Bowers & Wilkins has revealed a fresh revamp of its seriously high-end (and seriously pricey) 800 Series Diamond speakers – the priciest of which comes in at £30,000 / $35,000 / AU$52,900.
The new Diamond range of seven speakers is comprised of the flagship 801 D4 floor-stander, plus the two-way 805 D4 stand-mounter, and 804 D4, 803 D4 and 802 D4 models which are three-way floor-standers. Alongside those are the HTM81 D4 and HTM82 D4 which are center speakers (the latter is more compact) if you’re plumping for a home theater setup.
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One of the upgrades is a new Biomimetic Suspension system, which is present instead of a conventional fabric spider, enhancing midrange cone performance by reducing air pressure for a cleaner overall sound.
Other fancy tech employed with the overhauled 800 Series includes the Continuum Cone midrange and mid/bass drivers – which helps to ensure that instruments and vocals are heard with clarity and precision – and Bowers & Wilkins’ Fixed Suspension Transducer, a polymer ring designed to cut down on distortion.
All those three sound-honing innovations are facilitated by the midrange cones being isolated from the rest of the speaker cabinet, with all-aluminum Turbine Head enclosures in the 803 D4, 802 D4 and 801 D4 floor-standers which are separate from the bass enclosure underneath. The center channel speakers offer an aluminum enclosure for isolation of the midrange cones, too.
Furthermore, the hallmark Solid Body Tweeter on-top housing (which is fashioned from a single piece of aluminum) now has an elongated (almost 30cm) tube-loading system.
Better looks and a new finish
And as you might imagine, boy do these speakers look the business as well as sounding them, with the 805 D4 and 804 D4 benefiting from a reverse-wrap cabinet design. There’s also a new finish available with the 800 Series Diamond, namely satin walnut (alongside the already existing satin rosenut, or gloss black, or white choices).
Hold onto your wallets, because it’s time to talk pricing. The flagship 801 D4 weighs in at a truly eye-watering £30,000 / $35,000 / AU$52,900, with the other floor-standing 802 D4, 803 D4 and 804 D4 speakers demanding arms and legs to the tune of £22,500 / $26,000 / AU$38,900, £16,000 / $20,000 / AU$29,900 and £9500 / $12,500 / AU$18,900 respectively.
For the center speakers, you’re looking at an outlay of £6,500 / $7,500 / AU$11,500 for the HTM81 D4, and £4,750 / $5,500 / AU$8,500 for the HTM82 D4.
The 805 D4 stand-mounters will set you back £6,250 / $8,000 / AU$11,500, plus the custom stand (FS-805) runs another £1,100 / $1,200 / AU$1,799.
If you’ve got the stomach for those kind of asking prices, look for the revamped speakers to be on sale come September 1. And when they arrive, for those looking to spend a bit less, we can but hope that the D3 series gets some decent price cuts, perhaps making for some tempting high-end bargains.
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Via What Hi-Fi
