Technologies
The 800 Series Diamond is more than a speaker. It represents the pinnacle of our technological achievement, and the sum total of almost 50 years of research and development at the cutting edge of acoustic design. Inside the sturdy cabinet of every speaker in the range is some of the most advanced technology ever to be put inside a box.
Quad Magnet Tweeter Motor System
The 800 Series Diamond uses an innovative four-magnet tweeter system, which adds around 2dB to the sensitivity of the coil, which reduces the power requirement by around 40 percent. As a result, the tweeter runs cooler, compression is reduced and the music comes back to life.
Find out more
Tweeter on Top
Bowers & Wilkins’ tweeter on top technology has two benefits. It avoids the situation with normal cabinet construction, where sound waves from the tweeter not only radiate towards the listener but also travel along the baffle surface towards the cabinet edges. It also allows its time-alignment with the midrange driver to be finely adjusted so the two outputs add perfectly in phase through the crossover region.
Find out more
De-coupling
Preventing mechanical vibration from the bass cabinet reaching the tweeter leads to a much cleaner, sweeter high frequency performance. For the 800 Series Diamond, we’ve adopted a synthetic gel to cushion the tweeter better than ever before. Not only that, we’ve also isolated the tweeter assembly from the tube and mounting behind, which reduces external interference to virtually nil.
Find out more
Dual Magnet Bass Motor System
In the Bowers & Wilkins dual magnet system, both magnets face the top plate, but from opposite sides and are magnetised in opposition to one another. The result not only makes the fringe field symmetric, but also to reduce the amount of fringing altogether, with more of the energy forced into the gap proper. The reduction in distortion compared to a standard motor configuration gets more pronounced the louder you go and that leads to a more natural and consistent bass character.
Find out more
Crossover
We carry out exhaustive listening tests rigorously assessing the performance of each component until we find the optimum component for each position in the circuit. Fine-tuning by ear is only possible if the crossover is simple and the section of the crossover that perhaps benefits most from our policy of listen-and-learn is the part handling the signal for the tweeter. In most Bowers & Wilkins speakers, it is carried by a single, ear-chosen component that preserves the very finest detail.
Find out more
Diamond Tweeters
Why use diamond for tweeter domes? It may seem extravagant, but the move is simply an extension of Bowers & Wilkins’s pursuit of the perfect loudspeaker. One element of our quest for the best is the development of drive units that neither add nor subtract from the signal. In a tweeter, that means creating a dome that remains rigid, exhibiting perfectly piston-like behaviour, as far up the frequency scale as possible. Best for this are materials with a high stiffness to density ratio - which is where diamond comes in.
Find out more
Flowport
Bowers & Wilkins’s Flowport™ minimises turbulence in the same way as a golf ball. Dimples on the surface generate tiny eddy currents over which air can flow smoothly, reducing turbulence, and improving performance. This is because if turbulence occurs as the air moves in and out of the port, you’ll hear extraneous noise and, as you turn the volume up, the bass won’t be as tight and well timed as it should be.
Find out more
FST
FST™ mid-range drive units maximises the effects of Kevlar® by improving cone response times and integrity of sound transmission. As the mid-range diaphragm only moves a little, Bowers & Wilkins has improved outer edge cone termination by means of ‘surroundless’ suspension, for the cleanest mid-range performance in the business.
Find out more
Kevlar
Kevlar® has been Bowers & Wilkins’ cone material of choice since 1974, and with good reason. Not only does it deliver a cleaner sound, it can do so to a wider group of listeners. The distinctive yellow cones are found on almost all Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers.
Find out more
Matrix
Unique to Bowers & Wilkins, Matrix™ interlocking panels take cabinet bracing to the ultimate level. With powerful bass drivers trying to shake the cabinet and high air pressures inside trying to make the panels flex and blur the sound, this three-dimensional honeycomb structure reinforces the cabinet at small intervals and in every direction. Offering a dramatic cut in the level of cabinet coloration, Matrix allows you to focus on where the performers are, rather than being aware of where the speakers are.
Find out more
Mushrooms
Bowers & Wilkins’ bass drivers use a ‘mushroom’ type diaphragm construction, maximising rigidity by bonding the cone, dust cap and extended voice coil bobbin into a stiffening girder-like unit. This helps deliver that all-important low-end 'drive' and 'punch'.
Find out more
Nautilus Tapering Tubes
Not all sound generated by speaker drive units is good sound. The kind that emerges from the back of a working driver, into a conventional box cabinet, can bounce around and make a mess of the good sound coming out of the front. Bowers & Wilkins’ trailblazing Nautilus™ speaker found a way around boxes. Tapering tubes filled with absorbent wadding soaked up the wayward sound energy and reduced resonances to an insignificant minimum.
Find out more
Rohacell
For speed, stiffness and unshakable bass, this cone material, normally used for aircraft, rockets and performance cars bodies, is the bottom line. We found Rohacell® being used extensively in the high performance automotive and aerospace industries, where its unusual combination of very low weight and very high resistance to bending stress make it the ideal choice for a multitude of applications. Those very same characteristics also make it an ideal material for the structural heart of a bass driver.
Find out more
Sphere / Tube Enclosure
Crafted from inert Marlan® composite, the internal cavity – a sphere closely coupled to a short tube - absorbs most of the sound from the back of the driver, with the fibre filling mopping up the last vestiges. On the outside, the glossy teardrop shape smoothly disperses the sound around the speaker creating a solid, three-dimensional image.
Find out moreMore to explore
A legend reborn
Discover the ethos behind the 800 Series Diamond, the latest in a family viewed by many as the best in the world.
A legend reborn
Diamond family
800 Series Diamond speakers from studio monitors to bookshelf speakers for compact domestic spaces.
Diamond family
Art meets science
Discover the judgement, attention to detail and finishing touches that only human hands and eyes can provide.
Art meets science
Abbey Road Studios
Read why the world's finest recording studio is a keen advocate of Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series loudspeakers.
Abbey Road Studios- Home
- Speakers
- Home Audio
- 800 Series Diamond
- Technologies