mike manning audio established 1989

The 686 is the baby of the 600 Series bunch, but doesn’t lack for the technologies and features to deliver outrageously good sound in smaller room settings. Mount a pair on a wall or stand, or simply sit them on a shelf or table for a compact stereo system or as surround speakers in a home theatre set-up.

For hi-fi or home cinema in small to medium-sized rooms, you need a loudspeaker that doesn’t take up floor area, but whose sound can still command the space. You’ll find the 685, which can sit on a shelf, table, stand or wall-mount, an inspired choice.

Its 165mm diameter Kevlar® cone bass/midrange is based on a tried-and-trusted B&W design, but its new fixed centre bullet helps to smooth the response in upper frequencies. Also, by setting the bass/midrange closer to the tweeter than in equivalent earlier speakers, we have improved the integration and vertical dispersion of sound from the two units. The Nautilus™ tube-loaded, aluminium dome tweeter, featuring a new surround material to improve spaciousness and imaging, adds needle-sharp top end all the way to 50kHz and beyond.

The extended bass response and output capacity of the 2½-way 684 floorstander make it a great choice for hi-fi or home cinema in medium-sized to large rooms.

It features a new combination of a pair of Kevlar® cones for delivering its bass and midrange. The lower cone is dedicated to bass, which relieves the upper bass/midrange unit of the duty to handle heavy bass and leads to clearer, crisper midrange than you might find in smaller speakers. The Nautilus™ tube-loaded, aluminium dome tweeter, featuring a new surround material to improve spaciousness and imaging, adds needle-sharp top end all the way to 50kHz and beyond.

The imposing 683 is the genuine three-way speaker of the 600 Series, with a line-up of technologies and a level of performance that defies its entry-level place in the market. For large rooms, two 683s make a formidable partnership, either for stereo hi-fi or fronting a home theatre installation.

The CM1s are welcome return to a high performance ,mid-priced compact speaker. Thankfully it still shares the B&W family sound allied with stunning looks. Unusually for a small standmount speaker they do require a resonable amount of room to breathe, but when suitable positioned give a punchy and wholesome sound.