A Review: The Bowers and Wilkins 800D Speakers
The studioAV Experience and Expert Opinion:
Bowers and Wilkins has always been a brand we’ve respected. With over 50 years of speaker design and manufacturing behind them it’s no surprise the 800 D3 series are the Speaker of choice for Abbey Road Studios. We were delighted to be invited by Bowers and Wilkins to become an 800 D3 series stockist in early 2017. Upon auditioning the 802 D3 with our carefully selected range of solid state and valve based amplification, both Bowers and Wilkins and ourselves had to agree the performance, control and musical reproduction is at a level that had not been replicated outside of their own listening facilities. Book an 802 D3 demo at studioAV to hear this benchmark speaker performing at its best.
Highlights from Kalman Rubinson’s Stereophile Review:
“The 802 D3’s woofers protrude from their enclosure because the front of the latter is curved—a reverse of the design of earlier 800s, which had flat fronts and curved rears. The change was made to enhance cabinet stiffness where it counts, and to minimise edge diffraction…”
“An ancillary benefit of the tweeter-housing redesign is that it can be more easily removed and replaced if the Diamond tweeter is damaged. Of course, it’s also less likely to be damaged in the first place: the 802 D3’s protective tweeter cover is now fixed, to prevent any untoward contact with the dome.”
“By fanciful analogy, 800-series styling has moved from the Elizabethan to the Edwardian age.”
Read the full review here.
