BRAND NEW BOWERS & WILKINS 800 SERIES DIAMOND LOUDSPEAKERS ANNOUNCED

British loudspeaker brand Bowers & Wilkins releases new D4 800 Series Diamond speaker range, featuring new technologies and industrial design.

The new Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond range continues to feature seven models, beginning with the two-way 805 D4 stand-mount speaker. That’s joined by a series of three-way floorstanding models, including the 804 D4,803 D4 and 802 D4.

Bowers & Wilkins 800 D4 Diamond Series flagship loudspeaker

FLAGSHIP B&W 801 D4

For the flagship model in the range, Bowers & Wilkins has reintroduced an iconic name to its portfolio, with the launch of 801 D4 to replace the existing 800 D3. For home theatre use, the HTM81 D4 and HTM82 D4 provide a pair of centre channel speakers to complete the range. Every new model in the range combines a whole load of detail improvements plus several entirely new technologies.

REFINED DESIGN

The first and most obvious change is the addition of a fourth finish to the line-up. The new range now includes a Satin Walnut finish, joining the established selection of Gloss Black, White and Satin Rosenut.

The B&W 802 D4 in white

Every stereo model in the range also enjoys a significantly upgraded cabinet design with an all-new rigid, cast aluminium top section, replacing the previous wooden version, to offer even greater stiffness and thus improve cabinet quietness. The profile of the new aluminium top is finished in ‘Leather by Connolly’, in black for dark cabinets (Black, Satin Rosenut) and light grey for lighter finishes (White, Satin Walnut).

The new Satin Walnut finish

TWEETER ON TOP

Every model in the range adopts a revised version of the iconic Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top housing, with a new, elongated tube-loading system, almost 30cm/12in long, combined with a new two-point decoupling system that isolates it from the rest of the loudspeaker more effectively than ever. As before, the Solid Body Tweeter is milled from a single solid block of aluminium and now, it uses an anodised finish, either dark or light depending on the cabinet colour, to celebrate that fact.

The Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond Tweeter On Top

The new Solid Body Tweeter assembly is now decoupled from the speaker body or Turbine Head (depending on model) in two locations rather than one. At the same time, the tweeter’s motor assembly has been re-engineered to allow the drive unit to ‘breathe’ more effectively with no loss of performance.

REVERSE-WRAP CABINET & MATRIX™

The new range introduces three entirely new cabinet forms. The 805 D4 and 804 D4 stereo models adopt the reverse-wrap cabinet design first introduced in 2015 for the larger speakers in the series. This new form reduces the profile of each cabinet’s front baffle while increasing the overall rigidity of the complete system. It also allows crossovers to now be mounted in dedicated spaces on the rear of each speaker, housed behind the rigid aluminium spines.

Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond 803 D4

The 804 D4 builds on the potential of its new configuration by adding a downward-firing port with an integral aluminium plinth, again, much like the form used by the larger floorstanding speakers in the range. Alongside the 805 D4 and 804 D4, the all-new HTM82 D4 centre speaker adopts the reverse-wrap cabinet form of its siblings.

Matrix has been a core Bowers & Wilkins technology for more than 30 years and has also been continually developed throughout that time. An internal structure of interlocking panels that brace the loudspeaker internally in all directions, B&W says that Matrix helps to make speaker cabinets rigid, inert and quiet.

The 805 D4 and 804 D4 reverse wrap speaker cabinet was previously reserved for the larger floor-standing 800 Series Diamond models. Each model now has a stiff aluminium plate on the inside face of its cabinet, bracing its baffle against resonance. Inside, both models also feature updates to their Matrix bracing, with thicker panels made from solid plywood rather than the previous MDF, reinforced by aluminium bracing sections.

The Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond 804 D4

Every stereo model in the range also features the new cast aluminium top replacing the previous wooden design, dramatically increasing the rigidity of the speaker enclosure. As before, drive units are housed in stiff aluminium pods mounted to the baffle of the speaker while crossover units are fitted to equally stiff aluminium spines running up the rear of the cabinet. Finally, 801D4 introduces a steel plate in its base section around the port – again, all in the name of adding stiffness to the enclosure and further quietening its operation.

CONTINUUM CONE™, FST™ & BIOMIMETIC SUSPENSION

The result of an eight-year research programme, the composite Continuum Cone when used as a midrange drive unit in Bowers & Wilkins floorstanding speakers, is always combined with the brand’s Fixed Suspension Transducer (FSTTM) midrange technology.

The Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond 805 D4 standmount speaker

Now, Bowers & Wilkins has combined the twin benefits of Continuum and FST with an all-new advance that transforms the other key element of a drive unit’s normal operation: the fabric spider. Over decades of continuous development to nearly all areas of speaker design, the fabric spider, a key element in the suspension of every conventional loudspeaker drive unit, has remained largely unchanged until now. The all-new composite Biomimetic Suspension replaces the conventional fabric spider with a minimalist composite suspension system that greatly reduces unwanted air pressure that a conventional fabric spider can generate, removing its unpredictable, non-linear effects.

DECOUPLED MIDRANGE & TURBINE HEAD

Bowers & Wilkins combines all the performance-enhancing benefits of its Continuum Cone, FST midrange technology and Biomimetic Suspension with careful isolation of the complete midrange assembly from the rest of the surrounding cabinet. In all three-way models, midrange drive units include a highly stiff all-aluminium chassis featuring Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD) to quieten any resonance. These complete drive units and motor systems are then isolated on sprung-mounted decoupling mounts, further restricting the flow of vibration into the assembly.

Finally, 803 D4, 802 D4 and 801 D4 include the stiff all-aluminium Turbine Head enclosure for their midrange drive units, the head assembly is itself further decoupled from the bass enclosure below.

The HTM81 D4 and HTM82 D4 introduce a new and similar concept but inside their cabinets: each centre-channel model now features an internal aluminium enclosure that provides a stiff, well-isolated housing for the midrange drive unit and its decoupling mechanism.

The new Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond centre speakers

ALUMINIUM PLINTH

The 804 D4 now joins the other floor-standing models in the 800 Series Diamond range by offering a downwards-firing FlowportTM bass port, exiting on to a new, stiffer solid aluminium plinth complete with a constrained layer steel damping sheet designed to offer a solid foundation and to control unwanted resonance. The 804 D4 also has greatly upgraded spikes and feet, with huge M12 spikes that are both more stable and stiffer than the outgoing M6 designs.

The new Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond Loudspeaker rear terminal plate

803 D4, 802 D4 and 801 D4 use the same arrangement of downwards-firing Flowport, solid aluminium plinth and constrained layer steel damping, but retain the wheel-plus-spike configuration introduced in 2015, making each model far easier to manoeuvre to the perfect listening position.

AEROFOIL CONE™

The result of advanced computer modelling, the Aerofoil ConeTM is a composite bass cone with a varying thickness designed to offer maximum stiffness where it is most needed while preserving a low mass thanks to its carbon-fibre skin and light syntactic foam core.

Rear view of the 802 D4

Alongside revised and optimised motor systems, each floorstanding speaker in the 800 Series Diamond range now combines its Aerofoil Cones with a new foam Anti-Resonance PlugTM , which gently braces the voice coil and lowers distortion as the cone moves through its operating range.

Top view of the 804 D4

BOWERS & WILKINS 800 SERIES DIAMOND MODELS AND PRICES

Available from September the 1^st 2021

801 D4: £30,000 / $35,000 / €35,000. The flagship of the range

802 D4: £22,500 / $26,000 / €26,000. Features the same proportions as the flagship model and the same 6in FST midrange cone.

803 D4: £16,000 / $20,000 / €20,000. Makes the benefits of a headed loudspeaker more widely accessible.

804 D4: £9,500 / $12,500 / €12,500. With a more traditional aesthetic than its turbine headed siblings, the floorstanding 804 D4 features a stiff, curved cabinet.

805 D4: £6,250 / $8,000 / €8,000. Standmount speaker.

HTM81 D4: £6,500 / $7,500 / €7,500. Three-way centre channel with 6in FST midrange, suitable for use with 802 D4 and 801 D4.

HTM82 D4: £4,750 / $5,500 / €5,500. Three-way centre channel with 5in FST midrange, suitable for use with 803 D4 and 804 D4.

FS-805 D4: £1,100 / $1,200 / €1,200. New floor stand, for use with 805 D4. Available in black or silver finishes.

FS-HTM D4: £700 / $800 /  €800. New centre-channel stand, for use with HTM81 D4 or HTM82 D4.

HiFi Pig Says: Seeing an iconic brand like Bowers & Wilkins updating their flagship range shows that interest in, and desire for, High-End HiFi is strong, which has to be good for the industry as a whole. While it is great to have gear that we can all afford, it is also great to have the aspirational kit that we dream about.

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