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Bowers and Wilkins has debuted a brand-new range of speakers, dubbed the 700 series, and it replaces the company’s long-standing CM series.

Boasting three standmounters, three floorstanders, two centre speakers and a subwoofer, Bowers and Wilkins is hoping that it has the speaker for just about every situation. These speakers should also sound better than the CM series that they replace, thanks to technologies that have been taken directly from the company’s flagship 800 series.

In addition to technologies grabbed straight from the 800 series, Bowers and Wilkins notes that there are also some features that have never been seen before present on its new 700 series. One such change is a new tweet design, dubbed Carbon Dome. This tweeter has been designed to deliver cleaner high frequencies, and is claimed to be the best performing ‘non-Diamond’ tweeter on the market.

There are two sections that make up the new Carbon Dome tweeter. The front portion is a 30-micron aluminium dome that has been stiffened by a carbon coating, while the second section is a 300-micron carbon ring. These two sections are then bonded to the inner surface of the structure.

Copy Cat Features

Bowers and Wilkins has benefitted from the success of its 800 series speakers when it came to crafting the new 700 series. That’s because the company took features such as the ‘Continuum’ material midrange driver straight out of its flagship model and placed it on this more affordable range. The Continuum cone’s design has been specifically crafted to control flexibility and avoid too abrupt a transition from pistonic to break-up modes of behaviour.

The Continuum cone design isn’t the only thing to make the jump. 700 series speakers that include bass drivers also receive the Aerofoil profile driver that was first seen on the 800 series. Given the price difference between the two ranges, however, the 700 series utilises a paper skin, rather than a carbon fibre.

The Bowers and Wilkins 700 Series and Pricing

Bowers and Wilkins’ 700 series range include the following speakers:

  • The 707 S2 is the smallest and most affordable speaker in the range. This boasts a two-way vented design with 25mm tweeter and 13cm mid/bass driver. Pricing has been set at £800 per pair.
  • The 706 S2 increases the mid/bass driver to 16.5cm and is priced at £1,100.
  • The biggest standmounter is the 705 S2, which features a tweeter-on-top design with the same drive array as the 706 S2. Pricing has been set at £1,800 per pair.
  • The 704 S2 is a floorstander with a three-way vented box design with 25mm Carbon Dome tweeter, 13cm mid-range driver and a pair of 13cm bass drivers. They’re £2,000 per pair.
  • Another floorstander, the 703 S2 ups the driver dimensions to 15cms for the mid-range and 16.5cm for each of its bass drivers. A pair will cost £2,400.
  • At the top of the range is the 702 S2, another tweeter-on-top design with the same driver proportions as the 703 S2. These cost £3,300 per pair.
  • The HTM72 S2 is a centre speaker with a two-way vented design with 25mm tweeter and a pair of 13cm mid/bass drivers. Priced at £600.
  • There is also the HTM71 S2, which is a three-way design with 25mm tweeter, 10cm mid-range driver and a couple of 16.5cm bass drivers. Priced at £900.
  • The DB4S subwoofer is available to boost the bass of the system, with the sub boasting a single 10in carbon aerofoil cone, driven by 1000W of amplification. Pricing has been set at £1,350.
  • The FS-700 S2 is the last product in the range, and is a dedicated speaker stand available in black or silver finishes. These speaker stands are £400 per pair.

Everything in the range, excluding the speaker stand, is available in either gloss black, satin white or rosenut finishes. The Bowers and Wilkins 700 series is available now.

The range (or, at least, the standmounting element of the range) is finished off by the dedicated FS-700 S2 speaker stands. Available in black or silver, they’re £400 per pair.

Each speaker, including the sub, is available in either gloss black, satin white or rosenut finishes – and they’re all available now.
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