I wouldn't either. After spending $ thousands to develop them, who would buy them and how many would they sell. Talk about diminishing returns. They would lose a lot of money and destroy their overall profitability.
Why hasn’t B&W ever entered the ultra hi-end for speakers?
Being one of the biggest speaker manufacturers in the world and arguably some of best sounding, they have never gone past their 800 series and produced anything beyond that point. Don’t get me wrong, $30k ( 800 D3 ) is expensive and most people wouldn’t be able to afford to pay that much for a pr of speakers even if they wanted to, but in today’s market that really isn’t considered ultra hi-end considering some speakers now days cost close to a million and many in the $50-200k range. You would think with the knowledge they have and for the years they have been around they would go the distance and build
beyond the 800 series?
beyond the 800 series?
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@mtdining "
Hifi companies break down into two distinct groups - those who invest primarily in marketing like B&W and those who invest primarily in R&D like Wilson Audio. Wilson has sold far more speakers than all the others combined because they make superior products." This is one of the most false statements I have read in a long time. However, I'm open to being proven wrong so if you have credible data to support these claims please provide it. It is inconceivable that Wilson sells more speakers than B&W. I suppose it's possible that their gross sales are higher than B&W because their speakers are so expensive but I seriously doubt it. Again, please provide independent sales figures if you're going to make these claims. It's almost just as inconceivable that Wilson's R&D budget is larger than B&W's. B&W has a history of developing new technologies on a huge number of speaker models but again, if you can provide data to support your claim, please do so. Regarding the OP, my guess is that B&W has made a marketing decision to not compete in the megabuck speaker market. First and foremost they have to think about their dealers and whether or not a six figure product would fit in with their retail model. It's also an issue of branding. B&W has always stood for high performance/high value. Ultra high end gear requires a different level of customer and dealer service and companies like Wilson have set a very high standard. I've heard several of the top end B&W speakers and I've also heard 4 Wilson models, all of which cost multiples of the 800 D3. I don't happen to like the sound of the big Wilsons but the top B&W's would definitely be on my short list. It's a matter of taste. But both companies have been successful by optimizing their own business models and they both deserve credit. |
A while ago a serious survey was done by audiophile editors and other groups of audiophiles to find the 25 Best Expensive Audiophile Speakers of All Time irrespective of price! The 25 Ultimate Audiophile Speakers of All Time - survey is at: https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile/the-25-ultimate-audiophile-speakers-of-all-time.html (Click Small arrow next to the photo to scroll through the list.) They created five weighted categories to judge speakers including: - Performance 100 total points max - Longevity/Relevance 25 points max - Value 25 points max - Aesthetics 25 points max - Lust Factor 25 points max -----Total of 200 points maximum
The top 5 on the list came as follows: #1 Wilson Audio WATT Puppy Sasha W/P
($26,950/pair) #2 Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond ($24,000/pair) #3 JM Labs - Focal Grand Utopia ($180,000/pair) #4 Wilson Audio Alexandria/Grand SLAMM ($158,000/pair) #5 Wilson Audio MAXX ($68,000/pair) B&W 800 Diamond model came 2nd and only a few points behind the 1st in the list. Interestingly B&W 800D2 was ahead of many other speakers several times its price. It is not surprising that B&W 800Diamond virtues are appreciated by many recording studios in the world. From B&W point of view, Where do you go if you are already producing one of the best speakers in the world!! Bowers and Wilkins Nautilus was also in the list at number 10! #10 - Bowers and Wilkins Nautilus - $60,000/pair |
Back when B&W was actually Bowers and Wilkins, it was a company to be taken seriously. The first decent speakers that I owned for a while were DM1800's. These days it's changed hands so many times and chased so many bandwagons, that it only remains relevant thanks to its iron grip on a huge distribution network. |
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