Retrospective: Experience 800 D5: Listening Sessions & Livestream

On November 6, 2026, everything in Rellingen revolved around the new Bowers & Wilkins 800 D5 Series for an entire day. For our 800 D5 event, we set up four listening rooms from scratch – from an introduction to the 700 Series to the flagship 801 D5 in the large high-end room.

The highlight of the day was three moderated sessions at the 801 D5, each with 20 seats, which were booked up very quickly. Even if you didn't get a seat, you didn't have to miss out on anything: All the other studios were freely accessible all day, and our team demonstrated every system there with your music of choice.

The 800 D5 Series in our listening rooms

Our goal was to make Bowers & Wilkins experienceable in its full range. That is why we equipped each studio with its own combination of speakers and electronics:

• Studio 1: 702 S3 and 705 S3 with Roksan and Marantz
• Studio 2: 804 D5 and 805 D5 with Marantz Model 10, AVM and Clearaudio
• Studio 5: 802 D5 with Matrix Audio as well as 803 D5 with McIntosh
• High-end room: 801 D5 on a large McIntosh chain – this is where the moderated sessions took place

Our 800 D5 event on video

Before we take you through the systems studio by studio: In our video, Hajo takes you on a tour through all the rooms – all the way up to the high-end room to Juul and the 801 D5.

Studio 1: The best of the 700 Series

In Studio 1, we started with the best that the 700 Series has to offer. The floorstanding speakers Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 played on the pre-/power amplifier combination of Roksan Caspian 4G Streaming Preamp and Roksan Caspian 4G Power Amplifier.

Next to it stood the strongest compact speaker of the series with the 705 S3, powered by the Marantz Model 60n.

Studio 2: 804 D5 and 805 D5

In Studio 2, it was D5 for the first time. The Bowers & Wilkins 804 D5 in walnut played on the best combination Marantz currently has to offer: the Marantz Model 10 integrated amplifier with the Marantz Link 10n streamer.

On the other side of the room stood the compact speaker 805 D5. Here, the AVM Ovation CS 8.3 S streaming integrated amplifier was used, and for vinyl, a Clearaudio Celebrity "Al Di Meola" Edition was ready.

A real eye-catcher: The AVM played with a Plexiglas cover, so you could look directly into the construction of the amplifier.

And one more thing was important to us here: The atmosphere in the studios was created by our colleagues, who made sure with a lot of passion that every system looks as good as it sounds.

Studio 5: 802 D5 and 803 D5

Studio 5 used to be our high-end room – today it is our small high-end room. Here, two exceptional speakers stood directly opposite each other.

The Bowers & Wilkins 802 D5 played on a Matrix Audio chain: streamer MS-1C, preamp MP-1 and two mono power amplifiers MA-1 in bi-amping mode.

Opposite stood the 803 D5 in walnut on the McIntosh MA8950 integrated amplifier, fed through the McIntosh DS200 streaming DAC.

All the D5 speakers had already been with us for about four to five weeks at this point. One advantage of our building: We can run the speakers through the night – and that is exactly how they were played in for many nights.

The Flagship: 801 D5 in the High-End Room

In the large high-end room on the upper floor stood the flagship of the series: the Bowers & Wilkins 801 D5. It was connected to a large McIntosh chain with the two-part McIntosh C12000 (Controller and Preamp), the McIntosh MCD12000 SACD/CD player and two McIntosh MC611 power amplifiers. Digital input was via the Matrix Audio MS-1.

Presentation with Juul from Sound United

Through the moderated sessions, Juul, Product Trainer at Sound United, the distributor behind Bowers & Wilkins, Marantz and Denon, guided us. Juul flew in especially for our event – landed in the morning, and we got straight to it at noon.

In his presentations, he told the story of the 800 Series and explained what had changed from the D4 to the D5. Visually, little has changed, but inside, even more so: Where wood was previously used, Bowers & Wilkins now uses aluminum. This makes the cabinet even stiffer, which benefits both the bass and the tweeters. You can feel it most of all in the weight – the D5 models are significantly heavier than their predecessors.

Sonically, it was especially striking how calm and relaxed the 801 D5 plays. You can listen for hours without it becoming tiring.

Thank You for a Special Day

From the 705 S3 to the 801 D5, our guests were able to experience the complete range of Bowers & Wilkins on this day – and with completely different electronics from Roksan, Marantz, AVM, Matrix Audio and McIntosh.

By the way: Our high-end cinema is also in operation at every event. If you want to experience music through a very large number of speakers in between, just go in for a few minutes – it almost feels like being live.

Thank you to everyone who visited us in Rellingen or watched the livestream, to our team for the setup, and of course to Sound United and Juul for the support.

We hold such events several times a year. If you want to be there next time, sign up for our newsletter – we will invite you first through that.