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Bowers & Wilkins 805S Bookshelf Speaker Review

Steve Dallas

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I bought a pair of Nautilus 805s in 2000 and still have them. I remember sauntering into a hifi store with a friend, so he could hear my awesome speakers. When the display 805s started playing, my heart sank. I looked at the back plate. Model 805S. At that moment, I knew B&W had taken a very wrong turn and may be lost in the wilderness for a long time. After hearing some new B&Ws, I'd say there are still wandering aimlessly. It's too bad.
 

Newman

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This is a great point. On my Nautilus 804 owners manual they specifically state: "Aim the speakers straight ahead, do not toe-in". This would tend to lower the hot treble while simultaneously widening the dispersion.

Suggests to me that not only is the axial output flawed, but beamy off-axis too.
 

tuga

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Suggests to me that not only is the axial output flawed, but beamy off-axis too.

To be fair most speakers are.

Speakers designed for use with no toe-in produce an up-tilting treble on-axis and the designers count on the increasingly beaming nature of tweeters to even-out the response at the listening spot.
This is the Dali Rubicon 8. In the horizontal dispersion plot the cursor (+) is at 45° and the speaker response is flat to around 15kHz.

315DAR8fig04.jpg

315DAR8fig06.jpg

https://www.stereophile.com/content/dali-rubicon-8-loudspeaker-measurements
 
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renevoorburg

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@amirm tested with the magnetic grill of the tweeter removed. B&W recommends to keep it on, for better dispersion (at least that is what the 805N manual states).
 

pierre

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2cols_large.png


Here is a larger brother the Nautilus 802N. Data is from Harmann Gen 2.
Score improved significantly and with some light EQ this one will be good. Bass output looks great.
 

MZKM

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@amirm tested with the magnetic grill of the tweeter removed. B&W recommends to keep it on, for better dispersion (at least that is what the 805N manual states).
Here is what the 805S manual states:
The tweeter grilles are held in place with magnetism and any mishandling of the grille close to the tweeter may result in the grille being attracted into the tweeter diaphragm. For these reasons, we recommend that you leave tweeter grilles in place.


Here is what the manual for the Nautilus 805 states:
The tweeter is very delicate and its grille should be left in position for protection. For this reason the grille retaining ring is designed to provide the optimum acoustic environment for the unit and the response is less smooth with the grille removed.

I checked others, like the 805 Diamond, they all state a similar thing.
 

renevoorburg

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I checked others, like the 805 Diamond, they all state a similar thing.

You mean, similar to what the Nautilus manual says “less smooth response with the grill removed” or what the S manual says (nothing about the smoothness - i.e. dispersion? )?

The Nautilus has a crossover at 3 kHz, the S at 4 kHz (says amirm), would that explain that from the S on, smoothness is not an issue? Just guessing..
 
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OP
amirm

amirm

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@amirm tested with the magnetic grill of the tweeter removed. B&W recommends to keep it on, for better dispersion (at least that is what the 805N manual states).
No. I did not touch the tweeter. I removed the grill over woofer.
 
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amirm

amirm

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You said magnetic grille was left off, and it looks like the woofer grille uses pegs.

Did you mean “left on”?
Ah, that was a cut and paste from previous review. :) I corrected it. Once again, I did not touch the tweeter or its grill. It is as you see it in the picture. I only removed the main grill over the woofer with mechanical pegs.
 

Thomas savage

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Ah, that was a cut and paste from previous review. :) I corrected it. Once again, I did not touch the tweeter or its grill. It is as you see it in the picture. I only removed the main grill over the woofer with mechanical pegs.
This must be like being back at Microsoft and being cross examined by European bureaucrats ha ha
 

Maiky76

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Hi,

Back from a break, here is my take on the EQ.
Score with no EQ: 4.46
These speakers were highly rated back in the days but I always thought they were following some type of loudness compensation, "physio" in French vernacular. Now I know why.
BW 805s no EQ Spinorama.png

The Vertical directivity is very narrow and not well controlled better seat at the exact height of the tweeter, far less critical on the horizontal plan :
BW 805s 2D surface Directivity Contour Only Data.png

The vertical 3D plot is quite telling:
BW 805s 3D surface Vertical Directivity Data.png



EQ design, 6dB boost in the high Mids and LF, caution applies when listening at high SPL to avoid damaging the speaker.
Score: 5.91not great.
Code:
Type    Freq       Gain      Q  
PEQ      56.0,     2.60,   1.05,...
PEQ     368.0,     0.69,   2.78,...
PEQ     678.0,    -0.76,   3.25,...
PEQ    2515.0,     4.70,   1.32...
PEQ    3741.0,    -2.42,   6.88,...
PEQ    2843.0,     1.43,   8.46,...
PEQ    4379.0,     1.29,   2.29,...
PEQ    9312.0,    -0.34,   2.28,...

BW 805s EQ Design.png

EQed Spinorama
BW 805s EQed Spinorama.png

It is possible to partially compensate for the 1070Hz trough (+3dB, Q=7 Score 6.45) but I wouldn't advocate it as it looks like an interference mostly present in the vertical plan, really not straight forward.
BW 805s EQed+ Spinorama.png


Zoom of PIR - LW - ON
BW 805s Zoom PIR-LW-ON.png

Regression - Tonal, much flatter
BW 805s Radar Regression Tonal.png

Radar plot comparing the EQ and the bare speaker, interesting gains:
BW 805s Radar EQ vs No EQ.png

The rest of the data is attached.
 

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  • BW 805s 3D surface Horizontal Directivity Data.png
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  • BW 805s Normalized Directivity data.png
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  • BW 805s Raw Directivity data.png
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  • BW 805s Reflexion data.png
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  • BW 805s LW data.png
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Darwin

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The brand new 60X series have a better crossover, so I would like to see that measured to see if they now go for objectively good measurements.

I have the 25th anniversary 606 that just came out. Love them. More than my Revel M16’s. They are a little clearer with more detail. Even worse for the cool kids on Internet forums I got them at Best Buy.
 
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tuga

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I would have thought that What Hi-Fi? was mostly read by audiophile newbies and regular consumers, hence the star rating.

Not that I would recommend any magazine but WHF? is for particularly undemanding buyers...
 

fred_64538

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The B&W's 800 series speakers may not be rarest or most acoustically pristine.
But, I must admit they are beautiful objects.
They are a Porsche 911. Their success has made them vulgar.
 
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