B&W 703 Floor standing speakers
The model B&W heads the 700th series of the speaker systems of the English company "Bowers&Wilkins". All main technologies, which glorified the company's products, incarnated in these speaker systems. In addition to the traditional tweeter, which is loaded on a tapered tube, perfectly absorbing the rear radiation of the membrane, there are a midrange speaker with Kevlar diffuser on hard suspension (Fixed Suspension Transducer), two woofers with composite diffusers and the profiled bass-reflex port, the entire surface of which is covered with small dimples (they are used for reducing noises, being created by the stream of passing through the pipe air). The bodies of B&W 703 also deserve a special mention.
They do not have any right angels and the front and upper panels are a single unit - they are formed from a single strip of MDF, bent and fixed in such position. The rigidity of construction cardinally increases due to such solution, and the placement of the tweeter on a slanting upper wall improves the dispersion on high frequencies.
There are two pairs of terminals for the connection of speaker cables on the back panel of the body. Each speaker system is mounted on 4 rubber legs or 4 spikes, intended for its mechanical isolation from floor. High qualitative wood veneer finish leaves no reasons for criticism. Although it is not as luxurious as in some competitors, but practical - you can move the systems without risk of leaving "an indelible mark" on the varnished surface.
I put a recording of Mozart's violin concert. The system conveys well a relative scale of musical events, the sound differs by plasticity and a perfect resolution in the midrange - this is the contribution of driver with fixed suspension. The detailing is just amazing - it is perfectly audible how the musicians turn over the score. It is nice to note the lack of significant coloration of tone of strings - it appears in the form of some sharpness, only in forte. I think with further warm-up of the speaker systems, this effect will go away.
The system plays the very powerful bass guitar and thundering drums from the disc "Scars" of Gary Moore goldenly - perfect attack and clarity of LF-range allow you to find out the complex bass parties, which are often turned into illegible hum in less expensive systems. Overload capability of the speaker systems is very high - they stand easily a breathtaking volume level , keeping at the same time the integrity of musical images.
The good test for the correctness of the transmission of male voice is the recordings of the famous French singer and rioter - Michel Sardou. Most of his songs differed by a strong emotional intensity, and not all speaker systems can convey it to a listener. Due to an open and detailed range, B&W 703 coped very well with this challenge - all tones are easy read.
B&W 703 confirms again the reputation of the company as the manufacturer of speaker systems, differed by enviable versatility -there are no such genres, which will be too tough for them.
