AND THEN THERE WERE SIX...

There are currently six products in B&W’s Formation range, topped by the Duo stereo active speakers (reviewed in our Aug-Sep issue last year and recognised in our Sound+Image 2020 Awards), although the wavy design style perhaps peaks with the Formation Wedge here.

There’s also a Formation Bar which can cater for your TV sound, building on the successful perfomance of the company’s previous Panorama soundbars with another fascinating aesthetic with swirling diamonds of framed cloth plus shining silver endcaps; the Bar delivers three-channel sound from a total of nine drivers.

The Formation ‘Bass’ subwoofer can pair with the Bar or the Duo, even with the Wedge to boost its bass performance further. A Sub, a Bar and a couple of Flexes (the smallest speaker) can perform in 5.1. And for existing audio systems, B&W offers the ‘Formation Audio’ wireless hub, effectively a preamplifier, since it can receive wirelessly and synchronise with other Formation components while also offering additional inputs (one analogue, one optical). The Audio can also be used to expand the physical inputs of the Duo or Wedge. All these are brought together under the B&W Home app, as described in the main article.