See our other active classified ads.
Alter a few days’ use to get the speakers loosened up and settled at room temperature I spent some time moving them around the room, experimenting with those foam bungs and generally tweaking. To a great extent I needn’t have bothered: there’s an inherent rightness about the sound of the 704s that lets them deliver fine imaging and an open, unforced soundstage.
In the interests of science I tried them on the end of a low-powered amplifier, and discovered that the 50-150W suggested input is no machismo on the part of the B&W designers: despite that relatively high sensitivity, the 704s thrive on a healthy dose of power and current. They’ll make a noise with lower-powered amps, but switching to something with The new B&W 704s continue a great company tradition energy to spare gives a sound much better suited to the big, vibrant, easy music-making of which these speakers are capable. For this test I spent a lot of time with them on the end of my usual TAG McLaren Audio 100x5R:10 power amplifier, using two channels to biamp each speaker, but I also had fine results with my elderly Michaelson Audio Chronos pre/power amplifier combination, which certainly isn’t short of power, and has the kind of liquid delivery and mighty punch that really makes these speakers sing. That suggests they’ll also work well with amps like the Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated, or indeed the Exposure XXIII/ XXVIII pre/power amps (reviewed in March).
And they do sing: connected to the TAG McLaren power amp and AV32R preamp/ processor, here running in two-channel mode, the B&Ws have a tight precision that’s easy to admire. They image beautifully, and the sense of depth in the soundstage picture is excellent; I’ve rarely heard speakers do such a good job of disappearing, leaving the music spread before the listener, with so little faffing about needed to set them up.
Beyond that initial impression of lucidity and an entirely natural view of music where the percussive attack of, say, the piano is gorgeous, the B&Ws are equally capable with the big, lush orchestrations of Richard Rodgers on a 1992 John Mauceri-conducted Philips disc of his overtures. The way in which the overture to Carousel slowly gains momentum is thrilling on the B&Ws, which place the orchestra before the listener and hold the image rock solid and transparent as the music builds, subsides and grows again.
The speakers are even more impressive with music theatre: the original 1979 cast recording of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd can sound rather brash and brittle in its 1990 CD reissue on some systems. But with the Michaelson Audio Chronos amps and B&Ws on the end of the Marantz CD7 player, the weight and power on tap offsets the rather strident top end. It can’t flatter the strained vocals of Len Cariou in the title-role, but the passion of his performance comes over and the dynamic range and orchestral power are well represented.
But what I like most about these speakers is that they’ve been designed for relatively wide dispersion — no less that 40° in the horizontal plane, no doubt with an eye to better integration in surround sound systems — and this means that excellent imaging and sense of soundstaging is maintained even when you move well away from the ideal listening ‘sweet spot’. These aren’t for one listener to enjoy and the rest of the household to hate.
Thanks to their high sensitivity, that well-engineered ‘two-and-a-half-way’ design and a choice of wood finishes, the B&W 704s manage one of the hardest tricks in the loudspeaker world: they sound wonderful without taking over half of your room. The engineers deserve full credit for making a compact, fine-looking loudspeaker with a sound that will please both demanding listeners and their families. I’d suggest anyone thinking of buying a pair of superior floorstanding loudspeakers should audition these over an extended period. ‘Long and hard’ would be the usual phrase to describe the process, but the B&Ws are such a delight to listen to that I suspect the time will fly by.
- Frequency Range: 43Hz to 33kHz
- Frequency Response: 48Hz – 28kHz (±3dB)
- Sensitivity: 88dB spl (2.83Vrms, 1m)
- Nominal Impedance: 8Ω (minimum 3.1Ω)
- Recommended Amplifier Power: 30W – 150W into 8Ω