Introducing the Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series Anniversary.
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A recent release in the wonderful world of speakers is the Bowers & Wilkins 600 Anniversary Series to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the original 600 speakers.
With the quality of sound you have come to expect from Bowers & Wilkins, but with upgraded crossovers and decoupled double dome tweeters, for the most clear listening experience possible for the anniversary. Not to mention the cosmetic upgrades to them.
Before we talk about our verdict on how they sound let’s have an overview of the history.
1966, Worthing, England. John Bowers started out building speakers systems in his electronics workshop. This grew into Bowers starting his own speaker company, after a hefty investment of £10,000 from a satisfied customer! This grew into the company experimenting with speaker designs to push forward the capabilities of audio from the domestic monitors in the 1970s to setting up the SRE (Steyning Research Establishment) in 1981.
Bowers and wilkins: domestic monitors, the start of their venture into home audio! read more at :https://www.bowerswilkins.com/en-gb/our-story
The first 600 series came about in 1991, as a successor to the already established series of home monitors. It was a series that made quality audio even more accessible in a domestic environment, at an affordable price point, helping create what the HiFi industry is today. Designs like the original 600 series gave more of a focus on the the music lover’s home, instead of a professional studio environment. That is why we join Bowers & Wilkins in celebrating this milestone.
“But what about the speakers?” you might ask, that’s why you clicked on this blog after all.
The sound quality captured in the 600 series is outstanding- the clarity is comparable to speakers at a higher price point. This was surprising due to the seemingly minor changes for this anniversary edition - but those little changes make these a top competitor for their respective price points.
The 603s towering OVER THE 607s
Initially the bass that can be produced from the Floor Standing 603 speakers made me need to catch my breath. I assumed there was a subwoofer in the system with them. I was wrong, it was all the 603s work!
From testing the 603s I went straight to warming up the 607s. I wanted to to dive into the comparison between the models. I went into testing the 607s with a pinch of salt as they are dwarfed by their big sisters, but I was wrong to do so. The 607s are the perfect speaker if you have a smaller room. They held their own in our larger demo room, which I think says a lot about the quality of the audio reproduced by them. Most speakers of this size will typically begin to suffer in this kind of environment, however, the 607s held up (albeit with a slight blur of clarity between the bass and mid-range in comparison with the more expensive models).
The 607s have a wide frequency response and great clarity, most noticeable in the crisp detail in the midrange and the high frequencies - making these small speakers an impressive thing to hear.
Introducing the 606s. If you find you have the room size for a bigger pair of speakers, but without the space for floor standing models then the 606s are for you. The slightly larger size of the 606s mean they don’t fail to fill up a room They are a favourite as our shop floor speakers to ‘warm them up’ (we just really like them to be honest).
Our first demonstration model of the 606s did kick up quite the riot in our store. The new Oak finish for the 600 series is flawless. Our 606s featured this finish, with an Oak styled veneer (a stunning shade) mixed with the white face. The contrast between the two creates a balance that I can only describe as full eye candy. Although for the 603s we do prefer the finishes in black or white, as we think the black speaker cones don’t fully mix with the white panel - but of course that is a personal preference, how may feel otherwise.
That oaky goodness mmm
Overall we tested the speakers with a wide range of music, varying from The Cinematic Orchestra and Oh Wonder to Rollings Stones and Metallica to Jon Hopkins and the Bass Mekanik! We choose a range of different styles to reflect a range of different listening to see how they hold up. The speakers as a whole reflected a performance higher than their respected price points - in the worlds of the great Joe Reed. ‘A whole load of speaker for the price.’
It feels that Bowers and Wilkins didn’t just hit the nail on the head with this series - they may have made nails obsolete! They have offered a quality speaker that is available at a range of price points that ultimately benefits the Hi-Fi industry with a further sense of accessibility to crisp balanced plain old good sounding Hi-Fi.
We are operating an appointment only system during these difficult times. So why not book a demo to listen to these beautiful speakers today? Our demo rooms are waiting!
Jake, Nick and Joe - Audio T Portsmouth
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Bowers & Wilkins 600 Anniversary Series are available in all Audio T Stores.
