Thoughts on the 705's...why does it seem everyone dislikes them?

[corysmith01]

Hi-

I'm fairly new to B&W having just picked up my first pair about 6 months ago (DM 601 s3's). I've been reading this forum a lot and on numerous occasions I've seen posters pretty much dismiss the 705. First off, I'm strictly bookshelf...the fiancé is not a fan of floorstanders...hence my 601's. My retailer offers trade up, but like many, I don't have a lot of money, so my upward mobility is limited....I viewed the 700 series a nice stepping stone since the shelling out for the 800 series too dramatic a jump from my $450/pr 601's. So, the first thing I did was read about them over at B&W. The first thing I'm greeted with is the fact that they won the European Loudspeaker of the Year award for 2004-2005. Then, I read reviews...all pretty favorable. Next, I listened to them and definitely heard a decidedly nicer sound than my 601's could produce. It seemed more dimensional..could be the outward protruding tweeter that my 601's are lacking. Overall they sounded smoother and seemed to "disappear" more than my 601's.

So, now I'm wondering...why does it seem that everyone writes these off as a "skip and move on" speaker. I've even posed the question before and most responded with "save your money" and "skip to the 800's." I'm wondering why. I don't know if anyone can put it into words, but is it just that they don't live up in terms of price-to-performance ratio. Again, I saw them as a nice stepping stone. To go from my 601's to the 705's is about $1100 out of pocket, while out of pocket from the 601's to the 805's would be $1000 more than that at $2100...that's a lot of dough where I come from. Can anyone give me the dirt on why so many seem to knock these speakers? Just want to be an informed consumer. Thanks in advance.

[Ash]

I already own a pair od N805 and recently bought a pair of 705 as surround speakers. When I first bought the 705 I started comparing them to the 805.

Please keep in mind that the amp I used cosst $250 and thus my comparison will not be accurate, since the amp won't do justice to both speakers (805 & 705).

Anyway, I noticed that the 705 has the overall sound flavour of the 805. Although the 805 out-performed the 705 in the higher and the lower freq, giving a smoother high freq, more defined bass and better mids. However, I was impressed by the sound of the 705, if I can put it in precentages, it gives 75% of the sound quality of the 805.

Since I would not consider any speakers other than B&W, and If I wanted a good bookshelf speaker and did not have the money to buy 805, my obvious choice would be 705. They are good speakers and they are definatley not bad. They are also good looking speakers.

(this is just what I think and to my personal expereince. You should always listen to the speakers you want to buy and actually like their sound. You should also feel that the price difference is justified by an increase in the speaker performance. You are the ultimate judge).

Hope this helps

[junior77blue]

705s are great speakers....the 805s are just that much better. Or rather the N series. And yeah, it comes down to value of the performance increase.

[js24]

I think this sentiment applies to the two end models of the 700 seires- 705 and 703, where direct comparisons can be made with the upper class models -805 and 804

I'm sure and I have heard a clear difference between my 703s and the N804s, and 804 sounded obviously better given more $$ involved. I've chosen the 703 due to financial reasons and I'm happy with my decision (I like the aesthetics of the 703 just a little better than the N804).

To me, the great hobby of HIFI is an endless pursuit of personal nirvana or perfection. the chain is somewhat obvious yet obscure, and there is a myriad of good products are out there. There will be no issue if we all can afford the 800Ds with a pair of chord monoblocks. Yet, like you said, we are all mere mortals anyway

I'm sure you will be happy with the 705s and hack you can always upgrade later (I'm, too )
there is no final destination in this business- the pursuit never ends
good luck :T
Jay

[Joelp]

I just bought a pair of 705s after auditioning all kinds of comparably sized bookshelf speakers. From Audio Note, to Paradigm i liked the B&W 705s the most. I like their colourless sound, and after setting them up in a mixing studio with the other monitors, they held their own to say the least.

[roundmound]

I previously owned the 705s but could not adjust to their forward high end even after 100s of hours of use. Please don't misunderstand - the 705s were the finest speaker I had owned to that point and I was very pleased with the sound but not the ear fatigue. This effect of course could be attributed to my own audio sensitivities.

Using my dealer's trade-in policy, I upgraded to the 805Ss with the thinking that if the fatigue continued the 805S was more desirable in the used market. However, to my surprise, I achieved audio nirvana. The 805S seemed more smooth through the entire range with a less bright high end and tighter, more pronouced low end. Of course, noticable improvement should come with the price increase.

Bottom line, the 705s are great speakers and if you like the sound, upgrade and enjoy. Just make sure you don't listen to speakers outside your price range or the urge to upgrade will overwhelm you. This is the precise reason I have yet to hear any speaker better than the 805S.

Enjoy

[Jmac]

Interesting thread

To me it depends partly upon how you see your HiFi re it's purpose in your life, and what your budget restraints are.

For some, the upgrading, tweaking, and other 'hobby' aspects of HiFi are where it's at for a lot of folks, and fair enough.

The difficulty though with that approach IMHO, is that where the system is of much, or more interest than the music that one plays upon it, the pursuit of the 'holy grail' of perfect sound will almost become never ending.

On the other hand, if you love music more than you love HiFi, it is relatively easy, or should I say easier to find a level of excellence, or a plateau if you will, where you appreciate that there are worse setups out there, and indeed always better, but that you have achieved a level of excellence such that the nagging feelings of disatisfaction, or having/needing to upgrade, doesn't really come into it much - one is simply happy with what one has re musical involvement and enjoyment. In other words, a system that is musically satisfying.

Now we all have different levels to which we need to rise to achieve hiFi/musical satsifaction, however most would readily admit that the differences between say a speaker such as an 705 and an N805 are relatively small in comparison to price, or in other words the laws of diminishing returns.

In that sense, I would strongly suggest listening, and seeing if YOU feel that the 705 is a speaker you could be happy with for a long time. Does it satisfy you? When you listen to your favourite music, does it for eg. want to make you dance around the room? - remind you of places and people long forgotten? - make you feel sad or even teary, if the music is sad and melancholic? - i.e does it communicate musically and satisfy on that basis?

If you are merely listening to/for more lucid highs, smoother midrange etc, in an analytical fashion, one will almost inevitably end up chasing the donkeys tail IMHO. To be sure, these things are important, but they need to be related to musical expression, not factors merely for their own sake.

I would suggest the 705's are a very fine loudspeaker, and if YOU love them, and find they bring a strong sense of connection with the music for YOU, that is the only opinion that really matters.

BMW's are all the rage these days, somewhat the flavour of the month, or year perhaps. Me, I'm a Mercedes-Benz man, but that's another subject,,, but you get my drift.. at the end of the day, to quote a popular coliquial phrase.. "it's all good" even in a relative sense, so find out what speakers satisfy YOU, and importantly, in terms of not just the 'sound' quality of the speaker itself, but what it brings to the party re musical satisfaction.

Hope this helps

Best Regards

John... 8)

[Briz vegas]

I have owned a pair of 705s for about 8 months now and generally I am very pleased with their sound. I find them a little on the bright side with some recordings, although me sensitivity to this varies depending on my mood. Ultimately I would like to pair them with a decent sub to add a little more bass to the equation. A point of interest for my fellow Aussies - After checking out the B&W site it seems that the price of a pair of 705s has dropped by 50% to $1249 aussie dollars and the old N805 is going for $2250 , which is marginally less than I paid for my 705s. Don't you hate it when that happens. It seems a pretty extreme price drop and of course i would have gone 805 or even 703 based on the current pricing.

[Briz vegas]

ops: ! Correction on the pricing from my first (possibly last) posting. It seems that B&W quote per speaker not per pair. Is this a new thing? I could have sworn they used to quote for a pair. When I purchased my HTM7 a month or so back the dealer said I couldn't buy just one 705 as they only came in pairs. Seems that B&W may not have gone into crazy sale mode after all.

[BlazeMaster]

I'm pretty sure you can arrange something with your dealer to pick up one 705 only, but they're normally sold as a pair. I demoed the 705 vs. the 805 before the new 800s came out. Haven't heard the new 805s so can't comment on the difference between the new and old.
From what I've heard at the stores, the 705s and 805s are indeed very similar, but there are differences. I told the dealer this, and he commented that 705s and 805s are indeed very similar, but the 805s have less cabinet resonaces, therefore much cleaner and less harsh. Believe me, the 805s are better, but by how much is up to you. The difference increase in price is only about 25% back then, and I think the 805s are about 25% better. So the price increase is very reasonable according to the performance gained. If I was to upgrade to the 705s, I might as well just save up a little bit more and get the 805s and be done with it. Right now, I'm happy with my 600s 5.1 setup.

[perato]

I have had 705/HTM7/DS7/ASW 650 for over a year now. I like the 705. I once listened to the 805S for about 20 minutes. I noticed some small differences between the 705 and 805S but not enough to justify a MSRP difference of US$1000/pair, for me. The 805S seemed to have more three dimensional sound and possibly more laid back vocals (although I did not examine this properly). With preliminary listening, I thought that the 705 and 805S had the same amount of sibilance.

[herotongtong]

for me i don't like the 705 at all ! if you can't tell the difference between 805S and the 705 .....ummm better check up your ears !!!

[JCL]

The problem with N805 is that you also need a bigger amp, that makes an upgrade more costly and makes a comparisment harder to make. You would have to hear 705 and 805 on the same amp.

[weijst]

Last summer I demo-ed the 705's vs 805's a lot (on same amp). Yes the 805 can sound better, however I believe that depends on the music you like to listen to... For me, U2, Seal, Toto, Joe Cocker and some POP sounded about the same on the 705's and 805's (the 805's however excelled in the female vocals). To me the 805's were just not worth the extra $$...

The 805's were more laid back than the 705's. This could also have been the result of the fact that the 705's are easier to drive. This fact however was rather important to me back then, since I just got my 1068/1075 combo and wasn't planning on upgrading for a while...

Than again, being used to my amp powering the 705's, I did have the oppertunity to listen to a pair of 804's on my 1068/1075 combo for a while and all I can say is WOW! Now I'm even happier I chose the 705's, since I have my mind set on a pair of 804S (new line) and I would have had problems justifying a $2000 surround channel...

Advice: make sure you bring YOUR kind of music when you audition speakers...

[caleb]

JMAC - what a sensible post you made - I wish that this kind of post was there more often, but then common sense isn't so common these days.

[csuzor]

I did have the opportunity to listen to a pair of 804's on my 1068/1075 combo for a while and all I can say is WOW! Now I'm even happier I chose the 705's, since I have my mind set on a pair of 804S

I am in the same position, the 804S is my objective now, and use the 704 as surrounds, all powered by 1068/1075 (not sure what to do with the HTM7). The demo I did on this setup was very convincing. For the moment, I am happy with the prospect of sending the 704 to the back and not upgrading surrounds 805/804, because there is almost no SACD that makes demanding usage of the surrounds (except LAGQ, 1 guitar in each speaker!)

Back to this subject, 6 months ago I hesitated a long time over the 704 or the 705+sub (similar price), but the 704 was a better choice, I am still convinced. I still don't have the sub, that may be one of my last purchases (is there such a thing as a last purchase in hi-fi?)