Brand new 703 sounds worse than a 604 s3

[Trevor]

Recently got a pair of 703 loaners from my B&W store. I was told the pair that was given to me was brand new. I noticed when I hooked them up that they sounded worse than my current 604 s3's that are one year old? The highs, mids and lows seem to be muffled or hard to distinguish between as well as the individual instruments. The 703 at the store sounded great with lots of detail and extreme clarity with just a dennon reciever pushing 100 watts per channel. My adcom is pushing 200 wats per channel. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Is this due to the speaker needing to break in?? Seems weird that my 604 s3 sounds alot better than the 704 with the improved fst driver and internal crossovers??


Thanks Trevor

[kylek100]

Your new speakers are not broken in. B&W's take quite a while to break in, but when they do, the sound opens up quite a lot. Just give them some time and take a look again...

[BlazeMaster]

I think you should ask your dealer if you can keep them slightly longer and break them in properly, or borrow them again after it's been broken in by the dealer.

[chinets]

Mr Trevor, 704 has no FST but 703 does have it. I think you meant 703's right!! anyway, they need to be broken in as they should sound WAAAAAAAAAy better than your your 604 s3 especially the tweeter ,Mids and highs. 703 are way better than 704 so you can just imagine how they should compare with your 604 s3. 703 have FST and would start to sound close, but not quite like an N804 so yes you need to break them in as I had this speaker and they sounded soooooo good!!! Good Luck!

[weijst]

Breaking in time... hmm, Speakers may require a certain breaking in time, but I don't believe this makes a night and day difference... I got a new pair of B&W 804's last month and did not notice large (if any) improvements in sound since the day I first got them hooked up (I spend most of my time at home, so the 804's have had app. 150 - 200 hours of playing time...).
I'd advise Trevor to play around with placement a bit. Maybe even try other speaker cables (try to find out which ones the store was using back when you heared them and were impressed).

Note: I wouldn't be surprised BTW if the DM604's actually ARE warmer then the 703's. The 604's do not have such a clear midrange and high as the 703's do, so they might attract more attention to the low frequencies...The 703's bass however should be more 'tight' / 'accurate' / 'less boomy'...

[csuzor]

No way! or is this post a joke?
I am not a big believer in extraordinary break-in time either, like weijst.
I compared 603 and 604 to 704 and 703, within 30s it was over for the 60x. (I really wanted to convince myself the 60x was sufficient for me, having already ordered a pair, but within 1min it was clear I had made a mistake, and I started sweating and thinking how I was going to cancel my order in another shop!)
The bass is crisper, the treble goes through the roof... what you are experiencing is caused by your listening habits.
Take the time to understand the difference, try different positions, use the spikes or elevate them slightly, don't use the foam plug for now.
And enjoy!

[jim777]

I bought 703's a few months ago. Out of the box, they were horrible for the first hours. They took a few days before the harshness went all away and the quality went up alot for a few weeks but now they are "stable". So yes, they take some time, but if you don't like them after 50-100 hours, not sure you will ever like them. I listened 1-3 hours per day but you can accelerate the burn-in process (tricks like putting them face to face in inversed polarity for 48 hours or so at moderate volume).

[js24]

I think these fellow 703 owners said it all
the 703s sound harsh before brokenin.. not muffled...
play with positioning- the optimum place for the 703 might not be the same as your old 604s...
I know you hooked up your speakers right.. but just dbl check.. *someone here had hooked up his/her speakers out of phase and went on complaining for a while...*

[Trevor]

Thanks for the suggestions,
I read lots of reviews and how people did not like the speakers untill they were broken in. I will have to return the speakers to the dealer and convince them to let me take home the used set on the floor that I listened to.

I did check the phasing and they are correct. I did not use the speakers on the spikes becouse I thought I would hear enough difference to determine if I would purchase the speakers.

I kind of remembering that the 604's s3 did sound muffled at first but that was over a year ago. I guess paying 1000 for the upgrade I wanted to hear a drastic difference between the speakers.

I hope if I purchase the speakers that the mids and highs as well as the lows become more detailed. When I was at the store and switched between the two speakers the snare, drums all sounded like they had that snap and detail that my 604's did not. The sound was like the drum set was right there and you could here the positioning of the of the drums and singer in the recording studio.

Thanks for the Help
Trevor

[george_k]

I don't really believe it's the speakers that break in, I think it's more that the listener gets used to the sound and then thinks they sound better.

I've experienced this in a couple scenarios, the most recent of which was after listening to the stock stereo system of my newly bought Chevy Blazer. The stock Delco stereo system would really irritate my ears within 10 mins of listening. I noticed that after a few weeks the sound didn't bother me anymore and that it did indeed sound better.

[jim777]

I don't really believe it's the speakers that break in, I think it's more that the listener gets used to the sound and then thinks they sound better.

It is a little bit of both, but B&W really do need some time (the 703's anyway). I don't think that you get used to getting your ears bleeding

[RebelMan]

All B&W speakers require a break-in period. It is prudent to reserve judgment until after this time has transpired. The following quote comes directly from B&W.

"The performance of a speaker will change subtly during the initial listening period. If the speaker has been stored in a cold environment, the damping compounds and suspension materials of the drive units will take some time to recover their correct mechanical properties. The drive unit suspensions will also loosen up during the first hours of use. But probably the Kevlar® cones that feature in most of our products take the longest time to settle in.

The time taken for the speaker to achieve its intended performance will vary depending on the type of drive units employed, previous storage conditions and how it is used. As a guide, allow up to a week for the temperature effects to stabilise and 15 hours of average use for the mechanical parts of non-Kevlar® drivers to attain their intended design characteristics. For systems having Kevlar® drivers, be prepared for changes to continue for around one month of steady use."

[RobP]

Hey Trevor, How close do you have these to your side walls?

[audioqueso]

The 700s do sound pretty harsh brand new compared to the other series. Just go away for the weekend and leave it burning in.

[Trevor]

The side walls are about 9 feet away with two hallways on each side of the speakers. I think I will let the speakers run for a couple of days to see what will happen?

I think some of my problem might also be my cd player. It is not the best and is a couple of years old. I did read in alot of reviews that these speakers reveal alot and if your equipment is not up to par the sound will be effected.

Thanks
Trevor

[JetFlyGuy]

As a speaker is a transducer which is an electromechanical device, it's properties will change subtly with use; expeting speakers you hate to transform into speakers you love is overly optimistic in my opinion. I used to have 704s, and did not like them (sounded harsh to me), I was told over and over again to let them break in, but all that did for me was allow too much time to pass to return them (although my dealer has been very understanding and willing to swap gear for me [at a price])... I am sure that there is some personal preference here, but when I hear people complaining about feeling that their 700 series speaks are harsh, I feel compelled to share my experience. I also have noted that the 700 series are very sensitice to the liveliness of the room; more so than the 800 series. Try putting a rug directly in front of the speakers, that will definately reduce the harshnes a bit. -good luck

[Mitchell]

I didnt believe in break in but my 703's did change dramatically over the first month or two.

[misterdoggy]

Just my 2 cents. I believe in break in and surroundings, but in a test in the same situation between the 60X and 70X there shouldn't be any comparsion. The 70X is a superior beast. Are we comparing these 2 side by side ?

[jim777]

There is a very big difference between 60x and 703's. But as I think I said before (maybe not with enough insistance), the 703's are *horrible* during the first few days.

Trevor, is the sound getting better after the weekend?

[Trevor]

The sound does seem to be getting better. I think maybe I am getting used to the sound and maybe the speaker is breaking in? I am going to play with my cd player and try one from the store to see if that may be my problem.

My cd player is a panasonic dvd recorder combo that I purchased 4 months ago. That may be the difference between the demo at the store and my house. I have a kenwood cd player from 1995 but thought the new combo unit would sound better.

[jim777]

Trevor; for the CD player, it depends. If you are using a digital (1 coax) connection, changing for a better player will not make a very drastic difference. If you are using the analog outputs of your panasonic, then yes, it could be a good part of the problem. When I tried the 703's with Rotel's RCC1055 CD, RB1070 amp and RC1070 pre, I would never had bought that speaker. With Rotel's RCD1072 CD and a McIntosh amp, it was a different story

But again, it took a lot of time for them to sound really good when I got mine; but at this time, the new 703's should be better than your 600 series