English
Owner's manual
Dear customer,
Thank you for choosing B&W. Please read this manual
fully before unpacking and installing the product. It will
help you to optimise its performance. B&W maintains
a network of dedicated distributors in over
60 countries who will be able to help you should you
have any problems your dealer cannot resolve.
Environmental Information
B&W products are designed to comply with
international directives on the Restriction of
Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electrical and
electronic equipment and the disposal of Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). The
crossed wheelie bin symbol indicates compliance and
that the products must be appropriately recycled or
processed in accordance with these directives.
Carton Contents
Check in the carton for:
2 Foam plugs
8 Self-adhesive rubber pads
4 Self-adhesive rubber stand-offs
Speaker Installation
The speakers are best used mounted on rigid floor-
stands that locate the tweeters approximately at ear
level when seated. Shelf or wall bracket mounting is an
option but it provides less opportunity for optimising
the sound through adjustment of speaker position.
If the speakers are to be stood on a shelf or furniture
unit the adhesive pads supplied may be used.
The speakers can be mounted on walls using either
the "keyhole" aperture hardware already attached to
their back panels or by employing ball-joint style
speaker mounting brackets designed for 60mm
(2.36 in) mounting hole centres. If the keyhole
hardware is employed, the rubber pads supplied in the
accessory pack may be used to cushion the speakers
against the wall. Ball-joint style brackets allow the
speakers to be angled with respect to the wall. You
should ensure that the ball-joint brackets are capable
of supporting the weight of the speaker. Your dealer or
local B&W distributor will be able to advise you on the
selection of appropriate ball-joint brackets.
To attach a ball-joint style bracket to a 686 speaker,
remove the bracket hardware from the back panel of
the speaker and securely attach it via the keyhole
aperture to the ball component of the bracket. Re-
attach the bracket and ball assembly to the back
panel. Figure 2a illustrates this procedure.
To attach a ball-joint style bracket to a 685 speaker,
remove the bracket hardware from the back panel of
the speaker and securely attach the ball joint plate
component in its place. Figure 2b illustrates this
procedure.
2
Once the ball joint component is attached to the
speaker, the assembly may be connected to the
socket component attached to the wall. Ensure that
the Manufacturer's instructions for attaching the
bracket to the wall are followed correctly.
If either keyhole or ball-joint style solutions are used,
ensure that the wall fixings are sufficient to hold the
weight of the speakers. B&W can accept no liability for
any failure of wall fixings.
Speaker Positioning
Adjustment of speaker position following initial
installation will probably further improve the sound
quality and is usually worthwhile.
In either stereo or home theatre installations try to
ensure that the immediate surroundings of each
speaker are similar in acoustic character. For example,
if one speaker is adjacent to bare walls while the other
is adjacent to soft furnishings and curtains, both the
overall sound quality and the stereo image are likely to
be compromised.
Conventional Stereo Systems
To begin with, the speakers should be positioned
between 1.5m (5 ft) and 3m (10 ft) apart at two
corners of an equilateral triangle completed by the
listening area at the third corner. The speakers should
be approximately 0.5m (20 in) away from the back
wall, and at least 0.5m (20 in) away from any side
walls. Figure 1a illustrates this arrangement.
Home Theatre Systems
If the speakers are to be used for the front channels in
a home theatre system they should be placed closer
together than for 2-channel audio because the
surround channels tend to widen the image.
Positioning the speakers within approximately 0.5m
(20 in) of the sides of the screen will also help keep
the sound image in scale with the visual image. The
speakers' height should be somewhere between the
centre of the screen and the height of the centre
speaker. As with conventional stereo positioning, the
speakers should ideally be approximately 0.5m (20 in)
away from the back wall, and at least 0.5m (20 in)
away from any side walls.
If the speakers are to be used for the surround
channels in a home theatre system position them as
illustrated in Figures 1c to 1e according to the number
of channels. To achieve even coverage over an
extended listening area it is beneficial to raise the
speakers above ear height.
Stray Magnetic Fields
The speaker drive units create stray magnetic fields
that extend beyond the boundaries of the cabinet. We
recommend you keep magnetically sensitive articles
(CRT television and computer screens, computer
discs, audio and video tapes, swipe cards and the
like) at least 0.5m (20 in) from the speaker. LCD and
plasma screens are not affected by magnetic fields.