B&W Formation Wireless Audio System Launches in Stores Only 'to Start'

The hi-res audio system touts 96/24-bit audio streaming and “imperceptible” one-microsecond in-room synchronization among speakers operating over a patented mesh network. In Formation’s mesh network, each product dynamically chooses the optimal path to route audio data between products “to ensure a robust streaming experience,” said the company.

The line won’t be sold outside B&W’s existing dealer base or online “at this time,” James Krakowski, vice president, sales-Americas, told us Wednesday under embargo. Wider distribution has been a concern of the company’s existing dealers for whom the B&W line is a premium differentiator. The company wants to support its existing dealer base with Formation, "as none of our Bowers products, except for our headphones, are available online," he said, adding, "to start."

Krakowski left open the possibility that could change. "As we look to ensure that our products are available in the way consumers today are shopping for these products, we will look to partner with our partners today that have online presence," he said. Krakowski will examine those online accounts "on a case-by-case basis when we're ready to make that transition," he said.

"There are certainly opportunities to ensure that any consumer who wants a product of this stature has access to it,” Krakowski said: “That’s not to say we’re going to go out chasing distribution; where we see there are opportunities, we will certainly do our due diligence to ensure that it is in line with the premium position of Bowers and provides a great experience to our end users.”

The executive called the Formation line a “marriage” of EVA’s innovation with B&W’s legacy technology. B&W is bringing together founder John Bowers’ love of audio through high-performance speakers with the convenience today’s consumer expects, he said.

The Formation lineup includes a pair of Duo bookshelf speakers ($1,999 each); a sound bar ($1,199) with nine drive units, including a center channel; the stereo Wedge ($899), a 2019 take on the self-powered B&W Zeppelin music system; a powered bass unit ($999); and the wireless Formation Audio hub ($699) streaming player. The 250-watt Formation Bass is designed to pair with any of the speakers for extra low-frequency output, but each of the products can stand on its own without the subwoofer add-on, said Kevin Wolff, sales director, North America-performance audio.

The Formation Duo incorporates speaker technology from B&W’s “iconic” 705 loudspeaker, said Wolff. The bookshelf speaker brings a “more contemporary aesthetic” in a wireless version for a different customer, he said. The Duos add 125 watts of amplifier power so the speakers lose the need to be wired to a separate power amplifier, but still need to plug into a wall outlet.

The Formation Audio hub, with analog and digital inputs and outputs, acts as a digital-to-analog converter and an analog-to-digital converter, bringing wireless streaming to legacy audio gear, said Wolff. It enables consumers with analog audio gear to add a source to the network, he said, giving a turntable as an example: by connecting a turntable’s phono output to the hub, consumers can digitize music from vinyl and play it across the network.

The hub, Duo, Wedge and Bar feature AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Roon Ready, Bluetooth In, digital signal processing and dynamic EQ. The digital amplifier in the Wedge sends 40 watts per channel to the tweeter and midrange drivers and 80 watts to the bass driver. The sound bar, sized to work with a 55- or 65-inch TV, is powered by a 40-watt-by-six-channel amplifier and includes Dolby Digital.

Formation isn’t priced for the masses, said Krakowski. The line is “competitive” with other wireless systems on the market based on the feature set, but when we asked about positioning against Sonos, Heos, Bluesound and Play-Fi, he said: “All of our products are positioned above that.” Wolff called the line “premium products with premium performance.” The company is saying Formation works in up to eight spaces to be conservative, but it hasn’t come up with a “hard stop” on how many rooms a system can support, said Wolff.

Krakowski, who joined B&W in February with responsibility for sales in North and South America, emphasized the company’s global sales efforts in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific “down to the retail level.” Its focus globally is to strengthen the core customer base ahead of the new product line that’s been some 18 months in the making, he said. The company’s training team has been at work in the field with dealers to bring them up to speed on the new technology, and the company built an online training portal to support dealers. It’s also holding training sessions at its North Reading, Massachusetts, sales office, he said.