Thanks! Really looking forward to getting them, getting this room set up is really proving to be a lot of fun. Bikes, beer and high quality audio: that ticks all the boxes for me!
Yeah, they are nice out of the box, but for me the bass took a long time to smooth out. For quite awhile the bass was thumpy. I also discovered that they sound best with a lot of toe in, pointed behind my head in the listening position. And plenty of room between the speaker and the wall behind it.
OK, just to update, I have new speakers (B&W 704 S2) that have over 200 hours of play time on them. While breaking them in, I have often thought they were a bit dull on top and heavy on the bass. (They are more than 2 feet off the rear wall and that's as far as they can get.) While breaking them in, I had them on the 6 ohm tap on my Yamaha amp listed in my profile. The only other option is a 4 ohm tap. The speakers are rated 8 ohm. So today I was listening to a James Taylor CD and it sounded a bit bassy and like JT was behind a veil. For the heck of it, I switched to the 4 ohm tap and sure enough, the bass was tamed and JT was much clearer! I tried some other recordings and found that the 4 ohm tap gave me less bass (or perhaps tighter bass) and a more open midrange and treble. I finally can hear the famous B&W midrange!
And still more info: SoundStageNetwork.com | SoundStage.com - NRC Measurements: Bowers & Wilkins 704 S2 Loudspeakers This lists the measurements of the 704 S2s. Here's just one chart found above:
The original 703 (which I own) is also a fairly tough load for an amplifier. Though it's more sensitive than the 704S2, it also dips into 3 ohm range. I've found no problem driving it with my Rotel RB-1070, which is rated at 130 WPC in 8 ohms and is 4 ohm stable. I'll power my new 704s with a Rotel RA-1570 integrated amp which has similar output (120 wpc). I don't anticipate any problems using this combo.
I run my 702s with a 16 year old RSX-1065 that delivers 5 x 100 watts per channel RMS, all channels driven, and up to 200 watts per channel under dynamic conditions. It works great. Plenty of power for them. The only reason I am considering upgrading the receiver is for an updated 5.1 system. I am considering a pure stereo receiver with surround pass through next time.
I wouldn't say I had any problems using my 8 ohm tap. But it sure sounds better (more even tonality) using the four ohm tap. That's why I posted the info above, in case others have the same experience.
Yeah, it's certainly worth noting - the speaker is a bit of a tough load and treating them as 4 ohm speakers is probably a good idea. I could see some amps not having enough current to really make them sing.
Finally, the 704s are in the house! I’ve got to say that they sound fantastic right out of the box! Looking forward to these breaking in...
Early impressions: remarkably good sound, but I do notice that the bass seems a bit congested at higher volumes right now, just not as clean as I expect or what I heard in my demo. Of course, I have only about 1 hour on them so I’m not worried about that just yet! At low to moderate volume levels I can’t find fault with anything I’m hearing though. I’m very happy with these
Bass was a big issue with mine. Some factors that helped tame/tighten up the bass: 1. Burn in time. 2. Getting them a few feet from the rear wall. 3. Getting the plinths on spikes. 4. Setting my amp to the 4 ohm taps.
I haven’t got as much time listening as I would like, but I’m loving what I’m hearing. I know they have a long ways to go to fully break in, but they sound magnificent in that space! Very detailed, huge soundstage and fantastic midrange. As I mentioned before, the bass could use some tightening up, but I only notice that at volumes beyond what I normally listen at. I expect that will improve over time.
I actually left my digital hard drive and Mac playing for a few days while I was out to burn mine in a bit. Threes hours here. Four hours there. I’m in a house so dont have to worrry about neighbors below or above me.
Yeah, I ran my stereo for 9 hours at a time when I went to work for a couple of weeks when my speakers were new.
Any updates? I think I finally have mine placed how they will stay. A bit of tilt upward (1/2" higher in the front), since my new couch is somewhat tall. I also solved a symmetry problem, as my speaker spikes on one side (the back of the speaker) hadn't penetrated the carpet. So I used a phillips screwdriver to make a little hole for the spikes. Now I get a more even sound with better clarity and better bass.
The 704s are continuing to improve - I haven’t tracked how many hours I’ve got on them, but it’s still nowhere near 100 hours since I’ve been travelling quite a bit as of late. They image like crazy and have a wonderfully detailed midrange, with no harshness at the top end. I still get a bit of the phenomenon you observed, where the bass almost seems to be too much on some tracks, but I’m optimistic that will tame in time. And even that is getting rare: some tracks where that was a problem it’s no longer apparent. But I still have a few where the bass seems just slightly over-emphasized. I’m expecting that will clean up in time.
Yes, well in a sense. My amp is a Rotel RA-1570 which doesn’t have separate taps for different impedance speakers. It’s got plenty of current for 4 ohm speakers though, so that shouldn’t be an issue. It’s a fairly high current amp, conservatively rated at 120 WPC with both channels driven and is stable into 4 ohms. I’ve heard this amp drive much more demanding speakers (B&W 804 Diamonds) and it did a fantastic job - I think it’s up to the job!
Update: I’ve been running these speakers in for a while now, while I haven’t been exactly keeping track of time, I believe that tonight I’m really close to about 100 hours. I got tired of waiting to see if things tightened up, so I’ve been playing music on them all day long while I’m at work for the past while. I can say that from the lowest bass to the top end, they sound magnificent! I’m listening to some really bass heavy music right now and they are sounding clean and coherent. Not too bass heavy they way they did initially. I think they are tremendous speakers with a superb, detailed midrange, a surprising amount of bass for their small size and a very involving, musical presentation. And great looking to boot!
I’m not sure if a lot of solid state amplification has ohm switching. McIntosh has different terminals, I believe...but most do not that I have seen.
Most don’t, but as you observe McIntosh does have different taps. I believe the amp that @George P owns is similar. None of the amps that I own do, even though several of them are quite happy with 4 ohm speakers.