TEST WINNER MISSION 770

Four great speakers that all deliver, but only one is a winner

Rarely do we have a Group Test packed with such quality. You have just read about three truly excellent speakers and a fourth that misses greatness by a small margin.

Bowers & Wilkins routinely serves up terrific speakers, so when one comes along that doesn’t quite hit the mark we are more disappointed than usual. It is not that the new 705 S3 aren’t hugely capable. Judged on hi-fi specifics such as detail resolution and stereo imaging these speakers border on excellence. They cast a huge soundstage, no doubt helped by the tweeter-on-top driver arrangement, and deliver a combination of clarity and precision that’s hard to better. But that is not enough to make them a truly satisfying listen. In this company they sound overly analytical and are unable to communicate the energy and drive in a piece of music as well as their rivals.