Gramophone’s Favorite Things

B&W Loudspeakers Enters the Social Music Scene with the Society of Sound

B&W’s new Society of Sound Music Club is a welcome response to the overly stylized and overly commercial air play of mainstream recording today. The Music Club is a chance to rediscover what made people  fall in love with music to begin with: original artists, immaculate recordings and moving songwriting. Hallelujah.

The Music Club is a partnership between B&W and Peter Gabriel’s state-of-the-art Real World recording studios. The goal of the project is to produce and record specially commissioned albums from exceptional artists all over the world – many well known and many as yet undiscovered.

You can become a member of the Music Club, which grants you access to monthly downloads. Each recording is presented as an Apple Lossless file, which is a larger format than typical MP3 files. Apple Lossless files are identical to the original recording created in studio so you hear the recording in super high fidelity.

B&W A-Go-Go

We've loved Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) speakers for decades in our homes, and now B&W is taking its high-end sound on the road with the debut of the new Jaguar XF outfitted with a premium B&W audio system. B&W's engineers worked closely with Jaguar's engineers to develop what they're calling "the best sound system ever experienced in a luxury car." Some of the fine-tuning is even geared at making sure every passenger in the car has an identical listening experience. The first XF models are due to go on sale in March.

B&W Liberty Wireless Surround System

At CES, Bowers & Wilkins demonstrated their forthcoming Liberty system. This wireless speaker system is the first to deliver 8-channel sound wirelessly, and I’m here to tell you that it looked and sounded great. It comprises four speakers (including the PV-1 subwoofer) along with a combined disc player/transmitter.

Cute Sound? B&W PV1 Subwoofer

I don’t often pair the words “cute” with “great sound”, but even I have to admit that Bowers & Wilkins mastered both in the PV1 subwoofer. The PV1 takes all the old principles of a subwoofer and turns them on their head, beginning with the adage that a subwoofer should be a boring box. The PV1 is round, like a small silver bowling ball. And it owes both its unique shape and its performance to advanced engineering. The “PV” stands for “pressure vessel.” B&W claims this unique spherical design creates a near perfect environment to maximize internal volume. The result is a subwoofer that’s also a conversation piece. It might just be the perfect addition to any contemporary room.

Enjoy,
Brian