i live in southeast asia and bought the 685 for $590 in our local store , first i was amazed how it sounded sooo clear and rich in sound and have decided to replaced my bose 301 as mains and the 301 will be my surround..
listening between b&w 685 and bose 301 my b&w sounds way ahead in every aspect and im a happy B&W owner
you cant go wrong with the 685 no regrets

I don't usually take the time to post reviews, but these small monitor speakers are outstanding. Not perfect, but an incredible value. Strenghts - balanced sound, very good imaging, great mids and highs, impressive bass for such a small speaker (does require some "tuning" for best bass respnse - in my case that required playing with the position of the speakers re: proximity to walls; I did not care for sound with the port plugs). More about the bass - I find it perfect for most recordings, especially classical and most jazz, but for rock, trance/dance/electronica and home theatre I think a subwoofer is a must). I've tried several - for my moderately sized room with a vaulted ceiling an old NHT SW1 with a MA1 amp sounds acceptable, crossed at 60Hz, out of phase). Mind you, I think you will need the right sub to keep up with these fast speakers for music - other subs I tried sounded boomy, bloated, or slow. And do play with the phase of the sub - mine sounded best out of phase with the 685s. They're not overly revealing and certainly not dry or analytical. While they do sound better with better gear, the mid-fi setup I have them paired with sounds great: an ARCAM AVR 200 receiver and an ARCAM Diva 135 CD/DVD player. Weaknesses? I find the female voice not perfectly reproduced, but otherwise none that I can think of. Tese are keepers for me.

I went into my favorite audio store looking to buy the much-heralded Cm1 made by B&W. When I auditioned the Cm1's next to the 685's, I was floored at how the 685's handled the midrange and lower frequency better than the Cm1's. Plus they're 60% of the CM1 price. I've owned many a speaker (Klipsch, Vandersteen, Paradigm)......none provide this type Quality sound at an unbeatable price.

The b&w 685 is fantastic speaker all the way!
much better then my polk lsi9.

amp. : ROTEL RA1070(100WPC)
CD: NAD C 542.
RCA:monster m-1000.

I feel compelled to answer one of my own burning questions from when I bought these speakers: yes, a subwoofer does indeed improve the sound! I use the 8" sub from the same B&W series to get that extra punch (I think of it as "wetness") in pop-ish stuff and some modern big-band jazz. It really lifts the experience to nirvana!

That said: excellent speakers with a wonderful deep bass, yet on the lean side. Upwards in frequences everything falls into place very well and a good recording gives a really nice sound stage (whereas the not-top-notch recordings get exposed and sound a bit flat).

Classical music sounds equally well and the sub is of course of no concern here, unless the piece involves an organ. I disagree with a previous reviewer on the topic of piano music. My setup reproduces the rich and complex sound of the grand piano at a very high level. It is certainly not up to the standards of my "reference" (Denon AH-D2000 headphones with Rega Ear amplifier), but still manages to convey the touch of the pianist and every reverbation in the iron frame of the instrument. I believe that a doubling in the spenditure on speakers, and then some on the amp, would yield a marginal improvement. This, combined with a sound stage that I believe could be a tad more spacious (slight improvement from removing the grilles with the concomitant temptation of sticking my fingers in those nice cones...), makes me give these speakers the overall rating of 4.

This is good stuff!

Amp: Rotel RA-04
CD: NAD C 545 BEE

The B&W 685's are one of the best values on the market today. Sound is clear, concise, and IMHO, quite neutral.
Exactly what I was searching for in my system. I had them as front speakers in my system for a short time augmented with the B&W ASW610 sub. Recently I have upgraded to the 684's at my wifes request. She loved them in the store. The 685's are now my surrounds. They sound absolutely Great!
I am sure they will provide years of listening pleasure. Value 5 ***** Overall 5 ***** WAF 10 **********

My username is because of this speaker package.

For a long time I had owned Linn Keilidh floorstanders which in a few words I would describe as sophisticated, laid back floorstanders with a wide, impressive sound stage, very smooth and easy to listen for long hours. However, they were missing some enthusiasm, had rather weak mid range, and overall were not too much evolving. Recently I swapped them for the B&W 685, which stand perfectly in opposition: they are extremely involving, have strong and close mid range, crispy top end and very deep bass. But they are lacking some of Linn's naturality, the sound stage is close but narrow, and the bass occasionally goes uncontrolled. I found them much better coping with chamber music since they may struggle to separate instruments in a "big traffic". But for this price I shouldn't be really complaining, surely they sound better than the price tag suggests.

PROS: enthusiastic, involving, sparkling and punchy

CONS: get confused in a "big traffic", deep bass gets occasionally loos and uncontrolled.

After reading the reviews I was looking forward to hearing something worthwhile... well, I was rather disappointed. Let's start on a positive note.

The speaker has fairly good imaging and a strong vocal presentation.

Now for the negatives - weak bass compared to it's competition, poor upper range very noticeable on piano.

Overall, there are better speakers in this price range.

These are amazing speakers and well worth the admission price. I bought the 685s to replace a decent sounding pair of Krix Equinox speakers (well regarded Australian bookshelves). The Krix were great for female vocals and sparse recordings, but depth, tonality, soundstage and resolution were lacking when compared to the B&W 685.

The 685s responded quite well to an entry level NAD C315BEE (40watt) amp, with punchy bass and sparkling highs. Surprisingly enough, none of my material ever sounded harsh - everything was well rounded, warm and yet revealing at the same time even on sub-standard material (low bitrate MP3s running on a DACMagic). The 685s were wonderfully composed playing a wide variety of music genres - from jazz to bossa nova to classical to rock and even to hip-hop. All enjoyable. Port plugs are provided if you want to dial down the bass and they work as expected. Even though the sound dispersion is wide, I urge some flexibility on speaker placement. The ideal listening position may be a bit difficult to spot - I am still not convinced I have find the right placement in my lounge even after a few days of re-arranging.

My only real criticism is with build quality. The finish on my "black ash" was mostly adequate, except the small gap between the rubber(?) front panel and wooden enclosure had bits of white shavings wedged between them - it looked like it was not cleaned before leaving the assembly line. They are not easy to remove either. At the end of the day, they do not affect sonic performance but a negative nonetheless.

These speakers are worth an audition. A great introduction to budget HiFi.

The speakers are being fed via a NAD C330BEE and NAD C521BEE in my home and they sound superb. They are very dynamic, have excellent tonal balance, very open soundstage packed with details, sweet treble and impressive bass response. I am absolutely satisfied with them. I would highly recommend these speakers.