by Mark Fleischmann/Home Theater Magazine
Bowers and Wilkins, or B &W, takes its name from two men who met in the British military during World War II and opened an electronics shop after the war. Wilkins’ son Paul still runs the shop. B&W Loudspeakers launched its first model from the back of the shop in 1966. The com- pany then established its own R&D and production facilities, and the famous 801 arrived in 1979.
After the 801 became a worldwide audiophile hit, B&W built several iterations of the 800 Series. The 800 Matrix
Series morphed into different shapes and greatly expanded the audiophile fan base. The Nautilus Series was famous for the snail-shaped enclosure of its still-surviving flagship, which banished all straight lines and flat surfaces. The Nautilus 800 followed, reviving some flat surfaces for the sake of practicality. Its successor is the current 800 Diamond Series.
Today, the 801’s progeny are the recording monitors of choice at Abbey Road, Skywalker Sound, and Sony Music NYC. B&W’s innovations include the use of Kevlar fibers in woofer cones, tweeters in separate tapered enclosures, the golf-ball dimpling of the flares on their ports, and the synthetic diamond-domed tweeter—all of which enrich the 800 Diamond Series speakers reviewed here.
The 805 Diamond (or 805D) is the best-selling member of its line as well as the smallest and the only monitor design. It has four floorstanding sisters. The line also includes two horizontal center models, of which the HTM4 Diamond is the closest match to the 805D’s driver sizes. There is a Diamond Series subwoofer, but this review substitutes a CM Series sub, the ASW 12CM. The B&W folks explained that “the price/performance was in line with the 805Ds.”
Read the complete review here at Home Theater.
Related: Abbey Road, ASW, B&W, Diamond Series, Home Theater, Review, Skywalker Sound, Speakers b&w 805 diamond, b&w 805 diamond review, b&w 805d review, b&w speakers review, b&w 805d, b&w 805 diamond price, b&w 805, 805d review, b&w speakers 805 diamond price, b&w speaker reviews
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