Bowers & Wilkins 607 S2 Anniversary Edition Review

[wwenze]

ATC,PMC and now B&W, our position as a world ‘power’ reflected by our loudspeaker manufacturers!
Keith

Not sure if sarcastic, but this shows the political prowness.

A joke in my country goes: Our two universities are ranked within world top 15, but we have produced zero Nobel laureates and we have to import more than half of our engineers.

 

[boselover61]

B&W loudspeakers & hot tweeters have been synonymous for many years, to my ears and taste.
Unfortunately, this review elicits much Schadenfreude here.

Explain?

 

[the_hamster 2]

OK, “old audiophile” here, with a pair of CM-4s, matched to Hypex Ncore NC502MP and Gustard A18 DAC/pre...to these old ears, extremely resolving but not overly tweeter-ish sound, with really decent bass. Only complaint about speakers is that woofer rubber surrounds perished after abt. 10yrs use...replaced them myself, and good as new.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Such blasphemy! Surely the audiophile gods will soon send a bolt of lightning to prevent the...
View attachment 119419

What we need now are some representatives of the "BBC Legacy" tested: Spendor, Harbeth, and any versions of the (in)famous BBC LS3/5a.

 

[HiFidFan]

Explain?

Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another.

 

[boselover61]

@amirm I think if you are going to call out a speaker's country of manufacture (China), you should do it for all speakers you review, including all the Revels. Otherwise you could be accused of possible bias...

We need to have a few more B&Ws reviewed to see if this HF "zing" is indeed part of their deliberate "house sound". I have a pair of their larger and older 602 S2s (Made in the UK before the Sound United buyout) here and they are very well behaved in the HF.

Hes calling them out because these have shite build quality for their price. Revel is made in china but oozes quality as far as build is concern.

 

[typericey]

Most likely intentional house sound applied to these speakers, as with most if not all in their current catalog. Is it in their crossover designs? Because the drivers seem decent (low distortion) and I'm sure the drivers would perform well if only the design goal was flat response.

Anniversary Edition = marketing (mid-product cycle refresh).

 

[boselover61]

Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another.

So according to that user Amir takes pleasure in reviewing this piece of rubbish? I think the speakers took pleasure in destroying Amirs ears more than anything

 

[thewas]

By the way another return of the "bat" curve seen on quite many popular loudspeakers in the last years:

 

[mhardy6647]

Explain?

The Schadenfreude's all mine, at the expense of the Bowers & Wilkins brand (or whomever owns it nowadays -- EDIT: DEI Holdings, per google).
I just enjoy seeing B&W get smacked down. I don't "get" their popularity.
I don't like their house sound; never really have (although the very early DM70 was OK).

 

[Vini darko]

By the way another return of the "bat" curve seen on quite many popular loudspeakers in the last years:

View attachment 119433

Thanks for the laugh

 

[boselover61]

I just enjoy seeing B&W get smacked down. I don't "get" their popularity.
I don't like their house sound; never really have (although the very early DM70 was OK).

They look really similar to the klipsch 600m reviewed. I had the displeasure to demo them at a best buy and i gotta say. If someone offers me these for free i probably would just say no out of the kindness to my ears. 700 for this? Seriously a pair of Revel M16 can be had for around that price after negotiating with your dealer. This is absolutely crazy.

 

[mhardy6647]

They look really similar to the klipsch 600m reviewed. I had the displeasure to demo them at a best buy and i gotta say. If someone offers me these for free i probably would just say no out of the kindness to my ears. 700 for this? Seriously a pair of Revel M16 can be had for around that price after negotiating with your dealer. This is absolutely crazy.

Well -- I outgrew the Klipsch thing nigh on 20 years ago.

Rcornieoly by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

1974 Cornwalls -- more ear-gougers. I did live with them for ten years, though, in full disclosure.
I don't like being assaulted by loudspeakers.

 

[bogart]

The Schadenfreude's all mine, at the expense of the Bowers & Wilkins brand (or whomever owns it nowadays -- EDIT: DEI Holdings, per google).
I just enjoy seeing B&W get smacked down. I don't "get" their popularity.
I don't like their house sound; never really have (although the very early DM70 was OK).

It’s funny to read this. Twenty some years ago when I was buying my first pair of speakers, I heard B&W and didn’t love them.

Then in college my friends who made more money than me bought their first B&W towers and I didn’t love them.

I kept wondering why I couldn’t get excited for these expensive speakers everybody seemed to like. They were better at the time than these are... but now I have my answer. I’ve been right all the time

 

[restorer-john]

Hes calling them out because these have shite build quality for their price. Revel is made in china but oozes quality as far as build is concern.

The Revels are twice the price and there is no discussion whatsoever of the build quality with those either. We'd need to see the drivers, the internal cabinet, board thickness/bracing, damping and crossover componentry to form any opinion.

The cheaper Revels certainly do not "ooze quality" to me. Quite the opposite in fact.

 

[Dzhaughn]

Not sure if sarcastic, but this shows the political prowness.

A joke in my country goes: Our two universities are ranked within world top 15, but we have produced zero Nobel laureates and we have to import more than half of our engineers.

You have to have your politics aligned to win a Nobel, so I wouldn't take it so hard. After Milan Kundera wins a Nobel, you can worry.

I bet you have to import more than half your food, too. But Tyler Cowen says Singapore rocks, so I believe it.

 

[Helicopter]

Pathetic. Looks like a DIY prototype I would come up with using some decent drivers and the Parts Express crossover calculator.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I agree with Keith (Purite Audio). This is a poor showing for B&W given their rep.
.

These measurements fit right in with their rep.
It is pretty much exactly what I anticipated.
Doesn't mean you won't like them (though I suspect I won't though I have never hear this set), this is exactly the sound B&W wants here.

 

[boselover61]

The Revels are twice the price and there is no discussion whatsoever of the build quality with those either. We'd need to see the drivers, the internal cabinet, board thickness/bracing, damping and crossover componentry to form any opinion.

The cheaper Revels certainly do not "ooze quality" to me. Quite the opposite in fact.

Its $900 retail for a pair, not sure how you get they are double the price. With dealers you can drop it down to a lot more. You can look up open box video on youtube for both of these speakers

 

[testp]

Inconceivable, one of if not the world’s largest loudspeaker companies, what are they on?
Excellent work as always A.
Keith

success my friend... success.