800 Series Diamond
The choice of professional recording studios, and revered by serious hi-fi enthusiasts, the 800 Series Diamond is more than just our flagship reference speaker range. It’s the pinnacle of hi-fi loudspeaker performance.
True Sound
Our founder John Bowers believed the perfect speaker should be to the ear what a flawless pane of glass is to the eye.
It should allow the uninterrupted passage of a sensory image, faithful in every nuance to the original. This vision became John’s
goal, and he gave it a name: “true sound”.
Diamond
The 800 Series Diamond features tweeters of pure synthetic diamond. We go to such lengths because diamond’s combination of lightness and extreme rigidity means no material is better suited to reproducing high-frequency signals.
Listening
Even the greatest performers need auditions, and once assembled every 800 Series Diamond speaker is subjected to the toughest tests imaginable, scrutinising every aspect of its endurance and performance.
Skilled craftsmanship
At our factory in West Sussex, England, state-of-the-art automated production techniques are fused with traditional craft skills and expert human judgement. Making an 800 Series Diamond speaker takes patience, steady hands, and astonishing attention to detail.
Skin Deep
To form the cabinet body of an 800 Series Diamond speaker, a 35mm-thick sheet of ply is pressed into one continuous, curving outer shell. Its final skin of real wood veneer is selected from the top 10% of veneers available.
A head for detail
The distinctive teardrop-shaped head of the 800 and 802 Diamond speakers is made of Marlan, a granite-hard composite material. Each head is sprayed with seven coats of lacquer, and polished by hand until it’s smooth as glass.
Where music begins
In leading recording studios, music that will soon be heard everywhere is heard first through 800 Series speakers. Sound engineers depend on them every day for their unrivalled accuracy. They know that what they hear in the control room is a faithful reproduction of the sound of the original musical performance. So you can trust that no other speaker will bring you closer to music as the artist intended you to hear it. Just ask the people who recorded it.
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is without question the world's most famous recording studio, and much of the music you love was recorded there. And, since the 1980s, that means it was mastered on Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series loudspeakers.
A distinguished heritage
In 1979, its superior drive units isolated in separate chambers producing sound of unheard-of-realism made the 801 a fixture in demanding recording studios. And it’s been the same with every subsequent 800 Series.
More to explore
DB1
DB1 is the most advanced subwoofer Bowers & Wilkins has yet produced. Perfect for home theatre or the demands of an audiophile’s hi-fi system.
Nautilus
Nautilus is recognised worldwide as an outstanding loudspeaker that continues to shape the direction of the audio industry to this day.
PM1
The highly refined PM1 is a compact loudspeaker that offers audiophile-quality performance and features the new Bowers & Wilkins Carbon Braced Tweeter.
Society of Sound
Society of Sound Music members can access high-quality downloads curated by Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios and the London Symphony Orchestra.