B&W 705 Questions - Help!

[Rob W.]

I just got a pair of 705's to upgrade from 601 s3's that I was using in my HT/Audio system. I use a Yamaha receiver, sony cd player, HSU 12" sub B&W LCR60 ctr, Boshe ton Acoustics in wall surrounds. The front speakers are wired with home made CAT5 wire, bi-wired with 9 strands going to ea. channel.

The 705's sounded okay until I turned off the sub to see how they sounded by themselves with music and was totally dissapointed. They had NO BASS. I checked the woofers to see they were moving and they were. I also checked the phasing and it was correct. My receiver has the front mains set to large. Can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong here or are these speakers that lacking in bass? After spending $1500 for these, I expected to be really blown away fronm their sound but that hasn't been the case. The highs and midrange are pretty good. How long before these should be broken-in? I've had them for a week.

Thanks,
Rob

[junior77blue]

The 705s are book shelf speakers, with just a simple 6.5" driver. Not sure what bass you were expecting. The $1500 went towards an excellent midrange/tweeter. If you were looking for some bass, 704s or 703s would have better suited you.

Sounds like you have everything set up correctly.

[Aussie Geoff]

Rob,

The 705s are very sensitive to room positioning for bass... They do have nice tight bass down to arround 60 Hz (good for bookshelves) but will never have the bass to match a subwoofer.

Try moving them arround a little (away from the wall if you can, closer to the wall if you can't)...

Also - when you say turn the subwoofer off - to you mean physically off or disabling it in the Processor / Reciever. If you mean OFF then the processor may still be sending the missing bass to the turned off SUB (A common problem)!

Geoff

[BlazeMaster]

how did you find the improvements in the mid and hi frequency?

[weijst]

I used to have a pair of 602 S3 and replaced them with the 705s. Allthough the bass doesn't go as low as with the 602s, it is indeed a lot tighter (much better for music).

Now if you were using the 601 S3 you should at least have an equally low bass output now, but it should sound a lot tighter. (IMO the 705s should even be able to go a little lower than the 601 S3...)

Play around with placement a bit. Mine are app 30 cm away from the wall, 3 mtr apart and toed (?) in a bit.

Good luck!

[Rob W.]

how did you find the improvements in the mid and hi frequency?

The mids and Hi's are nice. The imaging excellent.

[Rob W.]

Rob,

The 705s are very sensitive to room positioning for bass... They do have nice tight bass down to arround 60 Hz (good for bookshelves) but will never have the bass to match a subwoofer.

Try moving them arround a little (away from the wall if you can, closer to the wall if you can't)...

Also - when you say turn the subwoofer off - to you mean physically off or disabling it in the Processor / Reciever. If you mean OFF then the processor may still be sending the missing bass to the turned off SUB (A common problem)!

Geoff

That is a good question. I turn off the amp to the sub physically. It may be doing what you say and cutting off the lows to the 705's. Would this happen even if I have them set to large in the receiver? All of the people are telling me that they are bookshelves and do not go bellow 50 or 60hz but they don't even sound like they are going down to there.

[Jeff]

Rob W. here's a short story. I was excited about purchasing the 704's. After reading a good review in The Absolute Sound I eagerly went to the dealer. Fired up several test cd and...it was thin,weak, no low end! I was crushed.

Disappointed I turned to the 705's just because I was standing next to them. They sounded Beautiful, full bodied (for a bookself speaker)and detail. There is no way the 705's would out class the 704's. What's up?

The short of it was the 704's were playing on a Rotel reciever (2channel I believe). The 705's were playing on a Rotel 2 channel pre amp (rc-1070)and the RB1070 2 channel amp.

I then switch speakers. Oh ya!! The low end had returned not to mention the better mid and upper range detail. I was so blow away by this audition, I purchased the two channel Rotel amp, the RB-1080 insted of speakers. If you can, go back to the dealer and borrow the Rotel or a comparable 2 channel amp.and perform a test at your place. Do you recall what your 705's were connected to at the dealership? If it was a separate amp, that may have been the difference on your 705's.

Yes, Aussie Geoff is correct. Room placement is important. Hopefulling your options are not to limited on that end.

Good luck!