Set-up, Review, B&w 802d loudspeaker – Bowers & Wilkins 802D User Manual

Page 3: Verdict, Detail

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Review

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B&W 802D loudspeaker

Hoy, previously obscure lyrics were magically
revealed. At the same time, massive reserves of
headroom are on tap here, and the sound stays
clean, together and exciting even as you wind
the amp up towards clipping levels.

The speaker’s dynamic range is impressively

wide, and its imaging precise and stable,
though the wide dispersion means you hear
much of the room signature, at some expense in
ultimate focus precision. The cleverest trick of all
is the way these speakers make even the most
unfamiliar and difficult material sound
interesting – a weird improvisational avantgarde
jazz violin duet by Mark Feldman and Graham
Clark, discovered by accident on Radio 3’s
Mixing It, proved unexpectedly engrossing.

Don’t be fooled by the new 800 Series

speakers looking like their predecessors. The
improvement in dynamics and timing is
prodigious, to the point where this 802D
sounds significantly better than even the
mighty Nautilus 800 from the earlier range.
Once again, B&W has moved the goalposts, and
I can’t wait to try the top 800D model.

HFC

Paul Messenger

distinctive characters of the different source

technologies. Indeed, these differences seemed
emphasised, which is a tribute to the speaker’s
power of analysis. For example, it doesn’t
disguise the limitations of stereo or surround TV
sound, but the unexpected roar of a lion during
a wildlife programme was positively frightening!

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the most

neutral speaker on the planet. As the in-room
measurements confirm, the low bass is a little
too strong, the upper mid a shade prominent,
and the presence zone is a bit shy. These factors
do impose a measure of character on the sound,
but the transitions are smooth and gradual.
Ultimately, this has less significance than the
excellent dynamics and taut time-coherence.

Despite the presence dip, and unlike the

previous Nautilus generation, the 802D avoids
sounding shut in, and actually maintains fine
intelligibility even at whisper-quiet levels. On
long-familiar material, like Little Feat’s Hoy

SOUND

96%

EASE OF DRIVE

80%

BUILD

95%

VALUE

89%

PRO

Full-bandwidth sound with
massive dynamic range,
notably sweet treble, superb
timing and vibrant dynamic
expression. Can make any
music sound interesting.

CON

A bulky and costly
loudspeaker. Bass is a little
heavy, upper mid a little
strong, and presence zone
slightly weak.

CONCLUSION

These can dramatically increase your enjoyment of hi-fi and
music. Great timing, superior dynamics and a sweet top end
come together to enhance musical communication, even
making the unfamiliar more readily accessible.

OVERALL SCORE

93%

VERDICT

SET-UP

POSITIONING
This speaker is undoubtedly intended for free space
siting. Even in a room that’s quite large by UK
standards (4.3x2.6x5.5m), there’s rather too much
low bass (20-60Hz), though the overall balance
seemed subjectively quite satisfactory. On our
far-field in-room averaged measure, a slightly ‘three
humped’ character may be seen in the frequency
balance. There’s some leanness through the lower
midband, 150-350Hz, a slight excess in the upper
mid (400-900Hz), and a quite obvious depression
through the presence zone (2-4kHz). All these
trends will add a measure of character to the
sound, though the transitions are invariably smooth
and gentle, and the trace falls within quite
respectable limits above 60Hz.

The bass enclosure’s Flowport is tuned to a very

low 25Hz, though it adds extra bass output right
up to 95Hz, and blocking the ports (with some
difficulty because of limited clearance between
enclosure and plinth) did not seem to offer a
subjective improvement. It would be worth
experimenting with this, if the speakers have to be
sited close to a wall. Frankly, though, this would be
too great a compromise. Wall proximity will
exaggerate the effects of the wide dispersion mid
and treble drivers used here, creating relatively
strong reflection coloration.

SYSTEM MATCHING
Although slightly kinder than the loads presented
by some of the Nautilus models, the impedance of
this 802D is still decidedly low, its nominal
four-ohm load falling to three ohms around
80-100Hz, and dipping again at around 600Hz.
The load averages four ohms throughout much of
the bass and midrange, from 60-800Hz, where
peaks in program material will be quite common.

Although such a load will theoretically make

fairly heavy current demands on the driving
amplifier, in practice these will be substantially
mitigated by a generous sensitivity of around
91dB, so these speakers will go significantly
louder than average for the same voltage (or
volume control setting), so the volume can be
turned down for the same loudness. In actual
power terms, the 802D therefore has an efficiency
similar to an eight-ohm speaker of average
sensitivity, and should work well with any ‘normal’
high-quality amplifier.

1.5m

3-4m

Detail

Twin bass
drivers have
200mm cast
chassis and
Rohacell cones

Surroundless
Kevlar-cone
FST midrange
driver

Bass
enclosure has
continuously
curved back.
Port in base

Separate
‘teardrop’
Marlan
midrange
module

Solid alloy
plinth with
generous
footprint
houses
crossover

5cm

37cm

Diamond diaphragm tweeter in
separate tube-loaded module

Twin terminal
pairs

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2/6/05 7:44:07 pm