Enjoy your music with these Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series 685 S2 2-way loudspeakers, which feature 6-1/2" woven Aramid fiber woofer cones for clear sound. The 1" decoupled double-dome aluminum tweeters deliver crisp, pure highs.
The B&W 685-S2's have been well reviewed in several publications and have come away with some well desirved high marks, Their sound quality is outstanding across the range that counts, great at the top end and very good base quality for bookshelf speakers in their price range. The design is padestrian but fine unless you spend a lot of time looking at your speakers, I don't. The construction seems solid as mentioned in several reviews. The quality I look for in speakers, floorstanding or bookshelf, that sets great speakers apart from very good speakers, is their ability to move the sound stage away from or toward the listener as the volume is decreased or increased. I didn't find this ability in the 685-S2's. At background listening levels the sound stage seems to me to be in the distance. Bringing the volume up increases the loudness but doesn't seem to move the sound stage proportionally toward the listening position. I have been spoiled, in this respect, by the old Quad's like the 63's and some of the Spendor floorstanders. Maybe, it's just me.
These speaker stands feature adjustable carpet spikes and rubber feet that provide multiple stabilizing options and an integrated wire path that simplifies organization of heavy-gauge cables.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
There alot of speaker stands around with several speaker companies offering their own stands. This our third set of Sanus metal stands, all of which are great. They're are well constructed, heavy and nicely finished. They will work well with hefty speakers. Importantly, these Sanus stands don't add to or detract from the speakers' sound. They do what they're designed to do because of their design and great acoustic isolation. You can find less expensive speaker stands but this is one of those places where "you get what you pay for."
My Best Buy number: 1039001174
What's great about it: Attractive, well made, great solid speaker support
What's not so great: Filling with sand if extra weight is needed is difficult
These speaker stands feature adjustable carpet spikes and rubber feet that provide multiple stabilizing options and an integrated wire path that simplifies organization of heavy-gauge cables.