Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) 704 S3 Floorstanding Speakers

The new Bowers & Wilkins 700 Series is empowered with many of the same technologies found in the brand's flagship range, the 800 Series Diamond, as trusted by many of the world's most famous recording studios. The new 700 Series brings studio sound home, with elegant, high-performance models that will suit every decor and form-factor preference.

The new 700 Series continues Bowers & Wilkins policy of cascading concepts and technologies developed for its flagship range. An exhaustive three-year development programme has seen nearly every element of the 700 Series transformed, from cabinet design, construction and finish through to substantial acoustic and mechanical improvements.

Beautiful design, premium detailing

The new 700 Series continues to be Bowers & Wilkins most comprehensive range, featuring eight models comprising three floor-standing speakers, three stand-mount speakers plus two dedicated centre channels models for home theatre use.

In a first for the 700 Series, the new range introduces slimmer cabinets featuring a curved front baffle and drive units mounted in external 'pods' that form a direct visual and technical link to the 800 Series Diamond range. This revised form dramatically reduces the impact of the loudspeaker baffle on sound quality bgy minimising the 'cabinet diffraction' effect, and as a result, the new range is better than ever at 'disappearing' acoustically, so you can just concentrate on the music, rather than the sound of the loudspeaker cabinet.

The new cabinet forms are not only more svelte than before, they're also offered in an all-new Mocha finish, a beautiful, highly grained wood that perfectly complements the revised proportions and premium detailing of the new 700 Series cabinets. Mocha joins the existing Gloss Black and Satin White finishes, along with Rosenut, to offer four colour options on all models.

Upgraded drive units, new acoustic forms

In a significant step forwards for acoustic performance, Bowers & Wilkins now offers its iconic Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top technology in four of the new models, representing half the range in total. Now, the 702 S3 and 703 S3 floorstanding loudspeakers, along with the 705 S3 standmount model and the HTM71 S3 centre channel loudspeaker include Tweeter-on-Top. This means, for the first time in a 700 Series range, owners have the option of building a complete 700-Series home theatre system featuring Tweeter-on-Top throughout.

The Tweeter-on-Top form itself has been comprehensively re-engineered in the new range. Machined as ever from a single, solid block of aluminium, the new 700 Series Tweeter-on-Top enclosure has been significantly lengthened, reducing distortion and ensuring an even cleaner presentation. This longer form is further enhanced by the introduction of improved two-point decoupling that better isolates the assembly from the loudspeaker cabinet, ensuring a more free and open soundstage.

Beyond these mechanical improvements, the Tweeter-on-Top design retains the Bowers & Wilkins Carbon Dome tweeter, with its 47kHz first break-up performance, coupled to improved, vented voice coils with newly upgraded magnets. Even models that feature tweeters mounted in-baffle - 707 S3, 706 S3, 704 S3 and HTM72 S3 - benefit from all these changes, alongside a significantly elongated version of our trademark tube-loading system that, as works with the Tweeter-on-Top design to reduce distortion and ensure a cleaner sound.

Biomimetic Suspension

In all three-way loudspeakers in the new range, Bowers & Wilkins has introduced its revolutionary Biomimetic Suspension, which was first revealed last year in the new 800 Series Diamond range. Replacing the conventional fabric spider used in the suspension of the vast majority of loudspeakers built over recent decades, the Biomimetic Suspension dramatically reduces unwanted noise from the output of the spider as the midrange cone operates. Used alongside all of Bowers & WIlkins other proprietary midrange cone technologies - including decoupling for the entire midrange assembly, an aluminium drive unit chassis featuring tuned mass dampers for reduced resonance, FST™ surround-less suspension and of course the famous Contiuum™ cone material - the result is simply astonishing midrange transparency. Two-way models with mid/bass drive units - 707 S3, 706 S3, 705 S3 and HTM72 S3 - have been upgraded too, with new motor systems and an improved chassis for cleaner output.

Bass drivers in the three-way models use the latest generation of Bowers & Wilkins' established Aerofoil™ Profile bass cone technology, based around a composite 'sandwich' of materials with a carefully formed variable profile aimed at delivering cleaner, lower distortion bass thanks to their stiffer, lighter driver cones.

Optimised for performance

Ensuring a seamless connection for that the upgraded transducers, the new 700 Series range introduces upgraded, 800 Series Diamond-inspired speaker terminals that feature more substantial contacts and are better laid out for use with spade-terminated speaker cable. These feed carefully upgraded crossovers that continue to use Mundorf capacitors as before, enhanced with multiple bypass capacitors and improved heatsinking for even cleaner performance.

All models in the range feature updated, larger diameter FLowports that offer a more substantial output, ensuring a bigger and more expansive sound. In the 702 S3 floorstander, that approach is taken one step further - and even closer than ever to the configuration of 800 Series Diamond floorstanding loudspeakers - thanks to the re-orientation of its port to fire downwards on its integrated plinth. The result is a substantial and powerful loudspeaker that is, at the same time, easier than ever to integrate into your home.

Finally, all floorstanding models feature upgraded spikes to anchhor them to the floor. On 704 S3 and 703 S3, stainless steel M6 spikes are included with their integrated plinths: on 702 S3, heavy-duty M10 spikes are provided. Even stand-mount models in the range benefit from similar mechanical upgrades, thanks to the FS-700 S3 floor-stand, which has been visually upgraded to match the slimmer, curved profile of the new cabint design, while also offering acoustic improvements thanks to the introduction of those stiffer M6 spikes.

Designed, built and finished tot he standards you would expect from Bowers & Wilkins and equipped with some of the world's most advanced loudspeaker technologies, this is simply the best 700 Series range yet, offering an unparalleled combination of elegance and performance.