Bowers & Wilkins just announced a bunch of new wireless speakers that are designed to sound exceptional and have the looks to match. The new Formation line of speakers leverage a new wireless mesh network technology — dubbed Formation Wireless Technology — that enables them to stream up to 96/24-bit audio; the company claims is twice the fidelity of other high-end wireless speakers.
There are three primary speakers in B&W’s new Formation line. The Wedge is a standalone all-in-one speaker that’s comparable in size to a Sonos Play:5. The Duo is a pair of active powered bookshelf speakers, which are comparable to KEF’s great LS50 Wireless system. The Bar is the company’s newest soundbar.
[embedded content]In addition to those speakers, B&W rounded out the Formation series with a subwoofer, the Bass, and an analog-to-digital / digital-to-audio converter, called the Audio, which can turn your passive speakers or turntable into a wireless system for streaming. All the speakers and components support AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth and Roon.
Formation Wedge
The Wedge gets its name from its wedge design. It’s a 120-degree slliptical-shaped speaker that’s meant to be placed in a corner play great stereo sound. It has a five total drivers: two 40-watt tweeters, two 40-watt midrange drivers and an 80-watt integrated subwoofer. Lastly, it’s designed beautifully with a wavy fabric grill and a wooden rear that looks like it was taken right from a Hermes chair.
Formation Duo
The Duo is a pair of active powered speakers takes the carbon dome tweeter from B&W’s 700 series and the Continuum cone driver from its 800 series. If you’re a sucker for stereo sound with incredible soundstage, and are into the look of the company’s super high-end passive speaker, these Duo speakers are for you.
Formation Bar
The Bar is a three-channel soundbar has nine performance drivers, three tweeters and six midrange/bass, and is designed to pair perfectly with B&W’s Bass subwoofer. It looks like a larger, more beautiful version of the company’s Zeppelin speaker.
