

- #AUDIO BAR REVIEWS INSTALL#
- #AUDIO BAR REVIEWS DRIVERS#
- #AUDIO BAR REVIEWS UPDATE#
- #AUDIO BAR REVIEWS DRIVER#
- #AUDIO BAR REVIEWS FULL#
The driver design and placement ensure a wide soundstage, and the dedicated centre speaker delivers clear and focused dialogue. The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is an excellent three-channel soundbar. If you get a pulsing or solid red, there’s an error and you’ll need to contact support.
#AUDIO BAR REVIEWS UPDATE#
The Form button illuminates in different colours to signify different operational states: flashing white means start-up is in progress pulsing amber means set up is ready flashing amber means a firmware update is in progress pulsing white means an audio pull is in progress and flashing red means a factory reset is in progress. Finally, if your TV uses an IR remote control, the Bar can learn the basic volume commands.
#AUDIO BAR REVIEWS INSTALL#
If there is a firmware update available, the app will also tell you that and allow you to install it quickly and easily. The Bar can be paired with a Bluetooth device using the Home app, and once again an audio prompt will tell you when pairing is complete. Once the Space selection and Wi-Fi connection are complete, your Bar will play an audio prompt to confirm a successful setup, and it’s ready for use. The app will ask you to confirm the correct Wi-Fi network and ask you to input its password – although this is only required the first time you connect a Formation product to your Wi-Fi network. The next stage is to connect your Bar to your home Wi-Fi network (unless you plan on using an Ethernet cable). Once that’s done you’ll be asked to touch the Form button, which will confirm the selection. There’s a list of default Space names like Living Room, but you can also create your own. It also means you can wirelessly pair the Bar with the Bass subwoofer and Flex speakers.Īs part of the set up process, you need to name the “Space” in which the Bar is to be used. Another benefit is that because the various Formation products are communicating via their own network, they aren’t taking up bandwidth on your home router. The advantage to this approach is that the Formation network is not only robust, but also has a claimed delay of just 1 microsecond. If there are other Formation products present, they use the 5GHz frequency to communicate with each other over a patented mesh network. The Formation system is designed to use both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies found in a normal wireless network, so information reaches the Bar via its 2.4GHz receiver. Once again, this has more to do with speakers and listening to music, than it does with an AV-related product like a soundbar (although it does allow you to build a wireless 5.1-channel system). The soundbar market is large and highly competitive, so this new entry from Bowers & Wilkins needs to sound amazing if it’s going to have any chance of standing out from the crowd.īowers & Wilkins has also invested a great deal of effort in creating a technically sophisticated and robust network system that can stream audio at a resolution of up to 24-bit/96kHz. That price seems even higher when you consider the Bar has no remote control, lacks any HDMI connections, and doesn’t support immersive audio. The Bar isn’t cheap and costs £999 as at the time of writing (December 2019), putting it up against some very capable alternatives.
#AUDIO BAR REVIEWS FULL#
The app not only allows you to set up and control the Bar, along with other Formation products in your network but can also use the robust mesh network to create a full 5.1-channel system using the Bass subwoofer and a pair of Flex speakers as the surround channels. There's also built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and multiroom functionality using the Bowers & Wilkins Home app.
#AUDIO BAR REVIEWS DRIVERS#
To that end, Bowers & Wilkins’ engineers have created nine new high-performance drivers optimally positioned to retain a dedicated centre channel while producing a wider soundstage.Īs part of the Formation Suite, the Bar also includes support for Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Roon, allowing it to stream 24/96 high-resolution stereo sound. The Bar has been designed to deliver a big performance from a sleek and relatively discreet cabinet. The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar is a three-channel multiroom single-unit soundbar, and it forms part of the company’s Formation Suite of products that also includes the flagship Duo stereo speakers, Audio music streamer, Wedge speaker, Flex speaker and Bass subwoofer.
