b and w 800 diamond brochure

7/29/2019 b and w 800 Diamond Brochure

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A legend reborn Everything moves on. Ev

when youve reached the pinnacle o technologi

achievement, there are always new goals to a

or, new standards to set. In 1979, we redefn

whats possible in sound reproduction with t

very frst 800 Series speaker the Matrix 80

In 1998, we re-wrote the rulebook all over aga

with the Nautilus 800 Series. But we didnt st

there. We continued to refne and experiment, a

now weve raised the benchmark yet again. The 8Series Diamond harnesses the unique properties

diamond throughout the range, producing a sou

o unheard-o accuracy and realism. At Bowers

Wilkins, the quest or perection never ends.

The evolution of excellence

Introducing superior drive

units housed in separate

chambers, the Matrix 800s

unprecedented sound quality

made the speaker a ixture

in top recording studios and

the homes o discerning audio

enthusiasts. With the Nautilus

800 Series and now the 800

Series Diamond, the tradition

continues.


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Simulatedacoustic Frequency response

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e miracle material It can cut stone and grind

ss. Its a superb thermal conductor. And its the

gic ingredient in every model in the new 800

ies Diamond range. Our acoustic research expert

Gary Geaves explains why diamond is the ultimate

eeter material.

Dr Gary Geaves, Head o Research,

Bowers & Wilkins

s about tweeter design what are you

to achieve, and what are the main

nges to overcome?

m here at Bowers & Wilkins has always

o design transducers that accurately

uce the signal. Its really quite easy to

a sound but its much more diicult to

uce a signal accurately. When it comes

eters, this aim translates into creatingce that moves as a rigid piston over

dible requency range in other words,

nge below 20 kHz.

you go up in requency, you reac h a

where the tweeter stops behaving in a

ontrolled way and it starts to resonate.

quency at which this occ urs is usually

the break-up requency. As you go

d the break-up requency, you encounter

and more resonance. The problem with

ance is that it imparts a character to the

er, which is obviously not what you want

youre aiming to accurately reproduce

al.

the main challenge in tweeter design

vercome the problem o resonance.

ou do this by tryi ng to push the break-

quency as ar above the range o human

g as it can possibly go.

What have you been doing to get around

this problem?

For a long time, Bowers & Wilkins have used

aluminium dome tweeters. Aluminiums a really

good material to use, because its relatively

light and sti, and it results in a relatively high

break-up requency. Over the years weve been

able to optimise the mechanical design. For

example, or the second generation 800 Series,we managed to improve the break-up requency

rom about 23 kHz to 30 kHz.

It was then that we noticed something

odd. We ound that, with each improvement

in break-up requency, the resulting tweeter

sounded much cleaner. Not that surprising,

you might think but we ound this really

curious because, as Ive already said, human

beings can only hear up to 20 kHz. Improving

the break-up requency rom 23 to 30 kHz

shouldnt have made any dierence to the

audible sound quality. And yet it did. So

we started to wonder why this was, and i

there might be ways o raising the break-up

requency much higher.

How did you go about trying to raise the

break-up frequency level? What sort of

design approaches did you consider?

We started o by thinking about the size, shape

and positioning o the tweeter. Now, the easiest

way to improve the break-up requency is to

make the tweeter much smaller. The problem

with that approach is that, to get the same

output over the same bandwidth, you have todrive the speaker a lot harder. The dome has to

move a lot more. And when that happens, you

run into problems with linearity, distortion and

power compression.

An alter native a pproach might be to use

a supplementary tweeter in addition to your

main tweeter. We did consider this, but we

ound it just complicated the situation. Instead

o compensating or the deiciencies o a main

tweeter, the supplementary tweeter just added

its own set o problems. There was also the

potential or intererence between the two

tweeters. In the end, this approach just didnt

seem consistent with our principle o keeping

things simple.

How did you hit on the idea of using

diamond as a tweeter dome material?

We discovered the beneits o diamond thanks

to a process called inite element analysis. Its

a tool thats widely used in the aerospace and

automotive industries to create virtual computer

prototypes, so you can carry out experiments

beore committing to a real physical prototype.

By using inite element analysis we wereable to look more closely than ever beore at

how a speaker reproduces sound. We could

examine in detail how the whole structure

vibrates, and the acoustic ield that results rom

the vibration. We were also able to look at the

motor systems in loudspeakers. This allowed

us to come up with new ways to optimise

sensitivity, improve linearity, and design better

shielding.

It was by using inite element analysis that

we irst simulated the response o a perect,

rigid tweeter, made rom an ininitely sti

material. This is a material that doesnt exist

in reality but thats another beauty o inite

element analysis; you can do things that you

cant do in the real world. So we started to look

at tweeter dome materials we could use instead

o the aluminium materials that shared similar

properties to the hypothetical perect dome.

And we ound that the ult imate mat erial the

absolute closest match in terms o its rigidity

and dynamic stiness is diamond.

So what are the benefits of using diamond

tweeter domes?

As I said, with aluminium, we were getting a

maximum break-up requency o about 30 kHz.

Pretty amazing, when you consider the human

hearing threshold is 20 kHz. But by using

diamond, we were able to go ar, ar higher than

that, creating a tweeter that breaks up at 70 kHz.

However, diamond doesnt just have amuch higher break-up requency it also

outperorms aluminium within the range o

human hearing. When you compare the

response o a diamond tweeter with the perect

hypothetical rigid tweeter, the results are very

similar below 20 kHz. And this means that you

can hear a dramatic improvement in sound

quality.

The resulti ng tweet er sounds more

eortless, and yet more detailed, and has

a much more realistic soundstage than the

standard aluminium tweeter.

Diamonds all round The

800 Series Diamond amily

encompasses speakers o all

sizes and applications, rom

mighty studio monitors to

bookshel speakers that will it

snugly into domestic spaces

o any size. But while every

speaker is dierent, they have

two key eatures in common:

a tweeter made rom pure

diamond, and sound quality

that will leave you speechless.amond 802 Diamond 803 Diamond 804 Diamond 805 Diamond HTM2 Diamond HTM4 Diamond

Computer simulations show

that the response o a

diamond dome (right) more

closely matches the behaviour

o the hypothetical perect

tweeter than an aluminium

dome (let).


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The process starts wi th the ormer the do

o metal on which the thin layer o diamond

grown. Each ormer is meticulously inspect

and weighed beore being transerred to a

specially designed urnace, where gases ar

super-heated and pressurised. Out o the g

orms a carbon rost (diamond crystals), wh

grows on the surace o the ormer to creat

a super-ine, ultra-hard diamond dome.

Making diamond the natural way takes volcanic

temperatures and pressures, and around two

billion years. Hardly ideal i you want to produce

it or manuacturing purposes, let alone orm

it into the precise shape required or a tweeter

dome. Luckily, scientists have ound a way

around this. Chemical vapour deposition is

a technique that allows diamond to be grown,

like a crystal, under laboratory conditions.

iamond is born


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Once the diamond has ormed, it is precision-

cut by laser to remove any surace irregularities

and to make sure that the geometry o each

tweeter dome exactly matches the next. The

diamond domes are then cleaned in our stages

in an ultra-sonic tank, beore a protective

platinum coating is applied to the surace.

Each diamond dome is rigorously tested and

inspected or the tiniest signs o imperection.

Only when a dome has passed every test do

we give it the inal seal o approval its own

unique serial number. From this number we can

trace the entire history o its manuacture, right

back to the ormer on which it was grown.

king the cut


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Not all the sound generated by tweeter driv

units is good sound. To soak up wayward

sound energy and reduce resonances to a

minimum, every tweeter in the 800 Series

Diamond is mounted on top o the cabinet,

uses the tapering tube design rom Bowers

Wilkins trailblazing Nautilus speaker. Adde

this, our new quad-magnet design improve

sensitivity, which reduces compression and

brings music to lie. So all the sound you he

is good sound.

The t eardrop-shaped midr ange head is a

distinctive eature o both the top-o-the-range

800 Diamond and the 802 Diamond. Moulded

rom Marlan, a synthetic, mineral illed resin,

this granite-hard enclosure is sprayed with

seven coats o lacquer and polished by hand

until its as smooth as glass.

ead or sound

Quad magnets For the

800 Series Diamond we

have redeined the scien

magnet motor design. In

tweeter, a unique quad m

design (in red, above) o

the magnetic energy righ

where the voice coil sits,

keeps the driver running

and smooth.

Nautilus tubes


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Kevlar is known as the wonder abric in

bulletproo vests. But, as Bowers & Wilkins

discovered, no material is better suited to

disrupt the standing waves that cause disto

and coloration in the midrange. To enhance

properties o Kevlar yet urther, weve adde

something very special. The FST acts like

a circular shock absorber around the cone

almost totally absorbing the sound-smudgi

bending waves that travel outwards to the

cones perimeter. A midrange driver never

sounded cleaner, or more responsive.

ock waves


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The 800 Series Dia mond bass driver is a

ormidable piece o engineering, designed

to preserve the speed and slam o the mo

demanding bass lines. The cone material is

Rohacell : a sophisticated composite o the

kind normally used or aircrat and perorm

cars. The new dual magnet design reduces

distortion or more natural and consistent

bass character. For unshakable bass,

its the bottom line.

ck solid

Force of attraction The

bass drivers in the 800 Series

Diamond range are powered

by a brand new dual magnet

motor system (in red, top)

creating a more symmetrical

magnetic ield and reducing

harmonic distortion.


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needs air to breathe. But i turbulence

as air moves in and out o a speakers

port, youll hear extraneous noise

s you turn the volume up, the bass

be as tight or well-timed as it should be.

owport in the 800 Series Diamond

ses turbulence in the same way as a

all. Dimples on the surace generate tiny

currents, over which air can low smoothly

bove all, silently.

The way a speake rs crossover is const ruct

speaks volumes about the quality o its

mechanical components. What to look or

simplicity. The rule is, the better the design

the drive units, the simpler the design o the

crossover can aord to be. And the quality

o the 800 Series Diamond drive units is su

that weve been able to make the speakers

irst-order crossover one o the simplest

and best weve ever produced.

ep breath Deceptively simple

Gold/Silver/Oil Mundor

capacitors in the high-

requency crossovers, or

improved signal to tweeters

and superior sound quality.


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You wont ind many straight lines in nature

or good reason. Continuous, curving sura

create stronger structures with the same

amount o material. In the 800 Series Diam

the curving cabinet orms a solid outer she

that shrugs o vibrations and resonance. A

an internal Matrix system that braces the

structure like the ribs o a ships hull, and y

have a speaker thats more than capable o

standing irm under pressure.

tural strength


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John Dibb (above) and Tom OBrien (let),

Bowers & Wilkins development engineers

ear for quality Developing and assembling

at drive units is one thing. But its up to the

ssover to make sure those drivers are singing

moniously together. According to top development

gineers John Dibb and Tom OBrien, designing

perfect crossover is a job that requires patience,

e judgement and many hours o listening.

Why is simplicity so important in

crossover design?

John Dibb: John Bowers once said that were

not trying to give the most in a loudspeaker,

were trying to lose the least. That was many

years ago, but its just as relevant today. The

key to loudspeakers is not losing the ine detail

in the sound.

Our aim is to create an illusion o reality by

giving the listener accurate auditory clues and

to remove the distortion and colouration that

can mask this inormation. Weve been able to

enhance our measurement techniques to the

point where we know more than ever about the

actors that cause distortion and colouration

in drive units. Nowadays, drive unit design

has become so advanced that it has virtually

eliminated these phenomena. In turn, this has

allowed us to keep crossover design as pure

and simple as possible.However, when drive units are working so

well, this highlights another potential challenge:

the dierence in the sound o the dierent

components within the crossover. We need

to make sure that the components we choose

or a speakers crossover are the very best

ones or the job.

What role does listening play in the

design process?

Tom OBrien: You can get two identical-looking

components, speciied exactly the same way

on paper, but one will have a completely

dierent sonic characteristic to the other. And

the only way that its possible to pick out the

ones that sound the best is by listening to them

one at a time, over and over again.

This list ening process can ta ke a long ti me.

It can take weeks, sometimes months, to ully

balance the system and ine-tune it until were

happy with it. We have to try the systems

out in many dierent rooms, and on dierent

equipment, with a huge variety o music.

I think its a great testament to our attention

to detail that recording studios such as Abbey

Road, Deutsche Grammophon and Decca,

among others, have used our speakers or

a long time to monitor their music. Its theultimate test to hear the master tape o a

recording thats been done minutes ago,

and check that its close to reality o the

perormance in the studio.


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At our dedicated cabinet-making actory in

UK, state-o-the-art technology is used wit

traditional cratsmanship. While a single 35

thick sheet o ply is pressed into shape or

main cabinet body o the 800 Series Diamo

its inal skin o real wood veneer is selected

by hand rom only the top 10% o veneers

available. All o the wood we use is sourced

rom sustainable orests.

meets science


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I youre planning to use the 800 Series

Diamond as part o a home theatre set-up,

theres every chance that you take your ilm

viewing enjoyment very seriously indeed.

In which case, youre also going to need a

seriously good subwooer. One with the power

needed to deliver the mightiest movie sound

eects, but also one with the inesse and

precision to match the incredible realism o the

800 Series Diamond. Not an easy balance to

strike. But one that the DB1 subwooer handles

with ease.

Take control The DB1

allows you to make min

adjustments depending

on your personal listeni

preerences, or optimise

speaker or whatever yo

are listening to: music,

or games. Adjustments

be made on the DB1s O

display, or via a compu

with the downloadable

SubApp sotware.

Despite its relatively compact size, the DB1

delivers awesome bass power, thanks to a

unique design incorporating two opposing

12 inch drivers, and its own built-in 1000W

digital ampliier. Digital Signal Processing

keeps the output dynamic and accurate, w

equalization sotware ine-tunes the speake

to match the character o your listening roo

Power. Responsiveness. Control. Put them

together, and youve got a subwooer thats

the ideal match or the 800 Series Diamond

Perect partner


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Peter Cobbin, recording

engineer, Abbey Road

Studios: The B&W 800

Series is the only speaker

I have ound that allows

me to accurately listen to

how the original perormance

has been recorded.

ere it all begins In leading recording studios around the womusic that will soon be heard everywhere

is heard irst through 800 Series speakers.

At Abbey Road, sound engineers de pend

on the speakers, sae in the knowledge tha

what they hear in the control room is as clo

as possible to the sound o the perormanc

in the studio. In Caliornia, Skywalker Soun

is where Hollywood puts music to movies.

And they do it on the ultimate surround

sound system, eaturing Bowers & Wilkins

800 Series speakers.


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800 Diamond

Diamond tweeter Diamond

dome. Nautilus tapering tube

design. Quad magnet motor

system. Tweeter-on-top

geometry.

Kevlar Midrange Woven

Kevlar midrange driver.

FST surround. Spherical

head enclosure moulded

rom Marlan.

Rohacell bass

drivers Rohacell oam/

carbon ibre composite bass

driver. Dual magnet motor

system. 75mm voice coil.

Matrix Internal bracing

system or cabinet stability.

Flowport Relex port

technology or optimum bass

perormance and minimum

turbulence distortion.

Terminal Oxygen Free

Copper (OFC) terminals or

improved signal quality.

R os en ut C he rr yw oo d P ia no B la ck

The speak er o choice or the worlds most

demanding recording studios, and a legend

among serious sound enthusiasts everywhe

the 800 Diamond is the top speaker in the

range and very probably the inest speak

you will ever hear.

Crossover Gold/Silver/Oil

capacitors in high-requency

crossovers, or improved

signal to tweeters and

superior sound quality.


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I youre looking or a speaker with the pow

clarity and presence o the mighty 800

Diamond, but your listening area cant quit

accommodate its studio-sized proportions,

the 802 Diamond is the answer. Retaining

the groundbreaking spherical head design

o its bigger brother, its the closest youll

get to true studio sound at home.

802 Diamond

R os en ut C he rr yw oo d





geometry.


Kevlar midrange driver.

FST surround. Spherical

head enclosure moulded

rom Marlan.

Rohacell bass







Flowport Relex port












Piano Black


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The 803 Diamond might look a lmost as

imposing as the 802 Diamond, but thanks

to its smaller ootprint and more traditional

cabinet design, it will it more easily into

a home environment. With three massive

7 inch Rohacell bass drivers, it delivers alm

as much bass as the 802 Diamond, illing

even the largest o domestic rooms with ric

stunningly lielike sound.

803 Diamond






geometry.


Kevlar midrange driver. FST

surround.

Rohacell bass







Flowport Relex port












Piano Black


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The eleg ant lo orstanding 804 Di amond

oers a commanding acoustic presence, a

incorporates diamond tweeter technology

the irst time. A true three-way design, it al

eatures two Rohacell bass units and a wo

Kevlar FST midrange driver. This combinati

ensures that it delivers pin-sharp clarity all

way up the requency range.

804 Diamond






geometry.


Kevlar midrange driver. FST

surround.

Rohacell bass







Flowport Relex port












Piano Black


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You asked or it. And now youve got i t.

The 805 Diamond i s an industry wo rld-irst

a speaker o this size and at this price poin

the only one o its kind to incorporate true

studio-grade technology in the orm o a

diamond dome tweeter. Experience remark

lielike sound rom a discreet speaker that

almost anywhere.

805 Diamond










Piano Black



design. Quad magnet motorsystem. Tweeter-on-top

geometry.



Kevlar Bass/Midrange

Woven Kevlar bass/

midrange driver.

Flowport Relex port





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I youre looking or a centre-channel dialogue

speaker to use as part o an 800 Diamond home

theatre set-up, HTM2 Diamond provides all the

clarity and richness you need or larger viewing

spaces. Thats down to a three-way design

eaturing two dedicated bass drivers and,

o course, a diamond dome tweeter.

Perect or smaller viewing areas, the HTM4

Diamond centre-channel speaker will seamle

balance the sound in an 800 Diamond home

theatre set-up, thanks to highly advanced,

complementary technology like a Kevlar bass

midrange driver and or the irst time ever

a diamond dome tweeter unit.

d tweeter Diamond

autilus tapering tube

Quad magnet motor

Tweeter-on-top

y.

Midrange Woven Kevlar

e driver. FST surround.

ll bass drivers Rohacell

bon ibre composite

ver. Dual magnet motor

38mm voice coil.

nternal bracing system

et stability.

M2 Diamond HTM4 Diamond

Rosenut Cherrywood Piano Black Gloss Rosenut Cherrywood

t Relex port

gy or optimum bass

nce and minimum

ce distortion.








geometry.

Kevlar Bass/Midrange Woven

Kevlar bass/midrange driver.

Matrix Internal bracing system

or cabinet stability.

Flowport Relex port technology

or optimum bass perormance

and minimum turbulence

distortion.






al Oxygen Free

(OFC) terminals or

d signal quality.

ver Gold/Silver/Oil

rs in high-requency

rs, or improved

tweeters and

sound quality.

Piano Black Glo


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Specications

803 Diamond

Free-mounted diamond dome tweeter

Nautilus tube tweeter loading

Quad magnet tweeter motor

Kevlar brand fibre cone FST midrange

Rohacell cone bass

Dual magnet bass driver motor

Matrix cabinet

Flowport

3-way vented-box system

1x 25mm (1in) diamond dome high-frequency

1x 150mm (6in) woven Kevlar cone FST midrange

3x 180mm (7in) Rohacell cone bass

-6dB at 28Hz and 33kHz

35Hz 28kHz 3dB on reference axis

Within 2dB of reference response

Horizontal: over 60 arc

Vertical: over 10 arc

90dB spl (2.83V, 1m)

2nd and 3rd harmonics (90dB, 1m)


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HTM4 Diamond

Free-mounted diamond dome tweeter

Nautilus tube tweeter loading

Quad magnet tweeter motor

Kevlar brand fibre cone bass/midrange

Matrix cabinet

Flowport

2-way vented-box system

1x 25mm (1in) diamond dome high-frequency

1x 165mm (6.5in) woven Kevlar cone bass/midrange

-6dB at 42Hz and 33kHz

49Hz 28kHz 3dB on reference axis

Within 2dB of reference response

Horizontal: over 60 arc

Vertical: over 10 arc

88dB spl (2.83V, 1m)

2nd and 3rd harmonics (90dB, 1m)


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01/10

PU23175

www.bowers-wilkins.com Kevlar is a registered trademark o DuPont.

Rohacell is a registered trademark o Rhm

GmbH & Co. KG. Marlan is a registered

trademark o Polylac Holland bv. FST,

Copyright B&W Group Ltd.

Stands eatured within this brochure are

not supplied with the speakers. E&OE.

Design by Thomas Manss & Company.

b and w 800 diamond brochure

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