Loudspeakers

By The Throat
Bush aficionados shouldn’t miss her remarkable live set Before The Dawn [Fish People 019029592017], either. Hearing the cheering in the background during ‘Hounds Of Love’ or ‘Running Up That Hill’ through the 702 S3 Signatures put me there in the audience at the Hammersmith Apollo theatre, a testament to how effective these speakers are at grabbing your attention – and keeping it.

While Heilung’s Drif [Season Of Mist SOM666D] is close to becoming an audiophile cliché due to excessive play at hi-fi shows, there’s no denying the brilliance of its Nordic musicianship and astonishing throat singing. The 702 S3 Signatures exposed the full guttural texture of the opening tones of ‘Asja’, while the percussion hit hard even with just a smidgen of ‘wooliness’ at the top of the bass range. The speakers also conveyed the delicious contrast between the male throat singing and the drawn out, high-pitched female vocals.

Like pieces from fellow ‘dark folk’ bands Wardruna or Danheim, this is music to be played loud, and with the level cranked, the 702 S3 Signatures wrapped me in Heilung’s Viking soundscapes, delivering high scores for the way it immerses the listener. Yet they are able to handle smaller-scale studio mixes too, such as the intimate opening to The Smile’s ‘The Opposite’ [A Light For Attracting Attention; XL Recordings XL1196DA; 44.1kHz/24-bit], which sounded exactly like a drum kit recorded in its own little space.

When Jonny Greenwood’s guitar and Thom Yorke’s vocals join in, the soundstage expands dramatically, a transition which felt seamless through Bowers & Wilkins’ towers. Indeed, it was fascinating how the 702 S3 Signatures let me experience the ‘feel’ of this song transforming during its three-minute runtime.

Captain Crunch
Switch to ‘The Smoke’, however, and the performance was more about unpicking the track’s many layers. There was a great sense of resolution noticeable in small details, such as Yorke’s voice reverberating into space and in the intricacies of the bass playing that carries this song.

Gritty guitars? On ‘Thin Thing’ these were enjoyably crunchy – perhaps a strange adjective but one that fits perfectly with Greenwood’s particular mix of distortion pedals. The speakers impressed here with their drive and power, but their strongest moments were with the more dreamlike tracks on this album where they showed off an ability to envelop, seeming to discover new details even in familiar songs.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
The two lavish finishes on offer might be the initial reason to be attracted to the 702 S3 Signature, but discerning listeners will discover a speaker that presses many audiophile buttons. As with the 800 D4 Signatures, the devil is in the (musical) detail, allowing the 702 S3 Signature to excel at painting vivid three-dimensional sonic pictures offering constant thrills of discovery and immersion.

Sound Quality: 86%