Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) has launched its first range of wireless speakers for the home today called the Formation Suite.
The five-product range wirelessly creates an immersive, high-fidelity sound. The loudspeakers are simple to set up and can be connected with each other throughout the house with a touch of a button on the speaker.
B&W has been working on the development of the Formation Suite for the past few years. Using its expertise over the last 50 years, the company developed a new proprietary Mesh network called Formation Wireless Technology, featuring a patented Perfect Speaker Synchronisation function that means audio can be transferred between speakers in under one microsecond and in true 24-bit/96kHz resolution.
The five products being launched today are the Formation Wedge, the Formation Bar, the Formation Bass, the Formation Duo, and the Formation Audio. The company has made it clear that this is just an initial release in the Formation Suite and there will be new feature and capabilities following in the near future.
The Formation Wedge is a unique-looking speaker, with a 120-degree oval speaker shape. Priced at £899.99, it has dedicated full-range stereo sound components making it a stereo system in its own right.
The Formation Wedge
The Formation Bar is the soundbar or the Suite. It has nine optimised drive units to provide a wide soundstage for cinema, including a dedicated centre channel to surround viewers in sound, making them centre of the action. The Formation Bar is priced at £999.99.
The Formation Bar & the Formation Bass
The Formation Bass is a subwoofer with opposed drivers, powerful amplifiers and Dynamic EQ to provide outstanding bass response without distortion. Priced at £899.99, it can also be paired with other speakers from the Formation Suite.
The Formation Bass
A personal favourite, the Formation Duo, adopts the same Carbon Dome tweeter-on-top technology and Continuum Cone mid/bass drive unit as B&W’s wired speakers. During the demo, the detail and depth of the sound from the Duo really came through and filled the room. These speakers can be enjoyed for £3,499.99 for the pair. The speakers can be placed on stands for £699.99.
The Formation Duo
Finally, the Formation Audio is B&W’s patented Formation Wireless Technology which has the ability to turn any traditional analogue components into a high-fidelity streaming device. It allows users to play records and CDs and still experience high quality sound.
The Formation Audio
The Formation range is easy to install and set up and also features a supporting app to help control the devices, although this is not a necessity.
Greg Lee, CEO of B&W commented on the new speaker range: “The Formation Suite is the most technologically innovative line of wireless products our development team has ever created. Formation sets a new standard in the world of wireless sound, proving that full wired fidelity can be achieved wirelessly.
“Now consumers can get the high-performance audio quality they expect from Bowers & Wilkins coupled with an unmatched, easy-to-use, wireless listening experience, making Formation the new standard in whole home audio.”
“Three years ago, we had the vision to combine 50 years of Bowers & Wilkins acoustic history with Silicon Valley automation expertise to create an amazing user experience that is simple, powerful and incredible to listen to,” said Gideon Yu, co-chairman of B&W. “Today, it’s amazing to witness that vision come to life. The Formation Suite introduces consumers to wireless sound technology that is unparalleled in the audio space and showcases the true innovation this company is capable of. This is just the beginning. There is so much more to come.”