Bowers & Wilkins’ ‘World’s Most Revered’ High-End Speakers Now Cost $85,000

• Bowers & Wilkins has unveiled the new 800 Series Diamond D5 range, marking the fifth generation of 800 Series speakers to use its Diamond Dome tweeter
• The seven-model range includes the flagship 801 D5, four other stereo loudspeakers and two centre-channel speakers
• Australian pricing starts at AUD $19,900 per pair for the 805 D5 and reaches AUD $84,900 per pair for the flagship 801 D5

Bowers & Wilkins isn’t being shy about the new 800 Series Diamond D5. The British audio brand describes its latest flagship loudspeaker family as an update to the “world’s most revered” range of high-end speakers, and in Australia, that claim now comes with pricing that runs up to AUD $84,900 a pair.

Unveiled in the brand’s 60th year, the 800 Series Diamond D5 marks the fifth generation of 800 Series speakers to use Bowers & Wilkins’ Diamond Dome tweeter. The brand is also introducing a long list of acoustic, mechanical, electrical and design updates across the range.

It’s all part of Bowers & Wilkins‘ effort to reassert the 800 Series Diamond’s place at the top of the high-end loudspeaker pile and, ideally, justify spending close to $100,000 on a pair.

Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond D5 Key Details

• Brand: Bowers & Wilkins
• Range: 800 Series Diamond D5
• Models: 801 D5, 802 D5, 803 D5, 804 D5, 805 D5, HTM81 D5, HTM82 D5
• Australian availability: 9 September
• Australian pricing: AUD $19,900 to AUD $84,900 per pair for stereo models
• Finishes: Stealth Black, Warm White, Light Walnut and Dark Walnut
• Made in: Worthing, UK

Seven New Speakers, One Familiar Mission

The new 800 Series Diamond D5 range includes seven models, starting with the two-way 805 D5 stand-mount speaker and moving through four floorstanding models: the 804 D5, 803 D5, 802 D5 and flagship 801 D5. For home theatre setups, Bowers & Wilkins has also added the HTM81 D5 and HTM82 D5 centre-channel speakers.

At the top of the range, the 801 D5 remains the reference point for the “world’s best” claim. The flagship model is engineered for recording studios and serious listeners alike, using the brand’s most advanced technologies to deliver what it calls its most realistic and accurate listening experience yet.

Bowers & Wilkins wants the 800 Series Diamond D5 to interfere with the music as little as possible. The brand calls the new range “the ultimate embodiment of John Bowers’ True Sound philosophy”, with each loudspeaker designed to “deliver a flawlessly accurate rendering of the original recording, exactly as the artist intended.”

Bowers & Wilkins 801 D5

The 801 D5 is Bowers & Wilkins’ flagship floorstanding loudspeaker. It’s the largest and heaviest model in the new line-up, weighing 106.4kg and using a three-way vented-box design with a Diamond Dome tweeter, Continuum cone FST midrange and two 10-inch Aerofoil bass drivers. This is the one built for recording studios, serious listeners and anyone who wants the full-fat version of the 800 Series Diamond formula.

Price: AUD $84,900 per pair

Bowers & Wilkins 802 D5

The 802 D5 sits just below the flagship, bringing much of the 801 D5’s reference-grade thinking into a slightly less expensive floorstanding design. It still uses the Diamond Dome tweeter, Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top, Turbine Head and Continuum cone FST midrange, making it the obvious next option for buyers who want a serious stereo or home theatre setup without reaching for the very top shelf.

Price: AUD $62,900 per pair

Bowers & Wilkins 803 D5

The 803 D5 is the most compact 800 Series Diamond floorstander to feature Bowers & Wilkins’ Turbine Head configuration. That makes it an interesting middle ground in the range, with the brand’s more distinctive headed design and a smaller footprint than the 801 D5 and 802 D5. It’s still very much a reference loudspeaker, just one designed to make sense in a wider range of spaces.

Price: AUD $46,900 per pair

Bowers & Wilkins 804 D5

The 804 D5 keeps things more conventional. It’s a floorstanding loudspeaker, but without the Turbine Head design used on the larger models. Instead, it’s positioned as the more discreet option in the range, while still using key 800 Series technologies such as the Diamond Dome tweeter, Continuum cone midrange and curved cabinet construction. It also receives a new internal aluminium enclosure for its Continuum Cone FST assembly, designed to isolate the midrange. For many homes, this is likely to be the least visually demanding floorstander in the line-up.

Price: AUD $29,900 per pair

Bowers & Wilkins 805 D5

The 805 D5 is the smallest speaker in the new 800 Series Diamond range. It’s a two-way stand-mount loudspeaker with a Diamond Dome tweeter, Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top and Continuum bass/midrange cone. Bowers & Wilkins says it’s best suited to smaller listening spaces.

Price: AUD $19,900 per pair

Bowers & Wilkins HTM81 D5

For home theatre setups, the HTM81 D5 is the larger centre-channel speaker in the range. It’s designed to pair with the 801 D5 or 802 D5 and uses a three-way design with a Diamond Dome tweeter, Continuum cone FST midrange and twin Aerofoil bass drivers. The floorstanders are certainly the heavy hitters, but these centre speakers bring the same clarity and scale to dialogue and front-channel movie sound.

Price: AUD $19,900 each

Bowers & Wilkins HTM82 D5

The HTM82 D5 is the smaller centre-channel option, designed to pair with the 803 D5 or 804 D5. It still uses Bowers & Wilkins’ Diamond Dome tweeter, Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top, Continuum Cone midrange driver and twin Aerofoil bass cones, but packages that technology into a more compact centre speaker. In a range where even the smaller options aren’t exactly small, the HTM82 D5 is the more manageable home theatre option.

Price: AUD $14,900 each

What’s New in the D5 Range?

The biggest changes sit inside the speaker cabinets. Bowers & Wilkins has introduced new Space Frame Bracing, which bolts directly to the rear of the Matrix structure inside each D5 cabinet. As with most things in the 800 Series Diamond range, the design does more than just look expensive. The bracing stiffens the enclosure and reduces cabinet-borne resonance, giving the speaker less opportunity to colour the sound.

All floorstanding models also receive a redesigned aluminium plinth with tuned-mass damping. Essentially the speaker’s base, the plinth has been re-profiled to match the shape of each cabinet, while the new damping system is designed to absorb unwanted vibration before it can travel through the speaker. The lower edge of the plinth has also been extended to help conceal the wheels and spikes beneath the speaker, for a cleaner finish.

There’s also an all-new aluminium top plate, developed from work done on the 801 D4 Signature. The plate sits on top of the cabinet and acts as a structural element, helping keep the enclosure rigid and reducing flex. The revised design improves stiffness at the top of the cabinet, with updated mounts supporting either the Turbine Head or Solid Body Tweeter assembly, depending on the model.

The Matrix bracing system has been upgraded as well. The new Enhanced Matrix design adds aluminium reinforcement around the drive-unit apertures, the openings where the speaker drivers are mounted. Strengthening these areas helps prevent the cabinet from vibrating in response to the movement of the drivers themselves. It’s another feature designed entirely around making the speaker cabinet mechanically quieter.

Bowers & Wilkins has also brought across Signature-specification components from its 800 Series Signature loudspeakers. That includes a new tweeter grille mesh for the Diamond Dome tweeters, improved drive-unit motor systems, upgraded wiring harnesses and revised crossover components. In practical terms, these changes affect how the drivers move, how the signal travels and how different frequencies are split across the speaker.

A More Refined Finish

The D5 range also brings a revised look. Bowers & Wilkins has updated every finish from the outgoing D4 line-up, introducing Stealth Black, Warm White, Light Walnut and Dark Walnut. The new Dark Walnut finish replaces Satin Rosenut and takes inspiration from the limited-production 801 Abbey Road Limited Edition.

Speakers this expensive need to look as good as they sound. In the D5 range, Bowers & Wilkins is arguing those two things are connected. The series features cleaner panel gaps, hidden fixings and revised finishes, all feeding into the same broader pursuit of lower noise, tighter construction and fewer distractions. At this price, you’d want nothing less.

Whether the new D5 range keeps the 800 Series Diamond at the top of the high-end loudspeaker pile is something only proper listening will prove. For now, Bowers & Wilkins has made its case the way it usually does: by obsessing over the parts most people will never see, but serious listeners are paying to hear.

The new Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond D5 range will be available in Australia from 9 September.