B&W revamps its flagship floorstanding speaker, demands your annual salary

Expensive kit is nothing new for audiophiles. But it takes serious sonic commitment to shell out the average annual salary on a set of speakers. Styled like a Dalek’s Art Deco cousin, the B&W 801 D4 (£30,000) will do plenty to exterminate your bank balance. But that expenditure does bag you some properly premium components: instead of the familiar fabric rings which support the cones in most speaker systems, the 801 D4 deploys a minimalist composite frame to eliminate unpredictable air movements. You also get an all-aluminium Turbine Head, steel base plate and solid aluminium plinth for extreme stiffness and damping. Too much metal for your coin? The updated 800 series features a range of floorstanding and stand-mounted units, with something for every budget. Provided your budget starts at £4750.

Chris Rowlands Freelance contributor

About

Formerly News Editor at this fine institution, Chris now writes about tech from his tropical office. Sidetracked by sustainable stuff, he’s also keen on coffee kit, classic cars and any gear that gets better with age.

Areas of expertise

Cameras, gear and travel tech