685 S2 out, 683 S2 in - B&W Speakers, that is *

Today I traded in my 685 S2''s for 683 S2's. It was hard to understand why a lower number cost more. Each box weights 32 kg, so I had to drag them across the floor to my den. Unboxing took a while, but there were reasonably good instructions on the box. I must have burned off a large burger doing all that. The store probably would have done this for me, but I wanted the speakers right away.

The 685's had nice mids and highs, but mid bass, which is present in so many recordings was lacking. There was no impact when kick drums got hit. Perhaps this had something to do with my 16x27 den, its 12' ceiling and large openings into other parts of the house.

I auditioned the 683 S2's at two places. At Magnolia voices sounded distant and bass lacked impact. At Modia (a locally owned Houston and Dallas TX business) they sounded a lot better although there was a bit of boom in the bass which I attributed to a close to the wall speaker placement. The test track was the 1980 live version of "Hotel California". When I played it at home on the 685's it sounded like a lot was missing. In the first hour of listening at home the bass sounds about right to me. That is lots of impact with no boom. I have not tried the "Coward" track from Interstellar with its deep bass yet.

Imaging, sound stage and detail is at least as good as the 685 S2's. It's been a long time since I had anything in this house with some kick to it.

Playback is from an Intel Nuc Pentium computer running Win 10, Foobar2000, FiiO e10k dac, vintage B&K EX 4420 amplifier, generic interconnects, vintage Vampire Wire bi-wire speaker harness.

 

Could it be you are talking about Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers?

 

I assume there is a point in there somewhere. Congrats on the B&W's! Before you decide too much I would let them play non-stop for a few weeks and see if they break in. I suspect they will, or your ears/brain will.

 

Yes. Does someone else make those numbers? How about an 883, that's a Harley Davidson.

 

The 685's changed a bit after break in, but not much. I would say the change was mostly in the bass and on the order of minor position changes. The last largish speakers I had were Snell E III's about 18 years ago. The foam surrounds rotted out.

 

I have had the B&W 683 S2's for about a month, superb sounding speakers and yes they will get better (-;

 

Thank you.

 

Congrats. I love my B&W speakers. I love how they take lots of power and never sound harsh or unbalanced, silky smooth, but really detailed.

 

Thank you. I have noticed they play loud without strain.

 

I've been researching new floorstanders and the 683 S2 are ones that have my interest. I need speakers that can go close to the walls but they can be placed a few inches out, so not right against the wall. Are these speakers ok to use close to the walls? I do see they have the ports on the front so I guess that's a plus.

 

I have moved mine around a bit since getting them and settled on a spot 12" from the back wall. In my listening environment this was the best for me.

 

B&W recommends a minimum of 18" from side and back walls.

 

That's about what I figured. Seems like almost all high end speakers need to be a good distance from walls. I guess my search will continue minus the B&Ws.

 

683s are very nice speakers, congrats!

They'll have tons more bass and impact than the 685s and should have more midrange detail due to the FST driver. I do like the 685s mind you, but they are better suited to smaller spaces and lower listening volumes than the 683s.

 

I am considering these speakers and wanted to check in and see if folks were still happy with them.

 

Anyone, please?

 

I always liked B&W's lower priced speakers. They may be somewhat usual in appearance, but the accuracy, imaging, and overall uniformity of the frequency range are tough to beat in their price class. I have a pair of previous generation 684s anchoring my second system. They are always a pleasure to listen to.

 

Glad to hear it!

I have a pair of 683 S2s on the way to me, to arrive this morning. I had spent awhile at my local Best Buy, trying out everything from Rage Against The Machine to Tracy Chapman to Steely Dan to Prince to Tool to Doobie Brothers and the speakers sounded great! And that was with V0 MP3s!

 

I have a pair of B&W 683 S1 speakers and am super happy with them. They do nothing wrong and, yes, that Kevlar midrange is nice. S2 has a decoupled tweeter and a bit more bass slam from the redesigned dual woofers. Tremendous value. I run mine with Krell Class A power, tempered by some NOS tubes in my linestage.

 

My 883S2's met an unfortunate end. During hurricane Harvey water flowed into the port causing the MDF cabinet to separate. There was likely further damage to the crossovers and woofers. What I found was these speakers were very sensitive to placement, especially distance from the front wall and toe in.

 

Almost every speaker, high end or not, expensive or cheap, need distance from the walls except for a few that were designed to be placed against a wall. Larsen (Larson?) speakers are designed to be placed against a wall as were some old Allison speakers.

 

Sorry to hear that!

Like they need a lot of toe in?

When you say distance from the front wall, about how much?(And by front wall, do you mean the wall that they face, or the wall that is behind them?)

 

As for positioning, you just have to experiment. Every room is different and we all have different tastes.

 

Of course, I was just asking you to share your experience.

 

It's been over 3 months since I listened to them.