Given that perfection is an almost impossible goal, the pursuit of the perfect speaker becomes an endless journey. Some inadvertent experiences will let you taste perfection. For example, Bowers & Wilkins’ 805 D4, a bookshelf speaker, provides an auditory feast for those who strive for perfection. Its sound style is mature, reasonable, yet smooth and sexy. As a speaker that combines sound quality and aesthetics, the 805 D4 defends its position as the top bookshelf model in the brand’s product line.
My interest in reviewing the 805 D4 comes not only from the desire for a set of perfect speakers. In fact, when I was an editor at the AVS forum, I had the opportunity to visit the Bowers & Wilkins factory where the 800 series speakers are made. This gave me the chance to get in touch with the manufacturing process of these speakers. On that occasion, I also visited Abbey Road Studios, where the entire set of speakers used is Bowers & Wilkins. If you want to get as close as possible to the sound heard by musicians and sound engineers, a good starting point is to use the same speakers.
When the 805 D4 was released in 2021, I immediately applied to do a review. What’s interesting is that I had the opportunity to use them in two different rooms, because I just moved from an apartment building to a loft converted from an industrial building. These two different rooms allowed me to appreciate the performance of these speakers in two different acoustic environments.
Features and Specifications
The 805 D4 is a vertical two-way speaker, consisting of a diamond dome tweeter and a 6.5-inch mid-bass unit, made of the company’s proprietary Continuum material, replacing the Kevlar fiber cone that the company has been using for many years. Continuum was launched in 2015 with the first appearance of the 800 D3 series, the D3 speaker is the predecessor of the D4 series.
Its tweeter can be said to be the signature of Bowers & Wilkins, which is a diamond dome separated from the main body of the speaker, it is called ‘top-mounted tweeter’. The company also calls it a studio-grade tweeter.
The rated frequency response is 42 Hz to 28 kHz, measured on-axis at +/-3 dB. The company states that it has a more relaxed frequency “range” of 34 Hz to 35 kHz. The nominal sensitivity is 88 decibels, also measured on-axis and in an anechoic chamber using 2.83Vrms at a distance of 1 meter. The rated impedance is 8 ohms, with a minimum of 4.6 ohms. Apart from the sensitivity appearing slightly low, these figures are typically associated with high-end floor-standing speakers, not bookshelf speakers.
Bowers & Wilkins also published its harmonic distortion specifications, which are measured on-axis at 1 meter with an output of 90 decibels. The company states that from 90 Hz to 20 kHz, the distortion remains below 1%, and if you measure from 120 Hz to 20 kHz, the distortion remains below 0.3%. Therefore, we recommend a power amplifier power of 50 watts to 120 watts for pairing.
An interesting feature of this speaker is that the crossover is located at the back and has its own heat sink. Normally, the crossover would be located inside the cabinet, without any space for heat dissipation. This is just one aspect of the speaker’s complex cabinet design. It does not use a standard medium-density fiberboard cabinet, but is made of multiple layers of high-quality plywood, which is finally pressed into shape in the company’s factory. I have witnessed the entire process, and it is undeniable that for the 800 series speakers, Bowers & Wilkins has full control over the design and manufacturing process, enabling it to maintain a high level of manufacturing craftsmanship.
At the back of the cabinet, you will find threaded aluminum heat sinks from top to bottom, as well as four terminals for speaker wiring, supporting bi-wiring.
You can purchase dedicated stands for these speakers – FS-805 D4, Bowers and Wilkins sells these stands for $1250/pair, available in silver or black. They perfectly match the speakers in size, shape, and appearance, and add cable management, which looks very neat. The company recommends using them to achieve “as good performance as possible”. However, since I already have some large stands, I used these instead.
Setup and Listening Experience
I listened to these speakers in several situations. Not only in two different apartments, but also in two different system configurations. Part of the review involved using the Classé Delta stereo amplifier to drive these speakers, which is an excellent combination that ensures the speakers get all the necessary and distortion-free power, allowing them to fully express themselves, even when reaching performance limits.
But I only kept part of the Delta amplifier review. After I published the review of the amplifier, I sent it away and continued to use the 805 D4s with my AVR-X8500h. The 805 D4s are actually easy to drive, with an impedance higher than 4 ohms.
The Classé Delta stereo amplifier, 805 D4, and the Motu M4 that I used as a signal source. In the background is the Denon X8500h.
Although I listened to a lot of music through these speakers (easily over 1000 hours, because I work at home and can listen to music all day), there are a few specific tracks that I often use as demonstrations. One of them is “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles, because it is the basis for my final subjective judgment. I heard the famous piano chord at the end of this song – after a constant accumulation, it produced an endless sustain – I played it myself on that piano. That piano is in Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles used it.
Therefore, considering this, when I have a decent system to test, I usually give this song its due evaluation. And my requirement for a powerful system is that it can remind me of the feeling of personal experience. When what I hear is realistic enough, I get goosebumps all over. The same thing happened on the 805 D4s, I felt like I was wound up, it triggered my beautiful memory of visiting the studio. There’s nothing better than using a strong stimulus to awaken memory.
Playing “A Day In The Life”, I got goosebumps twice, once in my old apartment and once in the new loft. What I find fascinating is that the sound of the system in the two rooms is indeed different. When you compare a 17’x26’x10’ space with a 20’x35’x13’ space, you will notice this. The overall acoustic effect of the new residence is better, but it does need more power to achieve the desired effect, because the listening position is further from the speakers.
When driving the 805 D4 speakers in a 2.0 configuration, their performance is admirable, because within their performance, the low frequency response is so tight and clear, high quality. The effect is also good when playing recordings of real instruments, you can imagine yourself in a jazz club or concert hall. Although I’m not exactly a jazz fan, I’ve listened to many high-end audio auditions and tested countless systems with Duke Ellington’s album “Duke’s Big Four”. And, I particularly like to analyze “The Hawk Talks”, which is mainly about percussion (this is my favorite part of jazz).
The key point is that if the record is well made, you listen carefully, the size of your listening room will not become a limiting factor. You can feel the intimacy of the jazz venue, in stark contrast to the choir in a cathedral, such as in Rutter’s Requiem: Pie Jesu, performed by the Turtle Creek Chorus and the Dallas Women’s Chorus, a super-strong speaker test track. One impressive point is that the range of the sound field changes significantly, so it has a kind of admirable authenticity. I can only say that when summarizing the sound style of the speakers, if your speakers, their performance reaches the rare level of these 805 D4s, you will be surprised by this and enjoy it, because it broadens your horizons.
I am a fan of electronic music and like to look for albums with unique acoustic characteristics and production. Although I am not a realist, I do hope that my listening experience is as close as possible to the concept of musicians when they create mixes. One of my favorite musicians is The Orb, who collaborated with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on an album called Metallic Spheres, which I happen to own both the vinyl and CD versions of. It’s three long tracks, mainly ambient music, with a bit of beat, Gilmour’s guitar plus occasional vocal elements. Using these speakers, the effect of the music is incredible, it’s just placed in my room, but it seems to be something more concrete than pure sound waves. It’s really hard to believe that the source of the sound is the speakers, even if I’m staring at them, this is their “stealth” in the system.
For electronic music and hybrids made with real instruments, if the musicians who make the songs know their purpose, they can come up with some very fun sounds that seem to come from anywhere. This doesn’t require any fancy equipment, all it needs is a good speaker, good enough imaging, and the precision to present sound objects in free space, the correct size and obvious distance. So when you use these speakers, all this is possible to hear and experience.
You never know when you’re going to come across music mixed in three-dimensional stereo, until you hear it with your own ears, even if you’re only listening to two speakers, you’ll feel it’s seamless surround sound.
Although the full-range playback of the 805 D4s sounds good, it is also a limitation. That is to say, it is a limiting factor in amplitude. Because a 6.5-inch unit can only do so much, the more you want to challenge the limit, the more you will encounter the limitations stipulated by the laws of physics.
However, if you use the 805 D4 speakers in a 2.1 system (or in my case, in a 4.1 system using L/R speakers), and let the subwoofer handle more of the low frequencies, you will get a different speaker, it opens up more, showing you its true strength. This is not surprising, after all, in the same series, the main basis for distinguishing between 2-way floor-standing speakers and 2-way bookshelf speakers is how much low frequency the speakers themselves can handle. Therefore, pairing with a subwoofer can bring many benefits.
Audyssey Calibration
Doing audio reviews is interesting in terms of emotion and experience, but I also gained quite a lot in the setup. Now, although I don’t have a quiet yard, a Klippel analyzer, or an anechoic chamber I can borrow. But I have Audyssey MultEQ XT32 on my Denon AVR-X8500h, and I have added the new MultEQ-X software and Audyssey calibration microphone to my toolkit. By looking at the results of multiple room measurements (up to 32 measurements supported), I can start to see how the speakers perform in my room, or in this case, the difference between two different rooms.
The measurement results are reassuring and quite familiar. Reassuring comes from seeing these speakers produce a smooth response curve, and familiarity comes from the exact shape of the curve in the treble area, it has a small peak at the top, which I have seen before when calibrating the 800 series, and can be seen in many technical review measurements, such as Stereophile magazine’s review of the predecessor 805 D3 of 805 D4, and its review of the 804 D4 floor box.
The magazine’s measurement results for these models are almost identical to what I see in the treble area of the D4, with a gentle peak in the response around 10 kilohertz. For those who know the brand, this is not surprising, because this is how Bowers & Wilkins tunes its speakers, with a little extra in the high frequency part to better utilize the quality of its extraordinary diamond dome tweeter.
So, about the measurement of MultEQ-X, in short, in my small and old apartment, the response is surprisingly flat, almost anechoic chamber level, with the output rarely sloping down as the frequency rises. It also has excellent linearity, even at the main listening position, it will remain within +/-3dB, except for the impact related to the room exceeding the low frequency area of the measurement. Due to the room’s gain, the result of indoor low frequency extension is 24 Hz -10 dB.
At the same time, in the new loft, the measured response is even smoother and more linear, but no matter what the reason is (I think mainly good luck), the -10dB point of the low frequency always falls at 21Hz, the peaks and voids at the top are not so obvious in the small room–this is expected. Please note that this is not “visible low frequency”, but it can be measured, and there is no distortion, making you think that the sound you get is almost inaudible. The scientific principle about low frequency is very clear, the lower the frequency, the higher the audible threshold, the harder it is for the speaker to reproduce.
The biggest insight I got from Audyssey measurement is that this speaker has a good low frequency extension, so they perform very well when combined with a subwoofer. You can choose the crossover frequency that suits you best, any frequency above 40 hertz should be fine, the traditional 80 hertz below has enough room to create a smooth and symmetrical transition to the subwoofer, this is the kind of most reasonable integration you want. Of course, Bowers & Wilkins has high-end subwoofer products to choose from, which can be paired with 805 D4.
In addition, although I use these Bowers & Wilkins as my main left and right speakers, they can of course also be used as surround speakers, and perfectly match with the larger 800 series D4 floor speakers.
Conclusion
Between its outstanding appearance and perfect performance, the 805 D4s attracted me. I fell in love with these speakers, which is something I haven’t experienced with other bookshelf speakers. The quality that produces this effect is inherent. At my level of auditory perception, it has exquisite details, easy playback, and is not affected by coloration, distortion, or compression.
These speakers are a reward for using high-performance equipment, ample amplification, high-quality signal sources, and content. When I say high quality, I’m not just referring to lossless and high-definition sound, but also to meticulously crafted works of art.
Whether it’s discovering the incredible mixing effects and scores in an excellent movie, or the painstaking efforts of audio engineers in creating music in stereo, Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 speakers can provide you with a pleasure that makes you forget your troubles. At this time, even if you open your eyes wide, you can’t see the speakers with your ears, but the sound they create has a kind of authenticity that takes you to another place. Some speakers have never achieved this effect, while others are just fleeting. But the 805 D4s provide this experience 100%, making them the choice of our site editor for the title of high-end bookshelf speakers in 2022.
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