B&W's most compact headed model brings all of the technical advantages of a dedicated midrange enclosure – the iconic Turbine Head – to a smaller footprint that’s easily accommodated in any home. Small doesn’t mean compromised, either: 803 D4 still bristles with technical innovation throughout.
Small Wonder
803 D4 may be notably more compact than the 801 D4 or 802 D4, but it still bristles with technical innovation, most obviously in its use of a three-box construction. Its 130mm (5in) midrange cone is carefully isolated from the impact of its bass cones thanks to its Turbine Head enclosure.
800 Series Diamond
This is not just another speaker range. Each new generation of 800 Series Diamond is a landmark event for Bowers & Wilkins. This is our benchmark, our icon; the most advanced range of loudspeakers we know how to make, equipped with all of our most sophisticated technologies and designed to deliver the upmost in sonic realism. For us, the 800 Series Diamond is everything we know, and everything we are.
Turbine Head
Hear the sound, not the cabinet. Our all-aluminium Turbine Head is a phenomenally stiff and inert housing for the crucial midrange cone, carefully damped to avoid unwanted resonances and decoupled from both the bass enclosure and the tweeter body. The result? The most realistic midrange sound yet.
Diamond Dome Tweeter
One of our most significant accomplishments over the past two decades, the ultra-stiff, supremely accurate Diamond dome tweeter is the perfect combination of low mass, exceptional stiffness and outstanding accuracy. 15 years after we introduced it, we haven’t found a better tweeter dome technology.
Solid Body Tweeter Assembly
The latest incarnation of our iconic Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top housing features an elongated form with a longer tube-loading system, producing an even more free and open sound with high frequencies. As before, the carefully decoupled housing is milled from a single solid block of aluminium to better resist resonance.
Reverse Wrap Cabinet
Instead of a flat-fronted speaker with a curving back, our cabinets are formed from one continuous curve, held together with a spine of solid aluminium. Fewer joins make for a stiffer, more inert structure, and a curved front means less baffling around the drive units. So sound dispersion is improved, and cabinet reflection is reduced.
Matrix
Matrix bracing uses interlocking panels to reinforce loudspeaker cabinet walls in all directions internally, reducing resonance and creating a more believable soundstage. The Matrix assembly in 803 D4 is our best yet, ensuring optimum scale, power and intelligibility.
Biomimetic Suspension
Sometimes, making a big difference takes unconventional thinking. For decades, we thought nothing could improve on the sound of our famous yellow Aramid Fibre midrange cones, but eventually our Continuum cone technology changed our minds. Now, we’ve turned our attention to another crucial element in a loudspeaker cone: the fabric spider.
Our all-new Biomimetic Suspension revolutionizes midrange cone performance by greatly reducing the unwanted air pressure and coloration that a conventional fabric spider can generate. The result? Midrange transparency you wouldn’t believe possible.
Continuum cone
Thanks to its composite construction, the Continuum cone avoids the abrupt transitions in behaviour that can impair the performance of a conventional drive unit. The result is a more open, neutral performance that delivers voices and instruments with precision and transparency.
Aerofoil™ bass cone
Our Aerofoil bass cone technology remains an outstanding solution to the conundrum of combining low mass and high stiffness in bass cones, thanks to its carbon-fibre skin and variable-profile foam core. Now, we have added the foam Anti-Resonance Plug for lower distortion and even cleaner bass.
803 D4 mounts two Aerofoil™ bass cones in twin solid aluminium bass pods, each of which is clamped into an aluminium plate fixed to the stiffest part of its curved cabinet. Formed as single pieces of metal, these stiff structures provide the perfect mechanical location for those powerful bass cones.
Decoupled Midrange assembly
Every 800 Series Diamond loudspeaker (aside from the standmount 805 D4) has a dedicated midrange cone using four key Bowers & Wilkins technologies: the Continuum cone, FST, Biomimetic Suspension, and midrange decoupling — the latter ensuring minimal interference from the operation of the loudspeaker’s bass drivers.
Aluminium top-plate
Every stereo model in the new 800 Series Diamond range has a significantly upgraded cabinet design with an all-new aluminium top section for even greater stiffness. The same design also provides a perfect mounting point for all-new Leather by Connolly cabinet detailing, with luxurious black leather for dark cabinets and light grey for lighter finishes.
Crossover
All stereo models in the new 800 Series Diamond range now use rear-mounted crossover designs mounted on stiff aluminium spines. This isolates the sensitive capacitors from the unwanted effects of air pressure within the enclosure and makes for a very effective heatsink to ensure optimum performance when in use.
Leather by Connolly
The top section of every stereo model features an aluminium top-plate, covered in all-new Leather by Connolly trim. We use luxurious, full-grain black leather for Gloss Black and Satin Rosenut finishes, and a light grey leather for White and Satin Walnut.
Want more power?
803 D4 features all the most iconic ingredients in the 800 Series Diamond range including, of course, that famous headed enclosure. It is, however, smaller than its other siblings. Step up to the 802 D4, and you’ll get both larger 200mm (8in) bass cones and a larger 150mm (6in) midrange driver.