How much would you pay for a tour of Abbey Road Studios? That’s the hidden question behind the $70,000 price tag for Bowers & Wilkins’ 801 D4 Signature Abbey Road Limited Edition loudspeakers. Sonically identical to the standard 801 D4 Signature, the Abbey Road model is a cosmetic variant—limited in production, not performance. Only 150 pairs are being made, with 70 allocated to the U.S.

I attended what was billed as the second-ever public demo of these speakers at World Wide Stereo in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania. It’s a fitting venue—WWS has multiple private listening rooms and a spacious common area, ideal for events like this. Three pairs of the Abbey Road edition 801s are available through World Wide Stereo.

The event offered an early look and listen to the company’s most expensive speaker to date: a $70,000-per-pair tribute to Bowers & Wilkins’ longstanding partnership with Abbey Road Studios. Functionally, the Abbey Road edition is no different from the standard 801 D4 Signature, which remains the top-performing model in the flagship 800 Series Signature line. But with its exclusive finish and $10,000 premium, the Abbey Road Limited Edition is now the company’s most expensive speaker—and the only one that comes with a tour of the iconic London studio.

The 801 Demo: Great Sound, Dubious Demo

The demo focused on music recorded using Bowers & Wilkins speakers—much of it at Abbey Road. Tracks were presented in chronological order, beginning with the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was followed by “We Came Along This Road” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (which YouTube fully blocks globally, so I had to cut it from the video), “Diamonds” by Sam Smith, and “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings.

The speaker were powered by two Marantz Amp10 amplifiers ($8000/each). These are high-end amplifiers, each delivering 250 watts into 8 ohms (and up to 500 watts into 4 ohms). They are configured in a vertical bi-amp setup, with one amplifier driving the left channel and the other driving the right channel of the Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature speakers.

A Marantz Link 10n network audio player ($14,000) acted as the source component for the demo, streaming all the content played through the system via Tidal.

All of the music sounded fantastic. What hurt my ears were some of the things said by the reps between tracks. For instance, we were told to notice a “steady improvement” in recording quality as the selections became more recent. But what I heard was a textbook example of the loudness wars: each successive track newer, and therefore sounded louder. And louder almost always sounds better to a listener.

To be credible, the demo should have included level-matched tracks. After all, nobody listens to the Raiders theme as background music. Some basic volume compensation would have gone a long way toward making the comparison more fair and meaningful.

At home now, as I type this, I am playing the “Raiders March” like at the demo, but at a proper volume(on a very good system) and here’s the catch: I got goosebumps again. Even more pronounced than at the demo. It’s a great track.

Another questionable claim was that the quality of streaming music depends on your home network, and that if your network isn’t “good enough,” you’ll not only get interruptions but also distortion. Not merely buffering, distortion.

What?

Here’s the reality: a high-resolution 24/192 FLAC stream requires about the same bandwidth as Netflix or YouTube—roughly 5 Mbps. Fully uncompressed, it’s 9 Mbps. Even a smartphone can handle that.

By way of comparison, Comcast’s entry-level Internet service offers 75 Mbps. While a poor connection might cause buffering, the idea that distortion would somehow result from inadequate bandwidth is technically absurd.

But the bottom line is, it didn’t really matter what was said from the front of the room. The 801 Signature is a great speaker, and the Abbey Road edition looks the part with its red leather trim. That, ultimately, is what you’re paying for: a stunning visual finish, a rare tour of Abbey Road Studios, and a sonic performance that speaks for itself. (I’ve taken the tour. It’s memorable.)

Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon: Style Meets Substance

The Marantz Horizon and Grand Horizon speakers were a genuinely pleasant surprise. They make such a bold aesthetic statement that it’s easy to overlook the performance—until you hear them. These are true high-end lifestyle speakers that offer the imaging, smoothness, and dynamic energy you’d expect from a traditional component system.

The design is striking and futuristic. Shaped like a giant doughnut, the speakers echo the circular “porthole” motif found on Marantz receivers.

During the demo, the Grand Horizon was shown operating solo, playing capable of delivering either a focused mono presentation or a wide, immersive soundstage. The system also allows you to adjust the tonal balance using DSP—cool or warm—with LEDs that indicate the setting: blue for cool, amber for warm.

We then heard a pair of Horizon speakers on custom stands, configured for traditional stereo playback. The performance was top-tier: full-bodied and precise, with a smooth yet energetic delivery. Don’t judge these speakers by their looks—they sound as authoritative as any speaker of similar size and cost, and you don’t need a stack of electronics to run a pair.

Room Correction, Misunderstood

Of course, it wouldn’t be a hi-fi demo without a head-scratcher. When asked if the Horizon had room correction, the presenter could have said, “No, but it has other tuning options.” Instead, he dismissed room correction entirely, mocking systems that involve “waving your phone around”—a jab presumably aimed at Sonos.

That kind of remark might resonate with analog purists, but the Horizon isn’t a purist product. And room correction isn’t a gimmick. It addresses real acoustic challenges, especially in the bass, where room modes can create large peaks and dips. Proper correction smooths those anomalies, delivering cleaner and more consistent sound. It’s not a substitute for tonal tweaking—it’s a foundational tool in real-world listening environments.

Final Thoughts

It’s a bit of a curse to know enough to get agitated during audio demos. But I attend a lot of them, and the truth is: you don’t need to make inaccurate claims to sell great gear. Let the speakers do the talking.

This may well be the last demo I attend under Masimo Consumer Audio’s watch. If the planned sale of Sound United to Harman goes through, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a complete overhaul in how these events are run.