Bowers & Wilkins 802D User Manual

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Bowers & Wilkins 802D User Manual

Diamond domes

B&W’s diamond diaphragm tweeter is just one of many new developments and refinements

PRODUCT B&W 802D

TYPE Floorstanding loudspeaker

PRICE £8,000 per pair

KEY FEATURES Dimensions (WxHxD): 37x115x56cm P Weight: 80kg P Three-way design P Separate enclosure for each ‘way’ P Diamond diaphragm tweeter in separate tube-loaded module P Twin 200mm bass drivers P Surroundless Kevlar-cone FST midrange driver P Twin terminal pairs

CONTACT 01903 221500 q www.bwspeakers.com

The 1997 launch of B&W’s revolutionary Nautilus 800 Series, stuffed with radical innovations, was a startling commercial

success. It changed the whole perception of upmarket loudspeakers, both here in Britain and all round the world.

Seven years on, this Worthing-based market leader has given the whole range a major makeover – not that one might realise it at first glance. The new models look remarkably similar to their predecessors, but B&W cites Porsche as a very successful precedent, and points out that the 800s had never used style for its own sake, but were always based on strict form-follows-function principles. Anyway, the numerous underskin engineering improvements mean that roughly 90 per cent of the parts in the new models are indeed new.

On the name front, the Nautilus bit has been quietly dropped for this new 800 Series (even though B&W’s inspirational original snail-shaped flagship model is currently selling better than ever). Each of the N800s has its successor among the new 800 Series. A number of entirely new models have also been added, mostly on the home cinema side of things (since the company found that around 60 per cent of its Nautilus customers were taking the multichannel route).

There are now seven stereo pairs in toto, numbered bottom-to-top from the 805S that we reviewed last month through to the top-of-the-line 800D. There are even two 803s – an 803S and an 803D. The suffix is a crucial distinction between the top four and the bottom three models, representing the difference between the S models – equipped with aluminium dome tweeters – and the much more costly D models, which use a diamond dome tweeter diaphragm.

Growing synthetic diamonds (via a process known as vapour deposition) is a very expensive process, so this 802D costs £8,000 per pair, which is £2,000 more than its Nautilus 802 predecessor. (By comparison the 805S costs just £200 more than the earlier

Nautilus 805 model.) But, why diamond? Theoretically, it has the best possible stiffness-to-density ratio on earth, and takes the dome’s break-up frequency up to 74kHz – more than an octave above the aluminium dome’s 29kHz.

If that’s the highlight, there’s much, much more. From the ground up, this three-way has a cast alloy plinth that houses and isolates the crossover network and the twin terminal pairs. This plinth comes fitted with ball-castors, but an optional reversible spike/foot kit has the option of nylon studs or massive, wicked spikes.

‘Massive’ is the adjective that runs throughout this design. Most of the bass enclosure is formed from a single piece of 26mm thick veneered plywood, shaped in a continuous curve around the sides and back. Inside, additional rigidity is supplied by honeycomb Matrix stiffening. Twin 200mm drivers supply the urge, along with a port firing downward between the base and the plinth. The drivers are a new design, using 150mm diameter sandwich diaphragms with 8mm-thick cores of Rohacell structural foam, laminated between woven carbon fibre. This improves rigidity and reduces the transmission of unwanted sound from inside the enclosure.

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