Bowers & Wilkins DB4S 10-Inch Active Subwoofer

Bowers & Wilkins DB4S 10-Inch Active Subwoofer – The Compact Member of the DB Family

The DB4S brings Bowers & Wilkins’ flagship DB subwoofer platform down to a 10-inch, room-friendly cabinet. A 250 mm Aerofoil cone driver in a sealed enclosure, driven by a 1,000-watt Hypex Class D amplifier under digital control with Dynamic EQ, delivers the speed and depth the DB series is known for, while app-based setup with room equalisation tunes the result to your actual listening position. It is the natural low-frequency partner for 700 Series systems, and a serious upgrade for any stereo or cinema setup whose speakers stop at 40 Hz.

Key features

• 10-inch Aerofoil cone driver in a sealed cabinet
• 1,000 W Class D Hypex amplification
• Dynamic EQ maintains bass balance at all listening levels
• App-based setup with room EQ for placement correction
• Digital preamplifier with precise crossover and phase control
• RCA and XLR inputs for consumer and high-end systems
• Sealed design for tight, musical bass rather than port boom
• Voiced to integrate with B&W loudspeaker systems

Aerofoil and the sealed-box philosophy

The Aerofoil cone’s profile varies in thickness – stiff where it must be, light where it can be – so the driver stays pistonic under the excursion deep bass demands. The sealed enclosure trades the free output of a port for control: bass that starts and stops with the signal, which is what musical timing and film-effect definition are made of. In smaller rooms, where ports excite the room’s own resonances, sealed is frequently the more accurate choice outright.

Dynamic EQ and app-based room correction

Bass perception changes with volume; Dynamic EQ continuously adjusts so the balance you calibrated at reference level survives a late-night listening level. Setup runs through B&W’s subwoofer app, which measures and corrects for the room and the DB4S’s placement – the unglamorous work that decides whether a subwoofer disappears into the system or sits on top of it. Crossovers, phase and EQ are set digitally, repeatably, without crawling behind the cabinet.

Integration is the product

A great subwoofer is judged by its absence: the main speakers simply seem to play an octave lower. The DB4S’s combination of sealed control, genuine amplifier headroom and measured room correction is engineered for exactly that disappearance act, in stereo systems that want foundation and in cinemas that want effects with physical authority.

If your speakers are excellent down to where they stop, the DB4S is how a B&W system continues to the bottom.