VIDEO: Bowers & Wilkins Formation Suite launch event - news discussion

Looks, price and no hdmi ( on the soundbar) among my negative views on these products. Kef's LS50s get my vote.
 
It does look like the soundbar was a product that was developed a while ago and was waiting for the rest of the range to be finished... the lack of Arc (eArc will be in soundbars soon) and DTS decoding, lossless audio codec support... let alone compatible wireless rears... hmmm.
The wedge could be a winner... but as you can't buy two and stereo pair them does put it behind a lot of its competitors that sit above and below its price point (Devialet / Sonos etc).
Most companies are putting at least a 3.5mm input into their wireless speakers, the exclusion of those is interesting. I do wonder if the optical input on the soundbar can be streamed through out the home via the B&W mesh network?
Can anyone verify the latter?
 
No HDMI connection in 2019 ... Bowers & Wilkins that's naughty @ £999
 
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I love the design of the soundbar but not including an HDMI (eArc) port means I have lost any interest right there. Seems like a major mistake for a Soundbar coming out in 2019..IMO
Just optical in 2019 really B&W...:facepalm:
 
It does look like the soundbar was a product that was developed a while ago and was waiting for the rest of the range to be finished... the lack of Arc (eArc will be in soundbars soon) and DTS decoding, lossless audio codec support... let alone compatible wireless rears... hmmm.
The wedge could be a winner... but as you can't buy two and stereo pair them does put it behind a lot of its competitors that sit above and below its price point (Devialet / Sonos etc).
Most companies are putting at least a 3.5mm input into their wireless speakers, the exclusion of those is interesting. I do wonder if the optical input on the soundbar can be streamed through out the home via the B&W mesh network?
Can anyone verify the latter?

I imagine it can - they seem to have included a button / touch control on the Wedge for example, where it will cycle through sources, which I think should include whatever is playing on the Bar, for example.

This seems very similar to how B&O do it on their multi-room products, to the extent that the product description seems a pretty direct lift from the B&O architecture / functionality. (expanding to other speakers / rooms can also be done via an app too)
 
Thinking about it...
They're probably looking at the life cycle of HDMI and are conscious that HDMI 2.1 / HDCP 2.3 isn't far off. Meaning that any bar they released today would need effectively to be replaced within a year.
Adding HDMI in or a multiple HDMI switching configuration would only add to the price of an already pricey bar... then again, is their target market price conscious?
 
Does no one else find them grotesquely ugly?

Just a design disaster from start to finish?
 
Does no one else find them grotesquely ugly?

Just a design disaster from start to finish?
Dont mind the shapes, form factors etc, but the choice of uneven finish is odd. Something a bit more neutral and natural would have been better, certainly when it comes to the Wedge and sound bar.
 
Actually, I quite like the look and idea of the wireless sub.

But it claims 20hz with a pair of 6.5 woofers... hmmm...
 

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