Formation Duo
$6400
The Duos are the flagship speakers of the Formation range, and are that rarity among wireless multiroom systems — a proper twospeaker system, rather than a single wireless speaker box. They farm certain key B&W attributes: the distinctive ‘tweeter-on-top’, here 25mm carbon-dome tweeters mounted in a decoupled Nautilus-tubed enclosure which flops over the curved top of the main cabinet. Behind the big circular grille is a 165mm bass/midrange driver of Continuum, B&W’s latest midrange cone material. They look a little odder in pictures than in the flesh, where their gloss black or white (options throughout the range) shine luxuriously, and the build quality is evident; the cabinets are made of Formi, a composite of virgin polypropylene mixed with 20-50% natural and renewable cellulose fibre.
Music sounded good from the first tune. Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side showed the Duo’s strengths at delivering detail, in both a well-portrayed shaping of the acoustic bass and the clarity of the changing panning and reverb on the singers on their entry at the end of the second verse. As for depth, we didn’t initially feel the weight implied by the published 25Hz lower response; nevertheless there was something of the ultra-low bass in Neil Young’s Walk With Me coming through, and that’s in the 30s of hertz, so still a respectable performance, and the overall sound was impressively balanced. There is most certainly none of the feel of a product which has been heavily EQ-adjusted via digital signal processing. Even though we gather there is some of that going on here, B&W has kept the Duos sounding natural rather than artificial.
Chick Corea’s Australia concerto was a delight for the natural spread of its elements both across and into the soundstage, and for the dynamics which burst forth regularly as the piece progresses. This continued with a blast through Muttnik’s debut EP of funked-up jazz, the kick drum thumpingly solid, the saxophone ragingly live, and the Nord-Hammond organ filling the space with its cheeky chunkiness.
We were able to A-B between the Duos and B&W’s 603s driven by an Arcam amp — that was a clear win for the 603s, as you would expect given the system price. But what was impressive was how little the Duos gave up in tone or musicality. Given how many music listeners are opting for the convenience of standalone wireless active speakers, we’re thrilled B&W has delivered real hi-fi within the multiroom context.