The Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series has existed since 1979. The diamond tweeter arrived in 2005, with the first generation of the 800 Series Diamond. The D5, unveiled in Vienna at the beginning of June, is the fifth generation of that lineage — and arrives in the brand’s 60th year, founded in 1966 by John Bowers in a radio shop in Worthing, Sussex.
This is a serious product. I heard the 801 D4 Signature at a demonstration with top of the line Accuphase amplification and a Clearaudio/Ikeda analogue source — and what happened in that room leaves no doubt about this speaker’s level. The 800 Series earns its status every day, not just on spec sheets. The Nautilus remains one of the most singular works of acoustic engineering ever conceived. Abbey Road Studios has used B&W 800 series speakers for decades. These are not marketing claims. They are verifiable facts.
The press release I received yesterday to announce the new D5 series celebrates Worthing, celebrates John Bowers, celebrates the philosophy of “True Sound.” It does not mention Harman. It does not mention Samsung. And it didn’t have to.
But the timeline is short and dense. In 2020, Sound United acquires B&W. In 2022, Sound United is acquired by Masimo — a company known primarily for medical monitoring devices — for around one billion dollars. In May 2025, Harman, (wholly-owned by Samsung), announces the purchase of Sound United from Masimo for $350 million. 3 years, $650 million gone.
B&W is not the worst example of what corporate management can do to an iconic brand. It may be one of the most benign current examples of that. But it sits in the same group as Marantz — a brand with a historically well-defined sonic identity, today questioned by some of its own long-standing devotees. And it sits in the same group as AKG: when Harman closed the Vienna headquarters in 2017, the engineering team that left went on to found Austrian Audio. The brand still exists. The engineering that defined it went elsewhere.
Harman has declared its intention to preserve the identities of the acquired brands. Operational autonomy, teams retained, DNA respected. This is precisely what is always said. The industry’s track record with such declarations is, to put it delicately, uneven.
For now, the 800 Series holds. The D5 was developed in Worthing by the same team. The Southwater Research Establishment continues its work. What arrives in September will probably be excellent. The issue isn’t the D5. It is what happens when the pressure of portfolio integration, inevitable in any corporate structure of this scale, begins making choices that an independent brand never would.
Sixty years of Bowers & Wilkins. What’s next?
The D5 arrives in September. Let’s listen then.