Bowers & Wilkins Introduces Formation Wireless Speakers
Bowers & Wilkins introduces the Formation Suite, a collection of five products for wireless music listening. The speakers can also be wirelessly connected to each other for a multi-room setup.
The Formation collection consists of a soundbar, a set with two bookshelf speakers, a stereo speaker, a bass speaker and a device that can convert analog signals to digital and vice versa. The Formation Bar soundbar has nine drivers that form three separate speakers. The middle one acts as a center speaker. The nine drivers consist of three 25mm tweeters and six 65mm speaker cones. The soundbar has a frequency range of 40Hz to 28kHz and a suggested retail price of 1250 euros.
The Formation Duo consists of two bookshelf speakers with a 25mm tweeter and a 165mm speaker cone. The speakers have a frequency range of 25Hz to 33kHz, for a set of two speakers the suggested retail price is 4000 euros. Stereo speaker Formation Wedge has two 25mm tweeters and two 90mm cones and a 150mm subwoofer. This loudspeaker has a frequency range of 35Hz to 28kHz and has a suggested retail price of one thousand euros.
Bowers & Wilkins indicates that the three speakers can be linked to the Formation Bass for extra bass reproduction. This bass speaker has two 165mm drivers placed opposite each other. According to the British company, this would ensure less distortion. This speaker has a frequency range of 20Hz to 150Hz and costs 1,100 euros.
The cheapest device in the series is the Formation Audio. This unit can be connected to passive speakers. That way, with the Bowers & Wilkins app, users can stream music to the passive speakers and make them part of a multi-room setup. Users can also connect analog devices to the Audio to send music from, for example, vinyl records to the Formation speakers.
All devices support streaming via the Bowers & Wilkins app and also have support for Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Bluetooth. The speakers communicate with each other via a mesh network and transmit audio with 96kHz/24bit audio quality. Bowers & Wilkins will not announce when the devices will be available; some online stores give a delivery time of one to three weeks.