Bowers & Wilkins 606 s2 formula and improves balanced sound from a pair of speakers

 A Fine example is B&W’s new 606 S2 Anniversary Edition stand mount. If ever there was a product that didn’t need Fixing, the 606 was surely it. 

Back to the 606. There are changes to the cosmetics and inside, but first let’s remind ourselves what made it so good to begin with. By no means alone in trickling down tech from its pricier and more prestigious models, the practice is a recognizable B&W modus operandi and one that the company is particularly good at. The big news for the 600 series was adoption of the Continuum cone, B&W’s most advanced diaphragm material, bestowed from on high by its flagship 800 series. Continuum’s recipe is still a KFC-level secret, safe to say that it’s woven in the same way as B&W’s previously favored Kevlar with the aim of stamping out the undesirable effects of a conventional cone’s transition from pistonic to break-up modes.

As before, build quality is reassuringly sturdy, but the finish not nearly so starkly functional. Joining the previous matt black and matt white options is the light oak with matt white baffle of our review pair, an interesting combination maybe not suited to all decors, but quite striking and crisply executed nonetheless.

There are lightweight, magnetically attached grilles, but it seems a shame to shroud the metallic sheen of the high-tech drivers. Round the back, the bi-wire terminal tray and dimpled airflow reflex port, also lifted from the 700 series, look very classy indeed.

As before, bass is a class act – supple and plausibly weighted, nicely textured and agile. It smoothly extends in an unforced, easy breathing way, without sounding as if the low notes are being squeezed from a tube. Quite an achievement for a rear-ported box of its size. Marcus Miller’s deep groove and death defying fret runs on Power from his M2 album are crisply articulated and controlled and not even the deepest  of deep brown, visceral twangs from the great man’s Fender Jazz Bass threaten to overwhelm the B&W.

From the same cut, Poogie Bell’s muscular drumming comes across as fast, potent and unfettered throughout. Rhythmically fluent and surefooted, this is a speaker that lets the music flow and, more importantly, locks you into the experience. It’s just as skilled at painting a stereo image of palpable solidity in a space curtailed in neither width nor depth and with excellent separation of instruments, performers and studio effects, however dense and busy the mix becomes.