Bowers & Wilkins has just announced its all-new flagship 800 Series Diamond speaker range to celebrate 60 years of the iconic British brand.
The fifth generation of the established 800 Series of loudspeakers once again incorporates B&W's iconic Diamond Dome tweeter, and features seven new models, including the two-way 805 D5 standmounter and a trio of three-way floorstanding models: the the 804 D5, 803 D5, and 802 D5.
And the good news is, we've already heard them. We're on the ground at High End Vienna so we took B&W up on the offer of some listening time with the range-topping 801 D5 (£43,000 / $65,000 / €50,000).
We'll get a chance to have an even more in-depth listen in due course, but a pair of flagship Bowers & Wilkins speakers don't tend to come around too often, so we were eager to take this first opportunity.
First, the usual caveats. It wasn't the longest demo we'll ever be given – around 45 minutes – and demo rooms at hi-fi shows are rarely conducive to giving the best sound possible, especially when you're competing with below par acoustics and the sound of a few thousand hi-fi enthusiasts trying to get their bearings.
With all that said and done – the signs are positive.
It's taken around five years for B&W to bake its latest speakers in the proverbial oven, but as we get our demo underway, the promise of enhanced resolution and forensic levels of detail look set to be proved true.
B&W has promised a more "even-handed" and "generous" character without any loss of resolution from the 801 D5, and when coupled with a system which includes Mark Levinson's 626 preamp and 632 power amp, plus a high-end Innuos Nazaré music streamer, our demo speakers are ready to show some of their clear capabilities.
Odetta's Hit or Miss is our aperitif, with cascading opening drums sounding three-dimensional and authentic before that soulful central performance is given ample room in the spotlight.
We're sitting slightly off-centre, so it's hard to judge just how well the 801 D5 speakers assemble each musical element, but the impression we get is of speakers with a knack for putting music together in a neat, precise and cinematic manner.
We're also promised solid, integrated bass, something that B&W showcases with Eric Clapton's After Midnight and Thom Yorke's Black Swan.
There's ample power and authority to the lower end reproduction across both tracks, with strong evidence of a bass that, in B&W's words, blends "scale and integrity".
We're certainly keen to let the B&W 801 D5 loose in a larger, more conditioned room where the speakers have greater space to blossom and breathe, but regardless, there are strong hints at serious talent here.
Antigravity by Sohn finishes off our session, letting the B&W towers further showcase their dynamic abilities.
Flagship floorstanding speakers such as these should be able to tackle small scale shifts alongside those big dynamic swings, a balance the 801 D5 seem to manage as various instruments scatter and tumble all around.
We'll reserve any concrete judgements until we've had far more time to really dig into the 801 D5 and discover the bounds of their talents.
Initial signs point to a powerful, vivid and impressively detailed pair of flagship floorstanders, even if it's hard to escape the limitations of the listening space working against them.
Once we have a chance to get the speakers into a space where they can really shine, we'll be in a better position to see whether B&W has added a genuine classic to its long-running Diamond line-up.
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