the 6.5 inch mid/bass in an effort to eliminate cabinet resonance. The design also significantly reduces refraction from the front of the speaker which is a problem that arises with traditional speaker designs where the tweeter is housed in the same cabinet with other speaker drivers. The best way to illustrate this is to hold your hands up on each side of your mouth and say a few words while slowly removing your hands. If done correctly you should be able to hear a distinct change to your voice and understand how this particular design can make a difference.

In terms of mid range and continuing to compare the difference between the 700 series and CM series sound profiles I found that the new "Continuum" materials used in the 700 series presented a more of a V curve mid range. I personally like this. I found the Kevlar in the CM series to be a little honky or nasally if the term makes sense. The 705s2 midbass driver sounds less congested to put in another way. Whatever the difference between the Continuum and Kevlar drivers it results in a less forward mid range presentation which my ears prefer.

And finally with bass frequencies I found that the 705s2 provides more than ample room filling bass that seems to go down to 40 Hz depending on the material being played through them. Again, like the mid range, I found that the bass frequencies had a bit of a V curve where the bass is bumped up, the mid range is drawn back, and the high frequencies have a bit more edge to them without being obnoxious. I prefer the whole presentation of the speakers over the previous CM series.

With all of that said, there is a drawback to some of the sound signature these speakers present with certain types of music. For instance, heavy-metal music can sometimes be found to be a little unbearable through these speakers depending on the recording (and sometimes my mood). Pop music also exhibits sense of abrasiveness where a speaker with a soft dome tweeter would tame the insane levels compression that today's pop audio engineers insist on using in those recordings so that they will be heard loud and "clear" over grocery and retail store speakers. Pop music recordings are really the worst recordings to listen to on highly revealing speakers because it seems to have been engineered and recorded to sound good on lower quality audio devices like earbuds and Bluetooth speakers.

Overall, the Bowers and Wilkins 705s2 is an incredible speaker that I look forward to enjoying for many years to come. I really love the way it handles detail when listening to classical and jazz, it does a wonderful job with vocal recordings, and with some tone controls, it's easy to take the edge off of some of my favourite heavy metal and Pop recordings.

Highly recommend!

Note regarding the stands. I filled them with aquarium rocks to reduce resonance. Didn't notice any difference. They also have the ability to Bolt the speakers directly to the stand which I think is essential for speaker safety. This illuminates the problem of the speaker falling off of the stand because of the careless houseguest or them being bummed by someone vacuuming too close to them.

Note regarding the paint and finish. Unfortunately my pair doesn't have the greatest paint job. Looks like the skin of an orange peel yeah not as drastic. He seems retail for about $4000 canadian. A crappy paint job at this price points should not be a problem. But quality control department in the Bowers and Wilkins manufacturing plant in China needs to step it up a little bit. Disappointed with that for sure. Also, dust them sparingly. Or make sure you do it the right way. Micro scratches are almost inevitable unless you are a psycho like me who has a 12 step dusting system. Most people don't care. But I do.

Thanks for reading and happy listening!