Bowers & Wilkins has announced the new Formation Suite wireless audio system, a group of five new devices that can create a whole new home audio experience. The devices all use wireless technology to connect to each other even throughout multiple rooms of your house, similar to how the Sonos system works. Bowers & Wilkins promises a streamlined user interface that makes all these devices super easy to setup. Plus, they are all compatible with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Apple AirPlay 2.
The Formation products use a mesh network to communicate that can span your entire home without interfering with your original network's quality. This allows for seamless sound and synchronization between the speakers. They will all work in harmony with less than one microsecond of difference between them, and you'll be able to stream high-resolution 24-bit audio and 96 kHz sample rates. That's higher than Sonos.
The five pieces in this new Suite are not inexpensive. The least pricey piece of the puzzle is the Formation Audio, which starts at $699.99. It allows you to transform passive systems into a multi-room setup and gives you a way to connect analog devices that can then be streamed to your Formation speakers.
After that comes the Formation Wedge, an immersive full-range stereo speaker with a unique elliptical shape. It starts at $899.99 and promises a room-filling sound with performance tweets, drivers, and an integrated subwoofer.
The $999.99 Formation Bass uses opposed dual driver technology, a powerful Class D amplifier, and Dynamic EQ to drive home a deeper depth of bass without distorting the audio of the music or movie you're listening to.
While many of these speakers can be combined, some are meant to stand alone. The Formation Bar, which starts at $1,199.99, is one of those. It's a three-channel high-fidelity home theater system with nine optimized performance drivers and a dedicated center channel. It's a sound bar with a unique design and some powerful technology behind it. You could pair it with the other systems for a full audio experience, but if you wanted to start with just one you could probably start here.
Last but certainly not least are the $3,999.99 Formation Duo speakers. These speakers use all-new technology but also combine that with some of Bowers & Wilkins' previously successful designs. They use a carbon domed tweeter-on-top design based on the Bowers & Wilkins 700 Series speakers and the Continuum Cone of the Diamond 800 speakers.
