Bowers & Wilkins 705 S2 Gloss Black

The soundstage is wide and holographic! The imaging is pinpoint! The sound is very airy and transparent! However, the bottom end lacks the last oomph of visceral sound. Best to associate them with a tube amplifier/preamplifier or integrated amplifier to integrate the warmth of tubes in the presentation. When I connect the speakers to a Rotel RA-1572 integrated amplifier, I have to boost the bass about 3 db to add some punch to the bottom end. My other pair of speakers are more balanced between the highs and the lows. However, the B&W's are very musical with great staging and also excel with vocals. I recently bought a Fluance Turntable Platter Rubber Mat for my Project X2 turntable. The mat improves the musical presentation of the speakers by tightening up the bass by a few dabs, adds more heft to musical notes such as piano notes and to the bottom end. However, it is at the expense of some reduction in airiness and transparency at the high end and a smaller soundstage. I think it is a good comprise because the 705's have plenty of airiness and transparency but lack some visceral impact at the bottom end. However, your tastes in music may differ from mine. You still may want to try it out because the mat is only $20 on Amazon and you can always return it if it did not work out to your liking.

These speakers are an excellent tonal match to my B&W 702 S2s. I am really suprised at how low the bass can go on these 2-way bookshelf speakers!

Just what i expected and wanted.