Bowers & Wilkins 683 S2 Floorstanding Speaker — Review

Overview

The Bowers & Wilkins 683 S2 was the range-topping floorstander in B&W’s second-generation 600 Series, and it landed to genuine acclaim — winning What Hi-Fi’s Award for Best Floorstander in the £600-£1200 category in 2014. Stereophile gave it the kind of attention usually reserved for far pricier speakers, with Kalman Rubinson dedicating a full five-page review to a model sitting well under $2,000/pair, specifically because the technology and performance on offer punched so far above that price.

Build & Design

Despite its accessible price, Stereophile’s reviewer found fit and finish nearly on par with B&W’s considerably costlier models — the black ash vinyl veneer (the only US finish; white was also available in the UK) showed impressive consistency at the edges and rear, complemented by a matte-black grille so precisely fitted that it frames the cabinet like a fine pinstripe. The 683 S2 is a three-way design built around B&W’s classic yellow woven Kevlar FST (Fixed Suspension Transducer) midrange driver — a 6-inch cone held centered by a foam ring rather than a conventional flexible surround, a technique that reduces distortion by minimizing unwanted cone movement. Up top, the tweeter uses a double-aluminum-dome design decoupled by synthetic gel and mounted in a tapered tube derived directly from B&W’s late-1990s Nautilus speakers — technology that absorbs the tweeter’s rear wave to minimize its effect on the driver’s behavior, housed inside the cabinet rather than externally as on B&W’s pricier tweeter-on-top models. Stereophile’s reviewer suspected B&W must have made real compromises elsewhere to hit this price point, given how much flagship-derived technology made it in.

One practical setup note flagged by multiple reviewers: B&W supplies plinths for the base of the speakers for safety (to prevent tipping), but What Hi-Fi specifically found the speakers sound better with the plinths removed — tighter timing and more apparent fine detail.

Performance

What Hi-Fi’s verdict was unequivocal: “an emphatic yes,” describing the Bowers & Wilkins 683 S2 as seriously capable and among the best floorstanders they’d heard at the price, awarded their top prize in its class. Audiodrom’s reviewer praised how elegantly and unforcefully the speaker serves up musical detail — never thrusting it at the listener, letting you choose whether to focus on it — and specifically enjoyed how convincingly it rendered the texture of instruments like maracas, capturing a genuinely hollow, bead-filled character rather than a vague rustle. The same reviewer praised a wide, deep soundstage with real vertical as well as lateral resolution, citing a Pink Floyd track where guitars, keys, and vocals were clearly layered at different heights above the speakers.

Sound & Vision’s reviewer found a solid, well-defined stereo image with a touch of forwardness that gave solo voices and instruments real presence, though the top end initially struck them as a bit soft — a comparison likely skewed by having just finished reviewing the brighter Monitor Audio Silver 10. Used alone without a subwoofer, the same reviewer found the midbass could turn a little full and congested, and outright deep-bass power was limited (though likely satisfying in smaller rooms) — issues that were substantially resolved once bass was crossed over to a companion subwoofer at 80Hz, after which the reviewer described the midbass opening up considerably and became fully satisfied with the combined system’s low end.

Features

As the largest model in the 600 Series, the Bowers & Wilkins 683 S2 was designed to anchor a full home theater system alongside the matching HTM61 S2 center channel, 686 S2 surrounds, and ASW610XP subwoofer — What Hi-Fi’s review of that combined package called the 683 S2-based system the unequivocal class leader for transparency, detail, and dynamics in its price bracket, even while a separate review of the full theater package felt it fell just short of being a truly captivating experience overall.

Value

Priced at roughly £600-£1200/pair depending on market and finish (and around $2,000/pair as reviewed by Stereophile), the 683 S2 was consistently framed by reviewers as extraordinary value — DescoAV’s review roundup collected praise across multiple outlets specifically emphasizing “big bang for the buck” and recommending it as a must-audition for anyone shopping under $2,000. Real-world owner feedback echoes this: Best Buy customer reviews highlight powerful bass, clear highs, and the ability to fill large spaces, with one buyer specifically comparing it favorably to B&W’s pricier CM10 model at a fraction of the price.

Verdict

Pros: Genuine flagship-derived technology (Nautilus tapered-tube tweeter, Kevlar FST midrange) at a very accessible price; excellent fit and finish nearly matching costlier B&W models; wide, deep, well-layered soundstage with real vertical resolution; elegant, non-fatiguing presentation of fine detail; What Hi-Fi Award winner and widely praised across multiple major outlets.

Cons: Can sound a little full or congested through the midbass when run full-range without a subwoofer; outright deep-bass extension is modest, though adequate for smaller rooms; benefits from removing the included safety plinths for best sound, an easy-to-miss setup detail; some reviewers found the top end a touch soft in certain rooms or against brighter rivals.

Bottom line: The Bowers & Wilkins 683 S2 is a genuine value standout in B&W’s history — a floorstander that brought real flagship-derived engineering to a sub-$2,000 price point and earned across-the-board praise from Stereophile, What Hi-Fi, and multiple other respected outlets for doing so.