B&W D1 vs D2 Diamond D1 vs Diamond D2

Also the D2 ( diamond) have magnets...not holes for the gills. as far as differences in the sound between the two.... only you can decide...

i personally do not believe the differences , if any, justify the cost.

i use the nautilus 802

I wish B&W would bring back the 801D.

WELL I WISH... B&W would re-introduce a speaker like the Matrix-800 with a woofer on top and on the bottom, with the mids and tweets in the middle.
Use the current tech advances but make a true flagship (again). the last reference system was "the Snail" which was (is) pretty special, as well as pretty impractical (requiring 4 monoblock amplifiers/channel, as well as special preamps and crossovers, wiring, etc.).
But... they need something really spectacular to compete with other reference systems out there, not that the 800-D2 is not-so-great; that is NOT what i am saying here. my present fav is the 802d2 and the 805d2.
anyway, i even wrote to them just for the heck of it. no response of course.
So i look a lot at other manufacturers these days for innovations. one last thing is the use of a diamond tweeter which is interesting but- so few manufacturers are joining with B&W in developing this technology. i always liked silk dome tweeters for what they do (and what they don't do).

Yeah, I agree, that was one Hell of a speaker. I had the pleasure of auditioning one in 1990 or '91 at a local dealer. I liked it a lot, but I couldn't quite afford it, really. And so it goes...Years later I heard the 801Ds, and let me tell you, they were the best 801s ever made, I don't care what anyone says. A lot of guys say the Matrix 2 or 3, some the Nautilus, and those are very good, but the 801D is something special, imo. I have yet to find one on the used market! I'm sure I've missed some listings here or there, but I bet when an 801D goes up for sale, they get snapped up immediately! The 802Ds are dime a dozen, sorry about that!

But the 801s of any generation won't sing without the proper amp or amps behind them!