Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

With their ports open, the 705 Signatures reproduced the 1/3-octave warble tones on Editor's Choice with good power down to the 63Hz band. While the 50Hz tone was quieter, the 40Hz and 32Hz tones had reasonable weight, the latter aided by the lowest-frequency mode in my room. The 25Hz and 20Hz warbles were inaudible, but there was no audible "chuffing" from the port with these tones. With the ports blocked, the 63Hz tone still had effective weight, but the 50Hz and lower-frequency tones were suppressed. Opening the ports again, the half-step–spaced low-frequency tonebursts on Editor's Choice spoke cleanly down to 63Hz, with some emphasis of some of the tones in the octave above 512Hz. When I listened to the speakers' top, side, and front panels with a stethoscope while these tones played, I could hear some vibrational modes between 256Hz and 512Hz, but these were relatively low in level.

Test signals done with, I turned to music. One of the first recordings I played on the 705 Signatures was Respighi's Pines of Rome with Antal Doráti conducting the Minnesota Orchestra (16/44.1k ALAC file, from Mercury Living Presence: The Collector's Edition, reissued on Decca 478 509-2). Hmm...the balance was not quite what I anticipated from my experience with pink noise. While the bass pedal notes in the climax of The Pines Near a Catacomb had good weight and the stereo image had excellent stability, the violins sounded too thin, as did the solo clarinet and oboe in The Pines of the Janiculum. Though this classic 1960 performance had been recorded by legendary engineer Bob Fine, perhaps the 705 Signatures were faithfully revealing the recording's vintage sonic character.

I turned to a more recent recording, Vltava from Smetana's Má Vlast, performed in 2014 by Jirí Belohlávek conducting the Czech Philharmonic (24/48k MQA file, unfolded to 24/96k, Decca/Tidal). This was more like what I was expecting. The violins had more body to their tone, the cellos sounded rich, and the woodwinds at the work's beginning both sounded natural and were suitably set back in the soundstage behind the plane of the strings. Roon followed the Smetana with the second symphony from a contemporary composer I had never heard of, Kevin Puts, performed by Marin Alsop (whom I have heard of) conducting the new-to-me Peabody Symphony Orchestra (16/44.1k FLAC, Naxos/Tidal). With their ports open, the Bowers & Wilkins produced a rich, enveloping sweep of airy sound, with enough low frequencies to underpin the work. The bass drum that signifies the 9/11 attacks had impressive weight for a relatively small speaker. The image of the solo violin was suitably small and positioned stably in the center of the stage, as were the piano notes that punctuate the work's elegiac ending.

With both these modern recordings, it was critical that I sat with my ears just below the tweeters, the treble otherwise becoming too lively. I experimented with different toe-in angles, but I preferred the stereo imaging with the speakers pointing directly at me.

I always turn to solo piano recordings to judge a loudspeaker's midrange quality. I recorded Canadian pianist Robert Silverman live in concert in 1992 with a spaced pair of omnidirectional microphones, so the stereo imaging on the subsequent CD (Concert, Stereophile STPH005-2) is diffuse (footnote 2). But Robert's performance of Schubert's six Moments Musicaux remains a favorite all these years later. The rich, warm tone of his Steinway that was captured by the microphones was reproduced in almost full measure by the 705 Signatures, only the lowest notes—in the middle section of the first Moment, for example—lacking body. However, the image of the piano was more forward in the low treble than I am used to, both with my Silverman recording and with Murray Perahia's 2017 performance of Beethoven's "Moonlight" piano sonata (24/96 WAV file, DG 4798353). This didn't get in the way of the music, but it does suggest that the 705 Signatures won't be an optimal match with source components or amplification that themselves have balances on the forward side.

I continued to be impressed by the 705 Signature's clarity throughout my auditioning of different kinds of music. One of the best-engineered rock recordings I have in my library is Jimmy Webb's Suspending Disbelief (16/44,1k ALAC files, Elektra 61506), co-produced by George Massenburg. The Bowers & Wilkins shone on "Too Young to Die," Webb's paean of praise for his Cobra sports car. While the gated echo on Russ Kunkel's snare drum both dates this 1993 album and sounded somewhat "fizzy," Leland Sklar's bass guitar was reproduced with good definition and weight, and without favoring some notes over others. The 705 Signatures' transparency allowed Steve Lukather's guitar solo to soar free in front of the soundstage. And the backing voices—David Crosby, Don Henley, and J.D. Souther—were reproduced as a supportive halo around Webb's upfront vocal image.

George Massenburg was also partly responsible for one of my favorite live albums of all time, Waiting for Columbus by legendary rock band Little Feat (16/44.1k FLAC files, Warner Bros./Tidal). I saw Little Feat in 1975, playing support for the Doobie Brothers at London's Rainbow Theatre, and instantly became a fan. The opening of "Fat Man in the Bathtub" on Columbus has what is perhaps the best exposition of the white magic of rock evah, and the 705 Signatures' transparency transported me to a front-row-center seat in the audience. The B&Ws gave Richie Hayward's kickdrum enough impact and Kenny Gradney's bass guitar enough weight. Lowell George's slide guitar and singing sent shivers down my spine. I have said it before, but a stereo system in full song is a time machine.

Comparisons
My longtime reference standmounted loudspeaker is the KEF LS50, a pair of which I bought following my review in 2012. At $1300/pair, the LS50 is considerably less expensive than the 705 Signature. It is also less sensitive: I measured 84.5dB vs the 705 Signature's 87.6dB. With the levels matched, my Silverman Schubert piano recording sounded comparatively airless on the KEFs. There was also noticeably less low-frequency energy with the LS50s, though the Steinway's midrange tonality was a touch more natural-sounding on the KEFs, as was Perahia's instrument on the Beethoven piano sonata. The Smetana orchestral recording sounded thickened in the lower mids on the LS50s, however, compared with the 705 Signatures.

Turning to Jimmy Webb's "Too Young to Die," Kunkel's snare drum had less fizz on the KEFs and Sklar's bass guitar was a little warmer-sounding. However, the B&W's bass guitar had better-defined leading edges and low-frequency extension than the KEF's. Stereo imaging precision was about the same with the two different loudspeakers, though I felt I could see deeper in the soundstage on the 705 Signatures. The reverb on the drums as Kunkel rolls around his kit before the fade-out was less audible on the KEFs. And, of course, the smaller and less sensitive LS50s couldn't play the Little Feat album at the same satisfying "U R There" loudness as the 705 Signatures.

The KEFs are an excellent value, but the Bowers & Wilkins offered a more transparent window into the music, as well as deeper lows and airier highs.

Just after I installed the 705 Signatures in my system, I picked up from Michael Fremer the Marten Oscar Duo standmounted speakers that he reviewed in the November issue. After I had written up the measurements to accompany Mikey's review, I set the Martens up in place of the Bowers & Wilkins for some listening. I had found the Oscar Duo to be 2dB less sensitive than the 705 Signature, so I adjusted the volume accordingly.

Michael very much liked the two-way Marten, writing hat this speaker offered "confounding bass performance—[the] ability to present the illusion of genuine low-frequency extension...without clogging up the lower midrange and doing damage to acoustic guitars and voices." I was also impressed by the Oscar Duo's low-frequency extension—on my Schubert piano recording it reproduced the instrument's left-hand register in almost full measure.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Marten's high frequencies didn't sound as airy or extended as the B&W's on the orchestral recordings I played, though the snare drum on "Too Young to Die" sounded more natural than it had on either the 705 Signatures or the LS50s. However, that halo of backing voices I mentioned earlier was less distinctly developed on the Oscar Duos than it had been on the B&Ws. But the Marten's extended low frequencies definitely favored the bass guitar on this cut.

At $6995/pair, the Marten Oscar Duo is significantly more expensive than the $4000/pair Bowers & Wilkins 705 Signature, so perhaps it won't come as a surprise that overall I preferred its performance. But the English speaker is definitely a contender.

Conclusion
I was surprised how much I enjoyed having the Bowers & Wilkins 705 Signature in my system. Surprised, because the speaker's measured performance implies a somewhat "tailored" sonic character. The 705 Signature's treble balance will work best with components that are themselves not forward-sounding. However, in my system, this elegant loudspeaker stepped out of the way of the music in a very satisfying manner. Strongly recommended

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Footnote 2: This CD includes a "Mapping the Soundstage" track, in which I demonstrate how this microphone technique, while tonally accurate, distorts the recorded stereo image. See the diagrams here.