Bowers & Wilkins celebrates 25 years with Anniversary Edition 600 Series speakers

By Dan Sung
last updated

New finishes, new detailing, upgraded acoustic performance

Bowers & Wilkins celebrates 25 years with Anniversary Edition 600 Series speakers
(Image credit: Bowers & Wilkins)

It’s been 25 years since Bowers & Wilkins launched its very first 600 Series loudspeakers and the company is celebrating with the release of the B&W 600 Series Anniversary Edition of its famous and much-loved budget range.

Differentiated with an 'S2' label, the Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series Anniversary Editions are for the three main speaker lines - the standmount 606 and 607s, the floorstanding 603s plus the HTM6 centre channel speaker as well. While these don’t represent big changes to the existing models, there are updates to the aesthetics as well as technical improvements.

To mark these speakers as part of the 25th celebrations, Bowers has added a brand new surround to the decoupled tweeter with anniversary lettering, available in a dark or light colour depending on the speaker finish choice. As well as the standard black and white, the series will come in an all-new oak finish for Europe and a red cherry for the Asian market, although the company has not ruled out bringing the red to the EU if there is demand.

Bowers & Wilkins celebrates 25 years with Anniversary Edition 600 Series speakers

(Image credit: Bowers & Wilkins)

The Continuum cone and decoupled tweeter dome drive units remain the same throughout the series but the crossover has been revamped with new components including key high and low frequency capacitors, as well as the introduction of the bypass capacitors from the 700 Series Signature range to improve transparency.

The Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series Anniversary Edition will replace the existing 600 Series. Manufacture is already fully underway and the speakers will ship in September.

The Bowers & Wilkins 606 S2 Anniversary Edition will cost £599 ($899/€749/AU$1299), the 607 S2s are £449 ($699/€599AU$999) and 603 S2s come in at £1,499 ($1,999/€1799/AU$2999). The HTM6 S2 centre is £449 ($799/€599/AU$899) and will also be available as part of the 600 Series Anniversary Edition Theatre home cinema package, based on the 603 S2, 607 S2 and the ASW610 subwoofer.

The Anniversary Edition represents the seventh incarnation of the 600 Series. Over one million pairs of these affordable speakers have been sold since 1995.

Aimed at anyone who loves music and wants more sound for their money, the last release of the 606, 607 and 603 speakers all received five-star What Hi-Fi? reviews. We look forward to listening to the Anniversary Editions in the coming weeks.

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Dan Sung
Dan Sung

Dan is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and his job is with product reviews as well as news, feature and advice articles too. He works across both the hi-fi and AV parts of the site and magazine and has a particular interest in home cinema. Dan joined What Hi-Fi? in 2019 and has worked in tech journalism for over a decade, writing for Tech Digest, Pocket-lint, MSN Tech and Wareable as well as freelancing for T3, Metro and the Independent. Dan has a keen interest in playing and watching football. He has also written about it for the Observer and FourFourTwo and ghost authored John Toshack's autobiography, Toshack's Way.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • manicm
    The best getting better. But now getting a bit pricey. They need to bring the Cherry/Black to EU. The White/Oak doesn’t quite work.
    Reply
  • BlackH2O
    Bowers and Wilkens now owned by EVA Automation since 2016, a company that has never released a product.
    Was disappointed their highest-end 2000 watt subwoofer that came. out in 2017 for near $5000, now made in China, where B&W previously made their top sub in the U.K. No cherry either.
    I guess B&W tried to cut cost and make "somewhat" more affordable lines in China, and the higher-end lines in the U.K. But now since selling the company are all speakers soon coming from China as the highest-end Subs are? Would be disappointing to see this strategy.
    Marantz and countless other U.S. companies made the same mistake in the late seventies, it did not turn out well with many brands failing in the 1980s.
    You can only ride that "Brand Cache" so long.
    Reply
  • bristollinnet
    A troubling sign.
    Reply
  • Glowman
    Unfortunately they've got their details wrong. The 600 series came out in September 1993. I've got the receipts and brochure from 1993.

    Bit embarrassing to release your 25th anniversary special on the 27th anniversary.
    Reply
  • TooOftenDrunk
    Glowman said:
    Unfortunately they've got their details wrong. The 600 series came out in September 1993. I've got the receipts and brochure from 1993.

    Bit embarrassing to release your 25th anniversary special on the 27th anniversary.
    Really, please share images as if that is the case they really have dropped the ball
    Reply
  • Glowman
    Well I've had a response from B&W. According to them the DM600i series "didn't conform to how we saw the 600 series using our more familiar premium drive unit technology with the adoption of the aramid fibre cones, that only began in 1995"
    Not sure what everyone else makes of that. 1538
    Reply
  • manicm
    BlackH2O said:
    Bowers and Wilkens now owned by EVA Automation since 2016, a company that has never released a product.
    Was disappointed their highest-end 2000 watt subwoofer that came. out in 2017 for near $5000, now made in China, where B&W previously made their top sub in the U.K. No cherry either.
    I guess B&W tried to cut cost and make "somewhat" more affordable lines in China, and the higher-end lines in the U.K. But now since selling the company are all speakers soon coming from China as the highest-end Subs are? Would be disappointing to see this strategy.
    Marantz and countless other U.S. companies made the same mistake in the late seventies, it did not turn out well with many brands failing in the 1980s.
    You can only ride that "Brand Cache" so long.

    Don’t know on which planet you’ve been living in, but B&W and Arcam and a host of others have been manufacturing in China for the best part of 2 decades. Even Naim do it for their cheaper products now.
    Reply