BOWERS & WILKINS 805 Diamond

TR05.05.2011

Stand mount monitors

Unlike the previous generations of B&W’s the new Diamonds are real diamonds. Within its price range they rank amongst the best available loudspeakers and in certain aspects (airy detail, excellent soundstaging, responsiveness and openness) they can challenge even more expensive speakers. The spark thrown by the all new Diamonds set me afire.

Funkce a forma

95%
Ergonomie
75%
Zvuk
92%
Zpracování

How the 805 Diamonds improve on the 805 S’s (the predecessor of the Diamonds – editor’s note)? In a few details: their 1st order crossover was redesigned with the help of Mundorf capacitors, speaker’s terminals are of higher quality, the phase compensator that occupies the center of a Kevlar mid-tone driver is not anymore a part of the cone but rather fixed to the motor assembly of the driver. And, of course, the new diamond tweeter with four magnets that has become a signature of the new B&W’s line up.

The diamond tweeter is gelled to the main cabinet to mechanically decouple both units and suppress mutual exchange of vibrations. The tweeter’s teardrop-shaped enclosure supports maximum absorption of energy that is radiated to the rear of speakers – the resonance frequency of the diamond dome is as high as 70kHz, far enough from the upper effective range of speakers that is 28kHz on paper. I like that the 805 Diamonds extend that much and do not have usual 20kHz cut off – human hearing was proven to hear (or at least feel) much farther into kilohertz domain than it was believed before.

Despite the new technologies the 805 Diamond is a typical Bowers & Wilkins, which means precise craftsmanship on one side, a bit sterile design lacking a ‘flair’ on the other side. Unlike with 805 S’s the midbass driver of 805’s is framed by an aluminum ring that, together with pitted surface of the speaker’s reflex port (in B&W they have been using this “Flow Port Technology” for 20 years to fight air turbulences in ports), lends a contemporary feel to the 805’s design.

Nízké frekvence

Váha
49
Výbušnost
55
Artikulace
67

To be completely honest I did not hear any remarkable difference between standard rubber surround of the 805 Diamond and surroundless FST driver of the 804 Diamond. That is maybe because in the 805’s the mid-woofer has to work in much wider range of frequencies and in the 804’s its output is limited at both ends (350Hz and 4kHz) by the crossover. Nevertheless, subjectively I felt the 805 Diamonds be faster and more effortless despite that it should be vice versa in theory. To hear a superiority of any of both driver concepts one would have to use comparable samples which standmounted and floorstanding speakers were not.

Čistota rozlišení

Detail
90
Vzduch
78
Transparentnost
70

On paper the 805 Diamond’s bass starts at 49Hz which is decent for a small monitor. I cannot say that subjectively it extends lower than that, however, it provides both punch and speed needed for a perfect playback of guitar rock music. Again, with the 805 Diamonds the bass is seamlessly integrated with the other bands and the speakers therefore sound very coherent and focused.

Tonální věrnost

Témbr
59
Dynamika
59
Časování
60

B&W speakers never suffer from insufficient amount of reproduced detail – the new Diamonds not being an exception. However, there is a significant improvement that is most likely the result of the refinement of the tweeter. Now the detail is less illustrative (i.e. dry) and more sparkling (i.e. enticing). I would dare to say that the highs of the 804’s are something you would not expect from your standard B&W and not at all from a diamond tweeter. With the Diamond the highs are clean, extended and precisely brilliant, I would even say fluid (opposite to digital harshness) like your old vinyl. More important the upper part of the frequency response is seamlessly woven into Kevlar mids and therefore, as you may expect, the soundstage thrown by the Diamonds is expansive in all directions and despite it firmly locks individual spatial elements it still provides a lot of room for the individual instruments to breathe freely.

Prostorovost

Trojrozměrnost
58
Šířka scény
77
Hloubka scény
75

B&W loudspeakers were always famous for their typical sound and listeners were almost immediately polarized in like and not like categories after few minutes. To me they were always way too much neutral, distant, dry and emotionless. They were rather like a presenter of evening news on TV than a passionate actor in a drama. Though I have always admired their measured performance and overall sonic coherence their sound was not my cup of tea. Therefore I am a bit afraid that with the new Diamond line some of the B&W’s worshippers may get lost - this is a different sounding speaker, a better sounding speaker.

Cena v době recenze:112 000,- Kč

Doporučení prodejci

Eurostar Ostrava, Dobřejovice u Prahy, tel. + 420 323 606 877

Jasyko, Brno, 541 210 108

Profimedia, Opava, 553 759 017

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  • Sources: C.E.C. TL-51XR
  • Amplifiers: power amplifier - Mark Levinson No.432, preamplifier -Mark Levinson No. 360
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: Kubala-Sosna Emotion
  • Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio2

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