My longstanding interest in the brand has led me to review products, visit their factory in Worthing, England, and witness their speakers at Abbey Road Studios. Naturally, I was eager to review the 703 S3 towers, both on their own and as part of a 5.4 (four subwoofer) surround-sound system.
This review is a bit of a mea culpa. Each year since 2012-when Dolby Atmos was introduced-I have favored the benefits of more speakers. Suddenly it was not just 5.1 or 7.1, more speakers were more immersive, right? Just a few months ago I reviewed a 9.4.4 system to get a taste of what it's like to go all-out with both a Denon A1H AVR and a Marantz AV10 processor. But for these 703 S3 speakers, I decided to go all the back to a simple 5.1-channel system for movies and also focus on their capabilities when handling 2-channel music playback. The goal, to hear what fewer but better speakers offer versus spending a similar sum on a huge Atmos system.
FEATURES
The new 700 S3 Series from Bowers & Wilkins encompasses a total of eight models. The 703 S3 is the smaller of the two tower models, it has two 6.5-inch bass drivers and a rear-firing port, versus the 702 S3's three bass drivers and down-firing port. A premium high-performance floors-standing loudspeaker, it is equally suitable for a 2-channel stereo system and for multichannel home theater use.
This speaker is notable for its distinctive 3-way, 4-driver design. At its core, the 703 S3 features a 1" decoupled carbon dome tweeter. The tweeter is isolated in its own compartment that rests on top of the cabinet, a concept pioneered with the 801 matrix that the company refers to as "Tweeter-on-Top."
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The Big Clean
Chances are you probably do not think about the state of your electronic devices too often. Oh, you might think about all the upgrades you would like to make; where you would put those new tower speakers, or how a second or third subwoofer would really tame those bass modes in your room, or how much more cinematic a larger screen would be. Sure, you think about that part of your system. But how often do you think about the well-being of your system?
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