Seven New 800-Series Diamond Speakers from B&W
&W's new 800 Diamond series dubbed D4, features seven models that combine hundreds of improvements and new technologies to create, in B&W's words, "the most transparent, detailed and natural-sounding series of loudspeakers Bowers & Wilkins has ever produced." Every stereo model in the range has a significantly upgraded cabinet with a new rigid cast-aluminum top section, which replaces the previous wooden version and offers even greater stiffness and cabinet quietness. The new aluminum top is finished in Leather by Connolly -- in black for dark cabinets and light gray for lighter finishes. As with earlier Diamond speakers, the Solid Body Tweeter is milled from a single solid block of aluminum, but it now has an anodized finish, either dark or light depending on the cabinet color. Every model in the D4 range adopts a revised version of the Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top housing, with a new elongated tube-loading system to produce an even more open sound. This highly stiff enclosure resists unwanted resonance and is an acutely designed acoustic form, especially when combined with a new two-point decoupling system that isolates it from the rest of the cabinet. B&W's composite Continuum Cone is used for both midrange and mid/bass applications. When used as a midrange driver in floorstanding speakers, it is combined with B&W's Fixed Suspension Transducer (FST) midrange technology, which carefully avoids the coloration that traditional cone surrounds can introduce. For the D4 range, Bowers & Wilkins has combined the twin benefits of Continuum and FST with a new fabric spider. The all-new composite Biomimetic Suspension replaces the conventional fabric spider with a minimalist composite suspension system that greatly reduces the unwanted air pressure that a conventional fabric spider can generate, removing non-linear effects. This leads to "unprecedented midrange transparency and realism." The 800 Diamond D4 range features seven models but introduces three entirely new cabinet forms. The 805 D4 ($8000 per pair) and 804 D4 ($12,500 per pair) 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 overall rigidity. Larger floorstanding three-way stereo models include the 803 D4 ($20,000 per pair) and 802 D4 ($26,000 per pair). For the flagship model, Bowers & Wilkins reintroduces the iconic 801 designation with the launch of 801 D4 (shown above, $35,000 per pair) to replace the existing 800 D3. For home-theater use, the HTM81 D4 ($7500) and HTM82 D4 ($5500) are center-channel speakers that complete the range. The new D4 range now includes a satin walnut finish,
joining the selection of gloss black, gloss white and satin rosenut. |
