800 Diamond
One material sums up our quest for perfection in sound reproduction more than any other. Diamond. It’s the ultimate tweeter material – and the magic ingredient in our flagship 800 Series Diamond. It’s part of the reason why 800 Series speakers have become legendary among professional recording studios and serious sound enthusiasts alike. And now, for the first time, you can hear the incredible precision and clarity of diamond in every speaker in the range. The very best just got even better. And perfection just got even closer.
DIAMOND FOR EVERY OCCASION
You don’t have to be an Abbey Road studio engineer to appreciate the stunning realism of the 800 Series Diamond. The range encompasses speakers of all sizes and applications, from mighty studio monitors to bookshelf speakers that will fit snugly into domestic spaces of any size. But while every speaker is different, they have a several key features in common: a tweeter made from pure diamond, and sound quality that will leave you speechless.
A LEGEND REBORN
At Bowers and Wilkins the quest for perfection never ends. There are always new goals to aim for, new standards to set. In 1979, we redefined what’s possible in sound reproduction with the very first 800 Series speaker – the Matrix 801. But we didn’t stop there. We continued to refine and experiment. And now we’ve raised the benchmark yet again, with the brand new 800 Series Diamond, which harnesses the unique properties of diamond throughout the range.
Trusted partners
In leading recording studios, music that will soon be heard everywhere is heard first through 800 Series speakers. At Abbey Road Studios in London, for example, the 800 Series has been the reference speaker of choice since the 1980s. Sound engineers here depend on the speakers for their unrivalled accuracy, safe in the knowledge that what they hear in the control room is as close as possible to the sound of the performance in the studio.
Back to the future
Launched in 1979, the original Bowers & Wilkins 801 speaker heralded the modern era of high-end loudspeaker design. Superior drive units isolated in separate chambers produced sound of unheard-of-realism and made the 801 a fixture in demanding recording studios and the homes of serious audio enthusiasts everywhere. It’s been exactly the same story with every subsequent incarnation of the 800 Series, right up to the present day.
What people have said about 800 Series
Throughout its 30 year history, the 800 Series has not only been the speaker range of choice for audio enthusiats and some of the world's greatest recording studios, it has also received an unprecidented series of glowing revies from the most respected hi-fi reviewers in the world. You can read a selection of the praise for 800 Series here, providing you with an insight into the technical advances that have been made over time, and continue to be made today.
| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Description | 3-way vented-box system |
| Drive units | 1x ø25mm (1 in) diamond dome high-frequency |
| 1x ø150mm (6 in) woven Kevlar® cone FST™ midrange | |
| 2x ø250mm (10 in) Rohacell® cone bass | |
| Frequency range | -6dB at 25Hz and 33kHz |
| Frequency response | 32Hz - 28kHz ±3dB on reference axis |
| Dispersion | Within 2dB of reference response |
| Horizontal: | over 60º arc |
| Vertical: | over 10º arc |
| Sensitivity | 90dB spl (2.83V, 1m) |
| Harmonic distortion | 2nd and 3rd harmonics (90dB, 1m) |
| <1% 45Hz - 100kHz | |
| <0.5% 80Hz - 100kHz | |
| Nominal impedance | 8Ω (minimum 3.1Ω) |
| Crossover frequencies | 350Hz, 4kHz |
| Recommended amplifier power | 50W - 1000W into 8Ω on unclipped programme |
| Max. recommended cable impedance | 0.1Ω |
| Dimensions | |
| Height: | 1180mm (46.5 in) (including rollers) |
| Width: | 450mm (17.7 in) |
| Depth: | 645mm (25.4 in) |
| Net weight | 102kg (225 lb) |
| Finishes | |
| Cabinet: | Cherrywood |
| Rosenut | |
| Piano Black Gloss | |
| Grilles | Black cloth |