Three Aerofoil bass drivers and a separate tweeter module define the larger 700 S3 tower.
The 702 S3 combines a dedicated midrange with three bass units.
The pair of Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 speakers is the largest 700 S3 floorstanding option in this batch. Each cabinet has three 165 mm Aerofoil bass cones, a 150 mm Continuum FST midrange and a 25 mm Carbon Dome in a Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top assembly. Against the 703 S3 and 704 S3, it offers the most bass drivers and the broadest recommended amplifier range.
Key features
- Three-way vented layout: 25 mm Carbon Dome, 150 mm Continuum FST midrange, three 165 mm Aerofoil bass drivers
- Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top, decoupled midrange and Flowport
- Response 46 Hz-28 kHz (±3 dB); sensitivity 90 dB
- 8-ohm nominal impedance (3.1-ohm minimum); recommended amplifier 30-300 W
- Cabinet 1010 × 192 × 354 mm; 1138 mm tall with tweeter and plinth; 33.46 kg each
A three-way architecture
The tweeter module is physically separate from the main cabinet. The midrange is decoupled too and covers a band apart from the three Aerofoil cones. The 703 S3 keeps the top-mounted tweeter and 150 mm midrange but uses two woofers; the 704 S3 changes to 130 mm units and places its tweeter in the front baffle. The 702 S3 consequently asks for more space and uses a different bass-driver layout.
Allow for the full footprint
The cabinet measures 1010 × 192 × 354 mm, while overall height with tweeter and plinth reaches 1138 mm. The plinth takes width to 290 mm and depth to 410 mm: these are the useful figures for planning placement. A weight of 33.46 kg per speaker calls for a sound floor and a cable route planned before moving the pair into place.
Response at ±3 dB is 46 Hz-28 kHz with 90 dB sensitivity. The 30-300 W amplifier recommendation is into 8 ohms; impedance falls to 3.1 ohms and deserves attention when matching electronics. For a home cinema with fronts from this series, the HTM71 S3 is a three-way centre, while the HTM72 S3 is a smaller two-way alternative. The top tweeter housing and plinth add substantially to the bare cabinet height: 1138 mm overall is the figure to use below a recess or soffit. With three bass drivers on each side, the arrangement also differs from the 603 S3, which uses two paper-cone woofers and mounts its tweeter in the front baffle.
