B&W Silver Signature 25 Speakers

[Argus]

I remember listening to these at Brack Electronics back in the early 90's and I've wanted a pair ever since. The sound was incredible. I realize that they are discontinued, however I'm wondering which B&W bookshelf speaker today has their sound? Thank you...

https://www.bowerswilkins.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-bowers_northamerica_shared/default/dw0930b7da/archive-manuals/eng_fp10220_silver-signature_info_sheet.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoq1mLgvBilx6YdgyO6UlnblG8QmYycNSqvVQSt_kN7E_aMuHDCv

 

[MattHooper]

I used to listen to those at BRACK electronics too! Toronto!

They usually had them set up in that basement area near the back. I really missed brack electronics when they closed down at that spot.

My first inclination was to say that you might want to check out some more neutral loudspeakers to make sure you’ve got got a reference, and see if you really want the less neutral B&W speakers.

However, I think I recall without looking it up, that model was actually more neutral in frequency response than the current B&W speakers. (?)

 

[JSmith]

Here are some basic measurements of the B&W Silver Signature 25 speakers;

B&W John Bowers Silver Signature loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements The Silver Signature's impedance magnitude and phase, measured using the magazine's Audio Precision System One, are shown in fig.1. Though the impedance magnitude is off the scale at 800Hz, a slight wrinkle in the phase trace can be seen between 700 and 800Hz, indicative...

www.stereophile.com

Fig.7 B&W Silver Signature, anechoic response on tweeter axis at 45" averaged across 30 degrees horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with complex sum of nearfield woofer and port responses below 300Hz.

Looking at the manner in which the B&W's response changes to the speaker's sides (fig.8), the relatively large-diameter woofer becomes directional in its top octave, resulting in a suckout off-axis at the exact frequency where it peaks on-axis. Though the discontinuity between the woofer and tweeter dispersions at crossover is not nearly as marked as with the Velodyne DF-661, the room reverberant field will lack presence-region energy. This will reduce the audibility of the already slight on-axis peak at 3kHz; but, all things being equal, it will also tend to make the speaker sound rather polite, lacking in treble bite.

JSmith

 

[kemmler3D]

There is something to be said for nostalgia, but I tend to agree with @MattHooper that if you're in the market for bookshelves, there are numerous well-regarded options that are more technically proficient, or shall we say up-to-date.

That said, I had some B&Ws almost as old as I am (>30y) and they didn't sound half bad to me. If you are looking to go down memory lane with B&W my advice is to take a nice long walk. Over the past 20 years I think they've gotten progressively less neutral in favor of what you might call showy, splashy, or "showroom" sound.

Even though this model is a bit off-kilter I think most speakers they're putting out in present day are even MORE askew.

So if you want to recapture that magic, I think you should set up an alert on Craigslist, check FB Marketplace daily, check eBay and US Audio Mart regularly(or your country's equivalent), and Reverb.com and a pair should turn up eventually.

Or on a more practical and not terribly expensive front, I have some 602 S2s in my guest room and I think they're probably not far off, on-axis, from what @JSmith posted. And they're not that hard to find secondhand.

 

[Argus]

I'm living in Mexico and sources of used equipment aren't much of an option as they are in Toronto. New B&W speakers that are similar as per my research are the 805 D4, and unfortunately all stereo gear here is marked up significantly more than in Canada, partly due to import duties. I suspect that my audio memory will be somewhat coloured by my age when I'm listening now for a similar sound.

 

[kemmler3D]

I'm living in Mexico and sources of used equipment aren't much of an option as they are in Toronto. New B&W speakers that are similar as per my research are the 805 D4, and unfortunately all stereo gear here is marked up significantly more than in Canada, partly due to import duties. I suspect that my audio memory will be somewhat coloured by my age when I'm listening now for a similar sound.

If you look around you can probably find eBay or Reverb sellers who are willing to ship internationally... but at that point you're probably paying almost as much for shipping as you would be for the speakers.

 

[Argus]

If you look around you can probably find eBay or Reverb sellers who are willing to ship internationally... but at that point you're probably paying almost as much for shipping as you would be for the speakers.

Between the shipping and duties the cost would be exorbitant, assuming it didn't "disappear"; a common occurrence.

 

[sigotnin]

B&W's Continuum cone is a combination of brass wire and polypropylene, which is different from conventional Kevlar cones.
Here is an analysis video