So Bowers and Wilkins recently released the new 600 Series 3. I’ve been enjoying my 683 S2 for about eight years. The S3 now has a new tweeter, midrange and bass units compared to my S2.
Headed to Magnolia to give them a listen. I enjoyed them. They are a very good speaker. B&W always does a fine job with their 600 series. While there I thought I’d listen to the 702 S3.
I knew better. In knew they would be very good and they were. Magnolia had a good setup with Arcam amplification and easy a/b switching. It made hearing the difference between the 603 and 702 pretty easy. Smoother, more refined airier treble. I’ve always enjoyed the yellow Kevlar mid driver in B&Ws and the new silver Continuum mid sounds a bit smoother and more refined. And oh the bass. What Bowers does with bass is just fantastic. The soundstage, wow, just wow.
The CM line from B&W was very good but the move to and the evolution of the 700 series has been phenomenal.
I went home, thought about it and discussed it and headed back to Magnolia. I still can’t believe it but I walked out having ordered a pair of 702 S3s. They should be here sometime next week.
Whoa Nelly, I CANNOT wait. These are my endgame dream speakers. Update with pictures and impressions coming soon.
Six months in with dual subs and the stereo continues to sound great. I’m very happy with the results. Unless something fails I think I’m settled. Could this be the end of a twenty year quest. It’s funny to think it might be. Why I didn’t try subs years ago is beyond me.
A month in and the Bowers and Wilkins ASW608s are settling in nicely. Ah heck, they’re fantastic. Can’t live without them.
On forums that many of us frequent you’ll find those that believe eight inch subs are a waste of time. And boy some I are adamant about it. Fortunately there are those that understand the concept of right tool for the job.
So after many years I started thinking about subs again. The stereo sounded fine but even with moderately sized floorstanders and plenty of power it just sounded small and strained in our large room if pushed past moderate spls. The 6.5” woofers just couldn’t move the air and keep up with the mids and highs as volume increased.
So, setting these up with an 80Hz crossover point has fixed those issues. The system can now fill the room. Music sounds great and movies are a blast.
These little dog subs think they’re big dogs. They’ve even handled Avengers and Top Gun: Maverick (We only run a stereo 2.2 setup for tv and movies so they don’t have to deal with the LFE signal). But that still makes movies so much more enjoyable. Yeah, the windows don’t shake and stuff doesn’t fall off shelves but fun nonetheless.
I've had the subs in place and playing for a bit over twenty four hours. I should have been running subs for the past twenty years. Of course they are new and exciting but I have been enjoying the stereo with them right from the start. As they settle I'm might do a bit more adjusting of the crossover and volume but I'm going to take my time with that and enjoy the process and the music.
I tried a single sub at one time years ago and it was huge disappointment. Thinking back I'm pretty sure I simply had it set way too low. I don't believe I even tried it above 40Hz back then. Glad I gave subs another shot.
The stereo has been stable for two years and the family enjoys it quite a bit. The addition of the Rotel amp pulled everything together.
The room it’s in is very big (open concept family room/kitchen/ breakfast area) and a larger speaker would work even better than the B&W 683 S2 currently used.
I love B&W speakers, so looking to move to the 702 S3. I had a quick informal listen to them finally. I would have liked to have walked out with them but can’t bring myself to do that without a longer demo. I would also like to see a review in Stereophile or HiFi News with measurements. I’m surprised that we’re about three months out from their premier and no reviews yet.
Oh well, the anticipation is fun and I’m in no hurry.
And so it begins. The journey continues. Bowers and Wilkins just announced their new 700 series and I’m loving what they’ve done with the 702 S3. They haven’t hit the local showrooms yet but I can’t wait to check them out.
Wow, where does the time go? I have lived with the Rotel RB-1590 for a year now. I had listened at length to it several times, so I knew it was a great amplifier but was still apprehensive about making such a large purchase and wondered how it would ultimately sound in my system.
Ha, I shouldn’t have worried but like many I’ve had a few disappointing journeys along the way trying to achieve good sound. It’s mated well with my preamplifier and sounds great in the system. The music sounds correct and complete. Tone, clarity, dynamics, all there. Great soundstage and the system now sounds like it belongs in the room instead of sounding too small.
Anyways, good stuff and I’m content. So, how will I feel in six months. We’ll see….
Made it to the six month mark with the RB-1590. Usually at this point the strengths and shortcomings are pretty evident with a piece of gear. I’m sure most of us around here can relate.
With my fifty watt Arcam or NAD music always sounded pleasant at low to moderate volume through the B&Ws. In our large room the sound would become strained at around mid to high 70 decibels at the MLP 13ft away; Which was actually mid to upper 80 decibels at three feet. In fact pushed a little further and the Arcam lost control of the woofers. It is no fun to hear a woofer make that loud whack when it bottoms out.
I tried a 200 watt Class-d amp. And while there was more control of the speakers and you could play music louder and to the edge of the comfort zone of the speakers the sound was not nearly as enjoyable as the Arcam and NAD when they played within their limits. The best way to describe the sound would be flat and hard. The sound stage was not stable with imaging that floated around a lot, very frustrating.
All those concerns have been put to rest with the Rotel. We now have good tone/timbre, very good dynamics and an excellent stable soundstage with great detail, imaging and layering. Really couldn’t ask for more.
Added a Bluesound Node 2i to the main/family room system and put the Node 2 in bedroom/office.
So thankful for the Node 2. Won’t say it’s cheap but it is a good value. I’ve used a Node for the past five years as my main music source. Fantastic sound and a great OS. Love it.
One month in and very pleased. The RB-1590 works very well with the Freya S. With the RB-1590 the system has very good tone, fantastic dynamics and nice big soundstage.
One interesting thing is that the settle-in/break-in has been very subtle. It sounded great out of the box. During the first week the soundstage opened a bit more but it has really sounded fantastic from the get-go.
In a nutshell, everything sounds right. We’ll see how I feel in a few more weeks.
It’s here and it’s spectacular: The Rotel RB-1590. Spent four hours this morning with dusting, cable management, rearranging components and finally putting the RB-1590 in place.
It’s sounds fantastic. Yeah, I know, it’s the honeymoon phase and it’ll take about a week to get know it well, but man, this is fun. Just been streaming Jazz24 for a couple hours.
Two quick observations: It has the smoothest two-stage soft start I’ve experienced and this amp with two 1.2kVA transformers has not a scintilla of self noise/hum.
The Schiit Freya S has been in the system a year and I’m still pleased with it. As mentioned in the last post I’ve wanted to get a new amp. Ordered the Rotel RB-1590.
Hope for it to arrive next week but with Thanksgiving it may take longer.
The Schiit Freya S has been in the system for two weeks now. It has exceeded all expectations from packaging to performance. So much so that I am contemplating a complete Schiit system by adding a Gungnir MB DAC and the Vidar amp.
Of course all this is the very early stages with a new piece of gear. I’ll try to be patient and see what the future holds.
I will add a few more impressions of the Freya S after I have lived with it for a couple of months.
You’re confusion is understandable. The Arcam A19 is in a second system in a bedroom/office. I’ve updated descriptions to make that clear. The Schiit/NAD pair replaces the NupPrime amp that died.
I love my A19. It was in the main system for quite awhile. I only replaced it because we simply needed more power in our large room for louder music and movie playback.
Congrats on the Arcam acquisitions. I believe you are going to enjoy those for a long time. In fact I may get the Arcam SA30 integrated in the future.
I have to say, I am a bit confused as to what you are currently using for amp/preamp. Your photos show an Arcam integrated, yet your text indicates NAD, though your components list includes the Arcam integrated.
The reason I bring this up is due to me adding an Arcam AV-9 preamp/processor, and DV 139 universal player. I have been very pleasantly surprised at how good these two units have turned out to be. I bought both of them used, to replace higher-priced components that quit working, so it makes me happy that the Arcam units have acquitted themselves so well.
Nice system, and a very nice room. Regards, and enjoy,
Well, after replacing the power supply on my IDA-16 in February it made a loud pop and died last week. Not quite three years old, very frustrating.
Alas, I have recommissioned my trusty 15 year old NAD c320BEE integrated and it is working great. In a few days I will be pairing it with a Schiit Freya S preamplifier.
I’m very disappointed that the NuPrime failed however I’m delighted how good my little NAD sounds. Been running it about a week and it is sounding so good.
About a year after getting the C320BEE I added a deHavilland Ultraverve Jr 6SN7 tube preamplifier to it and it was some of the best sound I have had.
Honestly, I should have never replaced that set-up. But that was many years and lots of lessons ago. Even though the Freya S isn’t tubed based I have high expectations that putting a better pre in front of the C320BEE amp will again produce excellent results.
