Bowers & Wilkins 603 S3 – Floor Standing Speaker (pair) (black)

Bowers & Wilkins 603 S3 Floor Standing Speaker (Pair, Black) – The Largest 600 Series Tower

The 603 S3 is the biggest speaker in Bowers & Wilkins’ 600 Series and the one that brings the company’s flagship trickle-down furthest into real living rooms. This third-generation S3 model is a true three-way design: a decoupled double-dome aluminium tweeter, a 6-inch Continuum cone FST midrange driver – the same cone material as the 800 Series Diamond – and twin 6.5-inch paper-cone bass drivers in a Flowport cabinet. The result is a floorstander with genuine scale, 90 dB sensitivity and the open, transparent midrange B&W is bought for.

Key features

• True 3-way floorstanding design, sold as a pair
• Continuum cone FST midrange – 800 Series cone technology
• Decoupled Double Dome aluminium tweeter for cleaner highs
• Twin 6.5-inch bass drivers for room-filling low end
• Bass extension to 46 Hz – no subwoofer required for music
• 90 dB sensitivity: loud and composed on modest amplifiers
• Flowport rear venting with foam plugs for room tuning
• Black finish with plinth and spikes included

Why three-way matters at this size

In a two-way tower, one driver covers bass and the entire midrange, and it compromises both at volume. The 603 S3 gives the midrange its own Continuum FST driver, freed from bass excursion, so vocals and instruments stay clear and unstrained while the twin bass drivers underneath handle the heavy air movement. It is the architecture of the expensive ranges, and it is why the 603 sounds composed at levels that expose lesser towers.

Continuum, from the flagship down

B&W spent years developing the Continuum composite to replace Kevlar in its flagship cones; the 603 S3’s midrange uses that same material and the FST surround-less suspension that keeps its break-up behaviour controlled. The audible dividend is midrange neutrality – the speaker adds very little of itself to voices, strings and piano, which is the quality that separates hi-fi from loud hi-fi.

Driving and placing them

At 90 dB sensitivity and 8 ohms nominal, the 603 S3 is an undemanding load: 30 watts plays, 100-plus watts party, and the recommended ceiling of 200 watts leaves headroom for serious amplifiers later. Rear Flowports include foam bungs to tame bass if the towers must sit close to a wall, and the plinth-and-spike base keeps the tall cabinet stable and coupled.

For a stereo system that anchors a living room, or the front pair of a serious home cinema, the 603 S3 is the 600 Series at full stretch – which is to say, very far indeed.