Bowers & Wilkins 803 D4
Floor-standing speaker
Their most compact headed model brings all the technical advantages of a dedicated mid-range enclosure – the Turbine™ Head, with its decoupled midrange cone – to a smaller footprint that’s easily accommodated in any home.
Small wonder
Bowers & Wilkins 803 D4 may be notably more compact than the 801 D4 or 802 D4, but it still bristles with technical innovation, most obviously in its use of a three-box construction.
Its 130mm (5in) midrange cone is carefully isolated from the impact of its bass cones thanks to its Turbine Head enclosure.
Reverse Wrap cabinet
Instead of a conventional loudspeaker box, their cabinets are made from a continuous curved section of wood, with the drive units mounted at the heart of the curvature.
This stiffer, more inert structure resists mechanical resonances far better and also ensures better dispersion of sound.
Enhanced Matrix™
Matrix bracing uses interlocking panels to reinforce loudspeaker cabinet walls in all directions internally, reducing resonance and creating a more believable soundstage.
The Matrix assembly in Bowers & Wilkins 803 D4 is their best yet, ensuring optimum scale, power and intelligibility.
Aluminium bass pods
803 D4 mounts two Aerofoil™ bass cones in twin solid aluminium bass pods, each of which is clamped into an aluminium plate fixed to the stiffest part of its curved cabinet.
Formed as single pieces of metal, these stiff structures provide the perfect mechanical location for those powerful bass cones
Biomimetic Suspension
Sometimes, making a big difference takes unconventional thinking.
For decades, they thought nothing could improve on the sound of their famous yellow Aramid Fibre midrange cones, but eventually their ContinuumTM cone technology changed our minds.
Now, they have turned their attention to another crucial element in a loudspeaker cone: the fabric spider.
The all-new Biomimetic Suspension revolutionises midrange cone performance by greatly reducing the unwanted air pressure and coloration that a conventional fabric spider can generate.
The result? Midrange transparency you wouldn’t believe possible.
Decoupled midrange
Every 800 Series Diamond loudspeaker apart from the standmount 805 D4 has a dedicated midrange cone using several proprietary Bowers & Wilkins technologies: the Continuum FST cone, Biomimetic Suspension and midrange decoupling, the latter ensuring minimal interference from the operation of the loudspeaker’s bass units.
The science of sound
Innovation is at the heart of everything they do.
They question, they examine, they understand and then they evolve.
They use computer modelling to explore and reimagine every aspect of loudspeaker design. Learn more about all the technologies that combine to make 800 Series Diamond™ so special here
Step up for more power
Bowers & Wilkins 803 D4 features all the most iconic ingredients in the 800 Series Diamond range including, of course, that famous headed enclosure.
It is, however, smaller than its other siblings.
Step up to the 802 D4, and you’ll get both larger 200mm (8in) bass cones and a larger 150mm (6in) midrange driver.
Specifications Bowers & Wilkins 803 D4
Technical features
Diamond tweeter
Solid body Tweeter-on-Top
Continuum™ cone FST
Anti-Resonance plug
Biomimetic Suspension
Turbine™ Head
Matrix™
Aerofoil™ cone bass units
Flowport
Description
3-way vented-box system
Drive units
1x ø25mm (1in) diamond dome high-frequency
1x ø130mm (5in) Continuum cone FST midrange
2x ø180mm (7in) Aerofoil cone bass units
Frequency range
16Hz to 35kHz
Frequency response
19Hz to 28kHz (+/-3dB from reference axis)
Sensitivity
90dB (on axis at 2.83Vrms at 1m)
Harmonic distortion
2nd and 3rd harmonics (90dB,1m on axis)
<1% 80Hz – 20kHz
<0.3% 100Hz – 20kHz
Nominal impedance
8Ω (minimum 3.0Ω)
Recommended amplifier power
50W – 500W into 8Ω on unclipped programme
Max. recommended cable impedance
0.1Ω
Dimensions
Height: 1165mm
Width: 357mm
Depth: 511mm
Net weight
62.15kg
Finishes
Cabinet:
Gloss Black
White
Satin Rosenut
Satin Walnut
Grille:
Black
Grey
Black
Grey
