Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 vs. Polk r100 - Is it worth the difference for Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3

[Ivailo]

Hello
I have a Cambridge MK2 Audio amplifier and Polk R100 speakers.
And I want to get more musical and detailed speakers.Now I have a good discount on Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3.
And is it worth this step to replace Polk R100 with Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3.And will I hear a big difference?
My room is small, maybe 12-14 room size!Does anyone have Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 with Cambridge and how do they work?
There is a store near me where I can go to hear Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 next week, but I won't be able to get my amplifier.
Thanks

 

[kyuu]

While there are no measurements of the B&W 606 S3 that I'm aware of, based on the measurements of the very similar 607 S2 compared to the Polk R100 I would say definitely not.

While you can't take your amp with you to the demo, that should make little difference. The bigger problem is that you can't take your room with you.

 

[mhardy6647]

I am not keen on the aggressive character of the Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers.
I haven't heard the R100, but I have a pair of R200 and I like them quite a bit.
De gustibus non est disputandum, but I (also) doubt that the extra cost of the B&Ws would be a great thing to do with your money @Ivailo.

 

[tw 2022]

I tend to agree with the above comments...

 

[DMill]

There are speakers at the price of the B&Ws which I believe could improve the sound in your room. Depending on your room. To me the Polks offer very little upgrade. I hate myself for saying this but when I’ve tried to upgrade in baby steps I’ve noticed very few improvements. That said waiting to upgrade to having a bit more money would likely put you into some choices I believe are a big difference. For example, KEF R3s or maybe BMR bookshelves. There are many others. The $2kish budget to me is where you get something very close to end game. And also has a pretty logo and finish. I’ve spent a lot of time enjoying B&W speakers. They have a lively sound and if you like them great, but now like something more balanced.

 

[Ivailo]

While there are no measurements of the B&W 606 S3 that I'm aware of, based on the measurements of the very similar 607 S2 compared to the Polk R100 I would say definitely not.

While you can't take your amp with you to the demo, that should make little difference. The bigger problem is that you can't take your room with you.

Thanks

 

[Chrispy]

Just describing speakers as more musical and detailed makes me wonder what the heck you think you're experiencing in your auditions. Could be explained perhaps with more information, but doubtful. Just silly descriptions to begin with.

 

[Ivailo]

I am not keen on the aggressive character of the Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers.
I haven't heard the R100, but I have a pair of R200 and I like them quite a bit.
De gustibus non est disputandum, but I (also) doubt that the extra cost of the B&Ws would be a great thing to do with your money @Ivailo.

Thanks

 

[Ivailo]

There are speakers at the price of the B&Ws which I believe could improve the sound in your room. Depending on your room. To me the Polks offer very little upgrade. I hate myself for saying this but when I’ve tried to upgrade in baby steps I’ve noticed very few improvements. That said waiting to upgrade to having a bit more money would likely put you into some choices I believe are a big difference. For example, KEF R3s or maybe BMR bookshelves. There are many others. The $2kish budget to me is where you get something very close to end game. And also has a pretty logo and finish. I’ve spent a lot of time enjoying B&W speakers. They have a lively sound and if you like them great, but now like something more balanced.

That was my other dilemma, whether to upgrade slightly or when I have more money to get something much better!
Thanks for the comment.

 

[Ivailo]

Just describing speakers as more musical and detailed makes me wonder what the heck you think you're experiencing in your auditions. Could be explained perhaps with more information, but doubtful. Just silly descriptions to begin with.

I apologize if it sounded like that.I want to upgrade and get a better sound than my current Polk r100.

 

[Chrispy]

I apologize if it sounded like that.I want to upgrade and get a better sound than my current Polk r100.

I understand, but the basis isn't making a lot sense so far. Hard to compare subjective experiences over the written word, too.

 

[MattHooper]

I apologize if it sounded like that.I want to upgrade and get a better sound than my current Polk r100.

You’re not the one who needs to apologize.
It shouldn’t be that hard for others to treat a newbie here more nicely.

A lot of members here don’t care for B&W speakers because they tend to not sound very neutral, often with some boosted, upper mids and highs, which some find too aggressive. On the other hand, I know some people who absolutely love the B&Ws.

Sorry, I’m not too familiar with the performance of the Polk speakers, but if they are more neutral the B&Ws are likely to sound more “ detailed” if that’s what you want.

Out of curiosity, have you tried introducing any equalization with your Polk speakers, to nudge them more of the direction you want?

Of course there could be other factors, for instance, if you really like the looks of the B&W that much more or something.

 

[Ivailo]

You’re not the one who needs to apologize.
It shouldn’t be that hard for others to treat a newbie here more nicely.

A lot of members here don’t care for B&W speakers because they tend to not sound very neutral, often with some boosted, upper mids and highs, which you’ve seen some aggressive. On the other hand, I know some people who absolutely love the B&Ws.

Sorry, I’m not too familiar with the performance of the Polk speakers, but if they are more neutral the B&Ws are likely to sound more “ detailed” if that’s what you want.

Out of curiosity, have you tried introducing any equalization with your Polk speakers, to nudge them more of the direction you want?

Of course there could be other factors, for instance, if you really like the looks of the B&W that much more or something.

Overall I like the Polk as a vision.Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 are quite similar visually, much bigger of course.
But at least a few songs I notice that Polk sound quite a bit muffled.I don't know if it's the adjustment with the amplifier, the room or my ears.
I like Polk.
There is music that just sounds great, but overall I want something better and at the moment there is a discount for the amount of $ 800 for Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 and that's why I got this fly in my head to change.Regarding changing the angles and distance, yes I have tried, at the moment they are directed at a slight angle that supposedly points directly at me.The distance from the wall is unfortunately not very much, maybe about 55ft.

 

[Arindal]

B&W 606 S3 that I'm aware of, based on the measurements of the very similar 607 S2

606 S3 and 607 S2 are B&W speakers of different geometry and different generation, so measurements of one unit would not necessarily tell anything about the other one.

I am not keen on the aggressive character of the Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers.

There might be a lot of aspects one might not like about Bowers speakers, but the current generations are definitely not aggressive when set up properly in a matching room.
Their tendency towards a pretty wide tweeter dispersion, though, might create such impression when played in an underdamped room with too much of distance between listener and speaker and too little to the walls.

 

[Arindal]

And I want to get more musical and detailed speakers.Now I have a good discount ..
My room is small, maybe 12-14 room size!

´Musical and detailed´ at the same time might require a bit more of research on speaker choice and experimenting. I would not go for any model just because it enjoys a certain reputation and is discounted.

A small room will inevitably lead to the wall behind the speakers or the side walls being more or less close to the speaker. Getting the right speakers which are acoustically fitting to such situation, is key. You might want to narrow down the list of candidates looking at measurements like bass, directivity pattern and driver geometry, but in the end of the day you have to try.

I personally prefer coaxial designs in a more nearfield-like arrangement or with side walls being close to the speakers. Choosing a random one, though, might bring you to a situation of imbalanced sound in the room, as many popular designs have uneven dispersion.

 

[AnalogSteph]

A lot of members here don’t care for B&W speakers because they tend to not sound very neutral, often with some boosted, upper mids and highs, which you’ve seen some aggressive.

Not to mention their bizarre shift to 1st-order crossovers that happened some time in the mid-2000s. I would be very hesitant in handing over my hard-earned cash for a product that knowingly violates multiple well-established rules of good loudspeaker design.

Back to the OP:

But at least a few songs I notice that Polk sound quite a bit muffled.I don't know if it's the adjustment with the amplifier, the room or my ears.

Hmm. If anything, I would expect them to be slightly bright in the mid-treble due to the widening in dispersion there. One thing I noticed is that they do not seem very happy playing loud, which seems to reveal both the woofer's excursion limits and some sort of mechanical (cabinet?) resonances.

There is music that just sounds great, but overall I want something better and at the moment there is a discount for the amount of $ 800 for Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 and that's why I got this fly in my head to change.

That's supposed to be a discount? They are quite commonly available around the 700€ mark around here and have been for months. I don't consider that a bargain. Which other speaker brands are easily available to you? There has to be something better in this price bracket. (I can think of some nice active speakers in this range, but passive, hmm...) Also, have you looked at the used market at all?

You said you have a Cambridge amplifier, what kind of sources are feeding it?

BTW, you seem to have a slightly tense relationship with measurements and units, which has me left scratching my head trying to figure out what you were trying to say:

My room is small, maybe 12-14 room size!

Is that supposed to be m², or ft x ft? (The former would be small indeed, the latter not a whole lot bigger.)

The distance from the wall is unfortunately not very much, maybe about 55ft.

Did you mean cm? 55 ft = 16.764 m is more than you could even fit in most rooms, and 55 inches would still be 1.4 m, neither qualifying as "not very much" in my book.

 

[Arindal]

But at least a few songs I notice that Polk sound quite a bit muffled.

If anything, I would expect them to be slightly bright in the mid-treble due to the widening in dispersion there.

The measurements do not support either experience or speculation. There is no widening in dispersion in the mid>treble transition, they are actually pretty much in line with the ideal of constant directivity at least from 800-6,000 Hz, of course with a certain tolerance and bandwidth-limited due to their size and choice of tweeter.

What might explain a ´muffled´ experience is either the narrowing in dispersion from 6K upwards, particularly when combined with a room overdamped in the upper treble region or no proper toe-in towards the listener. Or simply a bad tweeter.

 

[kyuu]

There is no widening in dispersion in the mid>treble transition, they are actually pretty much in line with the ideal of constant directivity at least from 800-6,000 Hz

Not sure if you misunderstood what was said or if you don't know how to read a contour plot?

There's a pretty obvious widening of the dispersion from roughly 2-6kHz.

 

[dfuller]

they are actually pretty much in line with the ideal of constant directivity at least from 800-6,000 Hz

really not sure how you're getting CD from this:

There's a pretty clear pinch-and-flare between about 1500-4000hz.

I suppose it's more constant than this, though...

Overall I like the Polk as a vision.Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 are quite similar visually, much bigger of course.
But at least a few songs I notice that Polk sound quite a bit muffled.I don't know if it's the adjustment with the amplifier, the room or my ears.
I like Polk.
There is music that just sounds great, but overall I want something better and at the moment there is a discount for the amount of $ 800 for Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3 and that's why I got this fly in my head to change.Regarding changing the angles and distance, yes I have tried, at the moment they are directed at a slight angle that supposedly points directly at me.The distance from the wall is unfortunately not very much, maybe about 55ft.

My guess is that the "muffled" sound is because the Polk's tweeter beams rather low in frequency, which makes it pretty picky on toe-in. Play with the angle towards listening position - you might get a result you like better.

 

[kemmler3D]

If you are keen on B&W, they have their flaws as documented in this thread, but they could be worse. I would strongly advise you to look for them (or similar ones) second hand. I got some 602 S2s for about $300 some years ago and they're fine for the guest room.

Beyond that I agree with @DMill that you will do better if you save up for a bigger upgrade. The B&W are not in a different league from the Polk you have.