Hi all,
There don't seem to be that many posts about specific Sonos Amp & speaker combinations, so I thought I would briefly share my impressions of the Sonos Amp in combination with the Bowers & Wilkins 707 S2 loudspeakers.
I ended up with this combo after half a year without a Sonos (or any real) stereo system following a move to a new, somewhat smaller, home. Having finally got my modestly sized living room in order with furniture placed and (just) enough room for a pair of compact loudspeakers, I went shopping.
The 707s were not actually on my initial list of potential buys (I had intended to try their larger sibling, the 706, among other speakers) but upon hearing that my listening space was quite small (effectively a quarter of my living room, putting my usual listening chair less than 2 metres from the speakers) the sales person suggested trying the smaller 707s and they pretty much blew me away, with a remarkably full range sound for such a small speaker. Of course, they achieve this at the cost of being very insensitive but the plentiful power of the Sonos Amp can accomodate this, making it a good match for these diminutive gems. I preferred the 707's sound to a number of other speakers demonstrated, including some larger models.
As in interesting aside: The helpful sales person tried very hard to steer me away from the Sonos Amp towards a Bluesound Powernode, expressing the opinion that it would offer much better sound quality and do more justice to the Bowers & Wilkins speakers. I listened to both in combination with the 707s and heard barely any difference at all. I thought the Bluesound might have sounded a little 'fuller' at some points but that could easily have been the non-matched volume levels. It was certainly not obvious to me that one was better than the other (much to the sales person's chagrin).
N.B. This is not intended to bash the Bluesound at all; it seemed a good product and had some extra features and inputs that the Sonos Amp lacks. I just don't think there was much, if any, difference in sound quality.
N.B. 2. Nor is this intended as a blanket recommendation of the 707s as the ultimate best speakers for the Sonos Amp: They are small, inefficient speakers suited to smaller rooms / listening spaces, like mine. In that context, I do think they sound wonderful.
Sonos Amp with Bowers & Wilkins 707 S2 (and comparison with Bluesound Powernode)
The speaker quality and how it interacts with the room is 99% of the SQ heard; if you get that right the rest these days is just a matter of features desired.
The speakers may be inefficient, but the benefit from that is better rendering of bass and, as you note, the Sonos Amp has enough grunt to drive them.
Thanks
Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised that the sales person passed on the chance to sell me the bigger (and so slightly more expensive) B&Ws. I’m also a little embarrassed it didn’t occur to me independently that I was effectively looking for something close to near-field speakers; I suppose I was thinking about the size of the room as a whole and forgetting that my usual listening area is a small part of that.
If near field listening includes listening at low sound levels, and if you have a way to get the Sub Mini on a test/return basis, I suggest playing around with that addition to the set up and see if there is improvement worth the additional spend. Somewhat counter intuitively, the Sub adds to the presence of the music at low volumes as well, when the bass otherwise sounds thin.
The only drawback is that Trueplay tuning is not available for this set up; I have found it to be of great benefit to get the Sub to deliver natural sounding bass lines. But if you can return the Sub if it does not suit, it may still be worth a try.
If near field listening includes listening at low sound levels, and if you have a way to get the Sub Mini on a test/return basis, I suggest playing around with that addition to the set up and see if there is improvement worth the additional spend. Somewhat counter intuitively, the Sub adds to the presence of the music at low volumes as well, when the bass otherwise sounds thin.
The only drawback is that Trueplay tuning is not available for this set up; I have found it to be of great benefit to get the Sub to deliver natural sounding bass lines. But if you can return the Sub if it does not suit, it may still be worth a try.
This is an interesting idea but, to be honest, I don't feel like I'm missing much in the sound I have now. That's what appealed to me so much about the 707s; they have an astonishingly full range sound for their size. Of course, it's not literally near field that I'm doing (my head is probably about 1 metre 70/80 cm back from the middle point in between the speakers) and I don't tend to listen at very low sound levels: If I'm worried about disturbing the neighbours in the late evening, I'll grab my headphones. Still, an interesting idea that could potentially work well.
As an aside, I'm rather glad my main listening setup isn't dependent on Trueplay. I don't deny it can be effective (it certainly improved the Symfonisk lamp in my bedroom) but the necessity of borrowing an iThing to set it up (and every time you move things around) is annoying. I'm a Sonos fan but not an uncritical one and, speaking as a happy Android and Chromebook user, the lack of an optional USB-C mic or similar solution after all these years is ridiculous.
As an aside, I'm rather glad my main listening setup isn't dependent on Trueplay
There is little that Trueplay can do to improve the sound for someone that knows the principles of HiFi speaker placement and follows them. The same applies to Sub use too, but optimum Sub placement can be a proper pain to do, and it is there that I find Trueplay to be useful - but that feature is available only when the Sub is bonded to Sonos speaker units.
It may make sense for you to give it a whirl - if you can get the new Sub Mini on a trial/return basis - with Trueplay not in the frame anyway.
With LF passed to the Sub, you may find that the 707 doing more justice to the all important mid ranges. If doing any trial, place the Sub somewhere between the speaker pair, in their plane. If I am not mistaken, where this option is offered by Sonos, it is for as much as 100 days of trial.
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