AudioChainsDB
Bowers & Wilkins

606 S3

speaker

$1,200

Used market: $865*

Find at ThomannManufacturer datasheet

Specifications

5 of 7 values have a recorded source
System Type
Passive Bookshelf·
Input Terminals
Binding posts✓
Min Impedance Dip ohms
3.7✓
Nominal Impedance ohms
8✓
Recommended Power watts
Max Continuous: 120 · Min Continuous: 30✓
Sensitivity dB 2.83V 1m
88✓
Release Year
2023·

Expert Audio Engineering Commentary

Headroom Notes

88 dB quoted on axis at 2.83 Vrms / 1 m into an 8-ohm nominal load, so the figure is a genuine one-watt sensitivity. Note the "on axis" qualifier: 606 S3 is one of the few datasheets in this batch that says where the microphone was.

Amplification Warning

8 ohms nominal, 3.7 ohms minimum, and B&W qualifies the power rating itself: 30-120 W into 8 ohms "on unclipped programme". That last phrase is the real specification. A 40 W amplifier driven into clipping delivers more destructive energy to the tweeter than a clean 120 W one, and B&W is telling you the upper number assumes you never get there.

* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~72% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026