Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond D3 - Aerofoil Woofer

  The current new edition of the 800 Series represents the most extensive overhaul of Bowers & Wilkins' reference line to date. The combination of diamond tweeter and the new Continuum membranes in the midrange drivers achieves a sound quality in these frequency ranges that previously seemed impossible. It's no surprise, then, that the woofers of this successful loudspeaker series have also been completely redesigned to keep up with the other drivers.

The requirements for a woofer driver are actually quite simple—in theory. The cone should be as light and as stiff as possible to deliver dynamic and controlled bass. In practice, of course, this always means making more or less significant compromises: a particularly light membrane is usually not very stiff, while a stable but heavy material consumes too much energy and is not dynamic enough.

With the new Aerofoil drivers of the 800 Diamond D3 Series, the engineers at B&W have pushed the boundaries in this area quite a bit. Through elaborate computer simulations, the use of a new material combination, and the development of new manufacturing methods, they have managed to achieve an almost perfect compromise.   The trick is actually quite simple, once you’ve thought of it. As already done with the Rohacell drivers used since 2003, B&W continues to rely on a sandwich membrane in the bass range, but with a new material mix. Above all, however, the cross-section of the membrane was changed. The Rohacell membranes had a continuous cross-section, meaning they were equally thick everywhere. But to give a membrane the necessary stiffness, it doesn’t have to be equally stable throughout. It is sufficient to reinforce it only where it is really needed. And this is precisely the approach the British developers have taken with the Aerofoil technology, developing a sandwich membrane whose thickness changes continuously across its cross-section. Thus, it is stable exactly where it needs to be, but doesn’t waste material in other places, thereby saving weight. The result is a woofer membrane that is both lighter and stiffer than the technology used previously. But what sounds so simple here is actually the result of years of development, as the optimal shape of the new Aerofoil membrane could only be determined through elaborate and highly precise computer simulations.

Along with the improvements made to the enclosures, the Aerofoil woofers give the loudspeakers of the 800 Diamond D3 Series a calm, precise, and, when needed, incredibly powerful bass reproduction that will set new standards in the premium segment. More information about the Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond D3 Series is available at the Auditorium website.