ESSENTIAL SPEAKER SUPPLEMENT
AWE’s New Reference Home Cinema
A MOMENT OF CLARITY WITH BOWERS & WILKINS CI Bowers & Wilkins CI800 install loudspeakers bring the best of the brand’s premium residential technology and performance to CI. Experienced AV journalist and reviewer Richard Stevenson heads to AWE’s flagship Reference Home Cinema to find out. I had clearly missed Bowers & Wilkins CI products in the past. I assumed that, like many brands known primarily for their audiophile loudspeakers, there were some basic install units in the catalogue to tick the boxes. “Not so,” said AWE’s Stuart Tickle, while struggling to bring his raised eyebrow back down to earth. “Pop up to see our new cinema demroom with the latest Bowers & Wilkins CI800 Reference Series models.” So I did. But not before a little research. The Reference speakers in question are Bowers & Wilkins CI800 Series Diamond range. Coming hot on the terminals of the brand’s recent 800 ‘Diamond’ D4 residential range launch, each model in the CI range offers the same technology, tuning and performance as a residential counterpart. Thus, the flagship CWM8.3 D shares the DNA of the mighty 803 floorstander, while the CWM8.5 D and CCM8.5 in-ceiling models have a spiritual partner in the 805 standmount loudspeaker. That DNA covers the very same array of drive units, including the famous Diamond Dome tweeters, Continuum midrange drive units and
04 SPEAKER SUPPLEMENT 2022
Aerofoil bass drivers. The tech behind these drivers has been in continuous development since inception, (that’s nearly two decades for the Diamond tweeter!) and has helped Bowers & Wilkins scoop a mighty collection of awards and accolades from the press along the way. As something of a landmark moment, the CI800 range marks the first time the Diamond tweeter has been incorporated in an install loudspeaker. The Diamond design uses an exceptionally stiff and light tweeter diaphragm that delivers a ruler-flat frequency response out to 35kHz with vanishingly low distortion. The Continuum midrange cone has been evolving for the best part of a decade in its own right and gets a rather fetching and cinemafriendly dark finish for the CI800 Series. The Aerofoil bass driver will need no introduction to anyone with an ear to the Hi-Fi industry. Its innovative carbon/foam construction established new benchmarks for cone stiffness and pure pistonic behaviour through the lower end of the audio spectrum. For the flagship CWM8.3 D in-wall, that driver compliment covers a decoupled Diamond dome tweeter, a 5in Continuum midrange drive unit and two 7in Aerofoil low-frequency drivers. No surprise then that the spec-sheet reads much like its audiophile counterpart too, with bass response down to 30Hz, 89dB/Watt efficiency and smooth frequency response out to 35kHz.
The central baffle with the Diamond tweeter and Continuum midrange is rotatable, so CWM8.3 D can be used in either vertical or horizontal position while keeping the tweeter and midrange dispersion pattern in the same plane. The smaller CWM8.5 D is a two-way in-wall speaker designed to deliver top-end performance in a more compact format when space or budget are imposing limits. This speaker, and its partner CCM8.5 D in-ceiling model, feature a decoupled Diamond dome tweeter and a single 7in bass/ mid Continuum driver. For the in-ceiling models, both driver units are located on a continuously rotatable baffle allowing for precise directivity or toe-in depending on the installation.
800 Series Diamond Dome Tweeter
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