Last year, Bowers & Wilkins rebooted their flagship line, bringing four new speaker designs that deliver what the outfit describes as “the future of sound fidelity.” This time around, the company is introducing a new top dog to the 800 Series Diamond line in the form of the Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3.
While visually, it looks a whole lot like last year’s range-topping 802 D3, the new speaker packs the monolithic tower with all-new sonic hardware. Simply put, they’re calling it the best loudspeaker the outfit has ever put together, delivering “unmatched levels of clarity and realism” to your listening experience.
The Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3 comes with larger twin bass drivers, which use 10-inch Aerofoil units as opposed to 8-inch drivers on the previous flagship model. Both drivers also come with an all-new carbon fiber construction, creating a stiffer, more pistonic cone that’s optimized for linearity and low distortion, while a better motor assembly and upgraded magnets deliver increased control and improved crossover. While it uses the same continuum cone, turbine head, and solid-body diamond tweeter domes as last year’s flagship, a better cabinet and improved knitting of the four drive units, along with the bigger bass, should ensure an even better reference sound than any of its predecessors.
Those cabinet improvements, by the way, come courtesy of the outfit’s ship-style internal bracing and reverse-wrap design, which renders the front and sides as one continuous curve. With fewer joints, they’re able to give it a stiffer, more inert structure that improves sound dispersion while cutting down on cabinet reflection.
Slated for availability in July, the Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3 is priced at $15,000.