Bowers & Wilkins 600 3 User Manual

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B&W Loudspeakers Ltd.
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with technical developments.

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03/02. PU08567

600 Series 3

A modern classic

You may have seen Nautilus™ from B&W, the
shell-like loudspeaker that propelled sound
reproduction - and hi-fi aesthetics - into a
completely new sphere. You might even know
someone who has invested in a pair. If you do,
and you’ve heard them in action, the experience
will have stayed with you.

Now many of the widely admired ideas
that went into Nautilus™ can be found in
loudspeakers that you won’t have to shell
out for. The hi-fi and home cinema speakers
in B&W’s 600 Series 3 harness Nautilus™­derived technologies to deliver your music
or film soundtrack with top-end precision
and colour.

The latest 600 Series features an array of
drive unit improvements across the range, plus
a brand new entry-level floorstander. And there
is now a choice of three dedicated subwoofers,
engineered to colour-match the rest of the range
and designed to generate deep bass from
rugged, compact, low-distortion cabinets.

Our 600 Series of hi-fi and home cinema
speakers has represented, for a decade,
unbeatable value for money. Its sales, not to
mention its numerous awards and accolades,
have recognised the fact. The 601s from
Series 1 and Series 2 were voted Speaker of
the Year by What Hi-Fi magazine in 1996 and
1999 respectively. Today, that inheritance of
affordable technical superiority and exceptional
design is embodied in the 600 Series 3.

B&W is a rarity among loudspeaker manufactur­ers. Our products meet the needs of all parts
of the market, from high street customers to
the world’s most demanding recording studios.
When we accomplish something extraordinary
at the top end – such as Nautilus™– there is
a ‘trickle-down’ of knowledge, insight and
technological innovation into the development
of our mainstream products, which ultimately
means they rise above their more ordinary rivals.

The same challenges of acoustic control
arise wherever the reproduction of sound takes
place. And those challenges can only be solved
by ingenuity and intelligence. The same team
of engineering perfectionists involved in the
five-year development of Nautilus™and its
spin-off Nautilus™800 Series is behind the
600 Series 3. The range continues the evolution
of B&W’s leading-edge drive unit technologies
into popular applications.

Our latest set of drive unit refinements
includes an improved tweeter response at very
high frequencies, reduced distortion from the
midrange drivers and a crisper ‘slam’ from the
bass units. All round, it’s a sound that’s hard
to beat.

Driven by invention

Tweeter

Within every 600 Series 3 cabinet is one of
these: a Nautilus

™

-derived, tube-loaded tweeter.

One of many breakthroughs made by Nautilus

™

,
it soaks up unwanted sonic radiation from the
back of the diaphragm by trapping it in a tube
until its energy has been absorbed. What
emerges from the front is the purest high
frequency output.

To push the unit’s response even higher,
the 600 Series 3 features a stiffened bond
between the tweeter dome and the voice coil
bobbin. The strengthened assembly allows the
ultrasonic frequencies of new digital formats
such as DVD-A and SACD to be delivered
with diamond precision.

Nautilus

™

Nautilus™emerged from B&W’s University
of Sound R&D facility after five years’
painstaking development. Briefed to stop at
nothing in the quest for a perfect loudspeaker,
our engineers arrived at a set of drive units
whose tapering, tubular forms spirited away
every trace of internal resonance.

For the bass unit, the natural form of
a seashell – a coiled tube – delivered the most
natural and untainted sound. A host of
advanced audio technologies lay inside the
speaker, which was selected by the Design
Council as a Millennium Product and hailed
by reviewers as ‘possibly the best loudspeaker
that money can buy’.

Chassis

Controlling the movement of air and transfer
of energy behind the bass driver is a science
in itself. The object is to reduce the volume of
solid material in the supporting structure while
trying to maintain or improve its rigidity.

Following the example of the FST

™

midrange driver of the Nautilus™800 Series,
our new bass/midrange drivers reduce
coloration by adopting a more ‘open’ chassis
structure, with slender ‘legs’ that are contoured
to a rounded, aerofoil-like profile. Reducing the
reflective area reduces echo from behind the
cone which would otherwise time-smear the
sound. The two-layer baffle, designed to add
stiffness to the cabinet, is also cut away around
the rear of the driver, allowing air to move freely
from the back of the cone. The result? The
cone reacts more to the music, and less to
what’s inside the speaker.

Kevlar

®

It’s round... but it’s square. B&W patented its
distinctive yellow woven Kevlar

®

cones in the
seventies when it was noticed how the fabric
– used in bulletproof vests – reduced sound
coloration. Using lasers to detect the tiniest
of cone vibrations, our engineers revealed
how the tight, square weave of the material
dissipates the concentric standing waves
that build up in conventional homogeneous
materials. Of course, Kevlar

®

itself is only part
of the story – as subsequent imitators have
discovered – and our years of experience have
enabled us to refine what is still unique to B&W:
that optimum blend of Kevlar

®

with selected

resins, damping materials and cone geometry.

In the 600 Series 3 midrange and
bass/midrange drivers, we have improved
their response in the upper frequencies by
better matching the stiffness of the voice
coil bobbin to the neck of the cone. A minor
refinement perhaps, but it gives a smoother
transition to the tweeter and improves the
sense of openness.

Aluminium

It’s definitely not heavy metal. Even so,
the new lightweight aluminium bass driver
(on the 2

1

⁄2-way DM603 and 3-way DM604
loudspeakers) helps to deliver the high
quality ‘slam’ that is so vital to music
with fast, tight bass lines and drum kicks.
Aluminium is relatively stiff compared to
alternative materials, and allows the cone to
withstand deformation from the high internal
air pressures generated behind it as bass
frequencies are pumped out

.

Bracing

Unshakable, that’s how we like to think
of our speakers. Maximum delivery with
minimum vibration. Inside the cabinets
you will find a system of strategically­positioned panels that brace the walls of
the speaker. Panel resonances are restrained,
allowing you to push the volume as high as
you want. With this extra stiffening inside the
speaker, you can enjoy bass with a
bit more backbone.

Crossover

Among the more esoteric pastimes enjoyed
at B&W’s University of Sound is the auditioning
of components for the crossover filters.
Capacitors, in particular, elicit endless hours
of study. Not even the experts there can say
exactly why different brands of nominally
identical components affect the quality of the
sound or the stereo image. However, there is
no doubt that each component leaves its own
audible imprint on the sound.

For the 600 Series 3, we have made a
new selection of capacitors. We won’t try and
explain it scientifically – we just know they
sound better, adding clarity and openness to
audio delivery.

Flowport

Taking the dimples off a golfball would make
it much harder to hit a hole in one. Dimples
reduce the turbulence created in the ball’s
wake and, in identical fashion, B&W’s
Flowport creates tiny surface eddies in the
pulse of air that oscillates in and out of the
cabinet’s ‘exhaust pipe’. In smoothing the
general airflow, Flowport drastically reduces
the ‘chuffing’ noises that occur in less
sophisticated designs, and extends the
bass delivery. (For less ‘boom’ in resonant
rooms, foam inserts are available with every
model for plugging the port tubes and
reducing bass energy).

It’s not just our large or top-flight
speakers that benefit from the cleaner beat:
we have made Flowport par for the course
throughout the 600 Series 3.

Subwoofer Amplifiers

Every 600 Series 3 subwoofer features
an amplifier custom tuned to maximise the
potential of each individual driver/cabinet
combination and realise true bass extension
in an easily accommodated package. All
have adjustment to match the subwoofer
to the room acoustics and to enable it to
blend with a wide variety of other speakers
in the installation.

The most powerful of these amplifiers –
delivering up to 500 watts for the ASW675 –
uses a switch mode power supply and Class D
configuration for maximum efficiency, ensuring
cool and reliable operation. Power factor
correction maintains a clean mains supply,
avoiding interference with other electronic
components.

Create a presence

Another option, using five
identical speakers offers
ideal sound integration.
The symmetrical design
and magnetic shielding of
the LCR60 S3 allows total
freedom in positioning,
upright or horizontally,
close to or away from
the TV. Again, add an
ASW600 subwoofer for
added bass impact.

A wider TV screen will offer a bigger picture,
but sound is what lies at the heart of a
genuinely exciting home cinema experience.
Creating the right set-up for your room, with
sound delivered from properly integrated, high
quality loudspeakers, can truly put you in the
presence of what’s happening on-screen.

The comprehensive range of loudspeakers
in the 600 Series 3 - small bookshelf units to
large floor-standers, dedicated centre speakers
and subwoofers - offers numerous alternative
combinations for settings from the large, open
room to the typical smaller living room. All of
the speakers in the range are ‘voice-matched’

- they have a similar aural signature - to deliver
a perfectly integrated and true-to-life sound.

Visually, too, the 600 Series 3 offers a more
integrated solution: the new, Light Oak Sorrento
finish will sit very comfortably in most living
rooms. Whether you are able to stay in your
seat during the movie is on is out of our hands.

For smaller rooms, where
large speakers would be
overpowering - acoustically
and aesthetically - a smart
solution is to use an LCR60
S3 at centre, with pairs of
bookshelf units at front
and rear, as shown in the
main picture.

Mix and match to meet
your needs. Here a pair of
floorstanding DM602.5 S3
are an alternative at front to
partner the LRC60 S3 centre.
A pair of wall-mount DM600
S3 serve as less obtrusive
surrounds and the compact
ASW600 subwoofer
completes the line-up.