Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3
3-Way Floorstanding Loudspeaker
Item #BW:702S3-EA
Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3
3-Way Floorstanding Loudspeaker
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Overview
702 S3 is Bowers & Wilkins' flagship: a state-of-the-art floorstanding speaker that defines new standards for performance in its class. Its Carbon Dome tweeter is housed in an all-new Solid Body Tweeter assembly, derived from the latest generation of 800 Series Diamond. That ensures even more realistic treble, while its decoupled midrange assembly, enhanced here with our revolutionary Biomimetic Suspension, provides outstanding midrange transparency and openness. And thanks to its new downward-firing port configuration and its trio of Aerofoil Profile bass cones, 702 S3 can deliver bass that’s both profoundly deep and endlessly articulate. If you want the best, this is it.
High Notes
Carbon Tweeter In Solid Aluminum External Housing
The specially designed Carbon tweeter reproduces sound way beyond the range of human hearing giving it a super effortless quality. We love the external housing that comes from the top of the line 800 series. This makes the sound even more open and creates an amazing three dimensional soundstage
Dedicated Continuum Midrange Driver with Biomimetic Suspension
B&W's Continuum midrange driver came from the top of the line 800 series and now features their incredible Biomimetic suspension that was also developed for the 800 models. We think its incredible to get this tech from the 800 series in these 700 models. Together they combine to give you a super pure midrange that makes you feel like the singer is in the room with you.
Beautiful New Curved Cabinet Design
For decades B&W has been all about improving their cabinets for less resonance and the new 700S3 series now has curved cabinets like the 800 models for not only a very cool look, but better antiresonance properties.
The new 702 S3 3-Way Floor Standing Loudspeaker is one heck of a great speaker. You’ll get the new external tweeter assembly, a new 6” Continuum cone midrange driver, and a brand new configuration for the port. In this model only, the port fires downward into a very solid plinth, separated from the speaker by four stout posts. With the down firing port, room placement becomes very easy as you have to worry less about the rear wall in your room.
Very fast and articulate deep bass is provided by 3 6 ½” Aerofoil woofers. The cabinet itself is triple braced internally and weighs in at a very hefty 74 pounds!
These have a pretty decent sensitivity of 90 dB which means you could run them off a fairly modestly powered amplifier, but like any great speaker more power is going to give you better results. To our ears, they really come to life when you connect them up to a higher quality amplifier, our favorite being any of the McIntosh integrated amps or power amps.
As with any high resolution speaker, you will want a good source to feed them with. The better your turntable or music streamer is, the more musical information they will reveal.
While the downward firing port does give you some placement options, we feel they perform best if you can get them at least 18” away from any walls. Make sure you get the spikes adjusted so they are level and locked in to not rock and with their amazing sound stage, spend some time with a tape measure to get them perfectly aligned with your listening spot.
Bear in mind, when you purchase any speaker from Audio Advice, our experts are here for you to help you find the best way to place them in your room and offer tips on how to get them optimized for your space.
Details & Specs
Solid Body Tweeter
The 700 Series features the latest generation of Bowers & Wilkins' iconic Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top housing. Its new, more elongated form incorporates a longer tubeloading system to produce an even more free and open sound with high frequencies. The carefully decoupled housing is milled from a single solid block of aluminium to better resist resonance.
Carbon dome tweeters
Carbon Dome tweeters are purpose-built for the 700 Series. Delivering a dramatic improvement on the aluminium double dome tweeter, they raise the breakup threshold to 47kHz, for pinpoint imaging accuracy and detail.
Biomimetic Suspension
The new Biomimetic Suspension, first seen on the 800 Series Diamond, revolutionises midrange cone performance by greatly reducing the unwanted air pressure and coloration that a conventional fabric spider can generate. The result? Midrange transparency you wouldn’t believe possible.
Continuum™ Cone
Thanks to its composite construction, the Continuum™ cone avoids the abrupt transitions in behaviour that can impair the performance of a conventional drive unit. The result is a more open, neutral performance that delivers voices and instruments with precision and transparency.
Decoupled Midrange Assembly
Every three-way loudspeaker in the new 700 Series has a dedicated midrange cone using four key Bowers & Wilkins technologies: the Continuum cone, FST™, Biomimetic Suspension and midrange decoupling, the latter ensuring minimal interference from the operation of the loudspeaker’s bass drivers.
Aerofoil™ Profile bass cone
Developed using advanced computer modeling techniques, the Aerofoil Profile bass cone has variable thickness, providing stiffness and rigidity where it’s needed most. The result: deep and dynamic bass.
Curved Baffle
The new 700 Series features a curved front baffle for the first time. This allows the midrange and bass drivers to be located in individual pod-type housings that sit proud of the speaker baffle. When combined with the curvature of the structure, this new approach – derived from the 800 Series Diamond – reduces the audible impact of the cabinet, creating a cleaner, more open and more immersive sound.
Technical Features:
- Decoupled Carbon Dome tweeter
- Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top
- Continuum™ cone FST™ midrange
- Decoupled midrange
- Aerofoil™ Profile bass cones
- Flowport™
Description: 3-way vented-box system
Drive Units:
- 1x ø25mm (1in) Decoupled Carbon Dome high-frequency
- 1x ø150mm (6in) Continuum cone FST midrange
- 3x ø165mm (6.5in) Aerofoil Profile bass
Frequency Range: 28Hz to 33kHz
Frequency Response: (+/-3dB from reference axis) 46Hz - 28kHz
Sensitivity: (on axis at 2.83Vrms at 1m) 90dB
Harmonic Distortion:
- 2nd and 3rd harmonics (90dB, 1m on axis)
- <1% 86Hz - 28kHz
- <0.5% 110Hz - 20kHz
Nominal Impedance: 8Ω (minimum 3.1Ω)
Recommended Amplifier Power: 30W - 300W into 8Ω on unclipped program
Dimensions:
- Height: 1010mm (39.8in) cabinet only, 1138mm (44.8in) including tweeter and plinth
- Width: 192mm (7.6in) cabinet only, 290mm (11.4in) including plinth
- Depth: 354mm (13.9in) cabinet only, 391mm (15.4in) including grille and terminals, 410mm (16.1in) including plinth
Net Weight: 20.5kg (45.3lbs)
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