Bowers & Wilkins DB1

Bowers and Wilkins DB1 review

Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond Series loudspeakers deserve to be partnered with an equally high-end woofer. Which is why the Brit brand designed the DB1 – a 2 x 12-inch driver behemoth fed by a 1,000W amp. The enclosure is sealed and sits upon a square plinth that houses the DSP system. If you turn the woofer over, you find you can disconnect some bolts, swivel the base through 90? and thus change the alignment of the woofer drivers with your room (you might want to go along a wall), while still keeping the display of the subwoofer showing. Neat. B&W supplies a lovely set of bits with the DB1. For a start, there's a soundcard dongle for a laptop, then a microphone on a gooseneck and wires to connect them. Owners should use this. I can attest that, while the sub sounds fabulous un-tuned, (I tried it that way for a while) what happens when it has run the test tones is wonderful. Fully room-applied equalisation, with response down as low as a snake's belly, results in tight, taut control and astonishing hi-fi-like experiences from a good source. Chopin on fire As well as the movie selections that I played with, one of the most amazing and revelatory demos in a very long career was a Chopin piano piece in stereo, recorded in a church.