Bowers & Wilkins CM6 S2 – Review - Tech Road Trip

In my thinking CM6 S2 came as an alternative, more affordable option for those dreaming about 805s. It features “tweeter on top” design, 25mm Decoupled Double Dome tweeter in an aluminium dome unit bonded to a thicker aluminium ring, which sits in a ring of gel to isolate the tweeter from its surroundings and Bowers & Wilkins’ signature 165mm woven yellow Kevlar mid/bass cone with a dust-cap. The bass port is on the opposite side than 805 has, it’s on the back which gives to S2s even more cleaner and elegant look in my opinion.

Build

The build of S2 is top notch as you would expect from B&W. The black piano glossy finish I have tested is a pure fingerprint magnet and first time you touch them you understand that you need gloves even when placing them first time on stands as the fingerprints are not easy to polish out then to be honest. The cabinets are heavy and all sides seems equally thick. The only fragile part you need to be careful about especially when unboxing them is obviously the top mounted tweeter which is not hard mounted but basically flies on the soft gelly rubber mount avoiding any resonance transfer. The tweeter housing itself seems very solidly build with a permanent front cover grill serving mainly as a protection. Speaker can be bi-wired or bi-amped. The speaker terminals feels very solid too.

Sound performance

When I first set them up to my main listening audio system it was that time when I was working on a review of Wharfedale’s Diamonds 220 and switching from them to S2 even that Diamonds are amazing speakers for the price, the S2 made me remember one more time why I do these reviews and why there is still the believing to any other sound improvement or should I say never ending investments? Yes, you can say obviously, there is a huge price difference and S2s are in a different category, bigger drivers and so on, but you would be surprised. I experienced many times a disappointment from some expensive speakers when my expectations were just too high or as I believed high as the price tag was but the performance just wasn’t equal to that. Well to my point. The difference in switching from 220s to S2 was really tremendous. I would almost say shocking. I started listening to a cinematic track called “Panitence” from Roya and especially when the first bass part of the song kicked in these speakers put a big smile on my face. The first bass kick was as a shock wave spreading super wide but super fast. With S2 even that some might think due their cabinets size you will never feel a lack of bass. Their 165mm bass drivers produces bass which is very fast and cleanly detailed and precised. The soundstage is very very wide with a big depth. Instruments separation and artists positioning is really good and the clarity of the tweeter balances together with the woofer in a perfect harmony. Vocals are clean and travel towards you and a very communicative way providing a clear imagination of a position of the singer.  These are speakers which holds imaging and are not so sensitive to your perfect centered listening position so even when you move, walk around the imaging doesn’t shit almost at all, exceptional. Highs are very clean and smooth, never bright. Sometimes I thought I am listening to vinyl version of some track how smooth and slightly warmer they are.  I was actually a bit afraid of the highs as some of B&W I have listened to have been a bit too bright to me as I am sensitive to highs but seems the unique tweeter technology similar to used in higher 800 series does its magic here really well. The mid range is clean too with a decent detail but there is something holding slightly back in the bottom part of it and I wished that part to be communicative a bit more with more agile dynamics in that spectrum. But just talking about the top of the midrange. Overall what will talk to you most I believe is the overall harmony and great dynamics these speakers provide. These are that kind of speakers you will not want to stop listening to especially first couple of days when you buy them. You will want to listen to your favorite music again. Listen to tracks you know just to be impressed again and again. The overall presentation is truly impressive and will touch your senses in a way of art.