Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature Loudspeaker Review

The 800 Series goes from strength to strength. Every five or so years, a new version comes out that ratchets up the performance of an already excellent-sounding range of premium high-end speakers. Between these regular refreshes, Bowers & Wilkins is getting into the habit of introducing special ‘Signature’ versions, which incorporate technology and/or tweaks that are likely to make it into the next generation model.

In this case, we’re looking at the smaller standmounter of the line-up, the 805 D4. The new Signature version costs £11,750, which is £3,000 more than standard, plus £1,350 for the matching stands.

B&W’s ever-erudite spokesman Andy Kerr explains that ‘Signature’ is one of the most illustrious and evocative names in the Bowers & Wilkins canon. “We apply it sparingly,” he tells me, “and only when the product concept we’ve got in mind is appropriate and consistent with the narrative that underpins our Signature models.

Everyone has had their own unique identity, and at the same time, every model has been connected to its predecessor by several common threads – namely, no-holds-barred performance, unique, distinctive beauty, and special-edition exclusivity.”

The idea began with the Silver Signature, launched in 1991. The company’s founder, John Bowers, died from cancer in 1987, and as a tribute to him, the engineering team at the Steyning Research Establishment conceived of a special-edition speaker that would encapsulate all his ideas. “It was everything he stood for in one product”, explains Andy. He continues: 

Essentially, it would be a personal tribute, a loudspeaker imbued with his distinctive signature. Since that original speaker, we have delivered the Signature 30 (1996), the Signature 800 (2001), the Signature Diamond (2006) and today’s Signature 800 models. We also produce Signature versions of two of our 700 Series stereo loudspeakers – the 702 and 705.

The stock 805 D4 is a fairly compact [240x440x363mm, 15.6kg] 2-way bass reflex standmount speaker, which sports Bowers & Wilkins’ latest and greatest Diamond dome tweeter, in standard 25mm guise. This uses the company’s so-called ‘tweeter on top’ design, where it sits in its own chamber that is decoupled from the main cabinet, which houses the mid/bass unit.

The Signature version gets a new grille that not only protects the dome but also improves dispersion and is less acoustically invasive than the standard model. Andy Kerr reckons that it “produces an even freer and open sound”, and exclusively reveals that it will feature in the next generation of 800 Diamond loudspeakers.

B&W’s 165mm Continuum mid/bass unit uses far more inert cone material than older Bowers models, and in the Signature, it gains a revised motor system. “This gives lower distortion”, explains Andy.

We have upgraded the pole on the magnet and increased the size of the vent hole, and the result is lower inductance, reduced current distortion and a cleaner sound.” Further tweaks include an upgraded crossover with additional bypass capacitors; there are four on the board, compared to two on the standard model.

Surely one of the most important changes to the Signature version is to the cabinet. The top plate is now made from aluminium and has holes drilled in it to increase rigidity. Andy tells me: 

The improved mechanical behaviour of the top of the cabinet helps reduce unwanted output from the structure in the critical area in and around the tweeter assembly. This new top plate is more rigidly coupled into the top of the wooden loudspeaker cabinet, using additional fixings relative to a standard speaker. 

The most obvious change is a choice of lavish new finishes. “Signature products have always had that special touch that marks them out from our regular products,” says Andy, going all the way back to the Silver Signature. We think the California Burl Gloss finish we offer is a good modern interpretation of the highly figured wood finish of the 1991 original. The Midnight Blue Metallic, with its colour-matched blue Leather by Connolly, has been deliberately chosen as a distinct alternative to the more traditional wooden look.

The metallic paint here is derived from our Nautilus loudspeaker – and there are eleven coats of it on each cabinet.” The result is a beautifully presented loudspeaker, with a superlative finish that’s better to my eye than any automotive paint. By the way, if you want a deep dive into B&W’s overall speaker design philosophy,.Read the Bowers & Wilkins 700 S3 Series design feature

The 805 D4 Signature retains the measured performance of the standard version, which means a quoted frequency response of 42Hz to 28kHz (-3dB), a sensitivity of 88dB and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, going down to a minimum of 4.6 ohms. All of this is very good for a speaker of this modest size. Bowers specifies an amplifier power range of 50W to 120W, which is fair enough.

In my experience, all 800 Series speakers like lots of watts, and a sinewy amplifier that’s great at current drive. For the purposes of this review, I used my Sony TA-E86/TA-N86 pre/power amp combination, fed by a Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 and a variety of digital sources.

THE LISTENING

The large, floorstanding models in B&W’s 800 D4 range are quite a thing to hear, not least because of their physicality and scale of the sound. Yet obviously when you go down to 805 size, you’re always going to lose some of that. It ain’t necessarily a bad thing, though, because the 805 works way better in small-to-medium-sized listening rooms, as it’s less likely to boom.

Also, the 805 D4 dissolves into the room extremely well, and with the new Signature version, this is even more apparent.Regardless of the sound level that you listen to, the 805 D4 Signature performs a highly accomplished disappearing act, with no small thanks to its highly rigid and well-damped cabinet. There’s no boom or drone from the speaker, and this, in turn, lets the drive units do their job properly.

Having previously reviewed the stock 805 D4, I’d say the Signature is a noticeable step up in the ‘musicality’ stakes, Yes, I know it’s a hackneyed phrase, but just as the 801 D4 Signature somehow sounds livelier and more engaging than the stock version, so too does the 805 D4 Signature.

Cue up the moody indie rock of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ mid-nineteen-eighties Swimming Horses, and this speaker sounds fast, dynamic and impactful. It’s great at reproducing the dramatic transients of the piano work that add so much force to the song. At the same time, the B&W is transparent enough to hear all the other accompanying instruments and the way the musicians play these together so tightly in time.

Drum work is super fast and crisp, while the cymbals have a crystalline purity to them. The vocal line has a lovely, breathy quality, and you can hear the edgy and fragile quality of Siouxsie’s voice without the veil that so often accompanies it.

Move to the glorious disco strains of Chic’s My Forbidden Lover from the late seventies, and again the result is spectacular. This is one of those recordings that keeps getting better and better, the more your system improves. The 805 D4 Signature shows sublime detail resolution here – the recording is laid bare before you, with a grippingly tight and percussive bass guitar sound, and deliciously scratchy and fast rhythm guitar work.

The strings, carefully set behind these instruments, have gloriously accurate timbre, while the drum work punches the track along with gusto. The B&W’s excellent insight and superb soundstaging make this an enthralling listen – one that sounds just a wee bit more workmanlike on the non-Signature version of this speaker.

This combination of tonal purity, detail retrieval, timing and soundstaging unlocks pretty much any recording with ease, regardless of genre. My favourite Deutsche Grammophon pressing of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic) is a riveting listen through this speaker. Okay, it lacks the scale of the 803, 802 or 801 but still manages to disappear into my listening room and throw out a super-wide recorded acoustic that stretches back further than my rear boundary wall.

It’s a clever trick that only seriously accomplished loudspeakers manage. Yet for all its hi-fi competencies, the most impressive thing about the 805 D4 Signature is how it handles the rhythmic flow of the music. The Pastoral Symphony lilts along with effortless ease, allied to a great sense of purpose.

There are no bad aspects of the 805 D4 Signature’s character that I can discern. Its downsides – if you can call them that – are largely a function of its relatively compact size. For example, bass doesn’t go as earthshakingly low as the higher models up the 800 D4 range, and it lacks the immense midband insight and overall dynamics of the larger, 3-way designs.

Some might also bemoan the absence of a ribbon tweeter at this price, yet the 800 Series D4 treble unit is one of the finest domes that I have heard.For example, it’s highly effective at carrying the biting cymbal work of the crashing finale of The Cinema Show by Genesis.It approaches the delicacy of a ribbon or planar magnetic type, but doesn’t airbrush the sound of a hard-struck hi-hat like the former can.

I’d say that it’s just a little ‘well lit’ in the upper regions, but it is never harsh, not even with this pretty dry and bright classic rock recording.The skill of this new model is its all-round performance relative to its modest size, then. The 805 D4 Signature is not, unlike some similarly priced, high-end speakers, a master at one thing yet found wanting at others.

You can play a modern wide-bandwidth techno recording, such as Manix’s Too Strong for So Long, and it covers all the bases extremely well indeed for its size.Bass isn’t the most extended, but it is crisp and taut, without a hint of overhang, and never muddles things further up.

That means the hi-hat cymbal and rim shot-dominated percussion work stays locked on target despite solid chunks of low frequencies issuing forth from the speaker’s compact mid/bass units. Everything stays in control, with no histrionics or tantrums even at seriously high levels.

THE VERDICT

The new Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature is a superb-sounding standmount speaker, but at this price, frankly, it needs to be. Competition is very stiff, with arguably the closest rival being the excellent Magico A1 with its aluminium cabinet and beryllium tweeter. That’s the problem for the B&W; it’s up against really serious stuff. All the same, this new version really is good enough to be first among equals in the esoteric standmounter segment of the market.

It’s the best all-rounder, being highly agnostic about the type of music it plays, and great fun when playing anything.I feel that the Signature mods give the standard 805 D4 a useful little fillip, one that notches it up to an even higher level. As ever with loudspeakers, it’s down to taste – but this is an essential audition if you’re lucky enough to be contemplating buying a compact high-end design.

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