Bowers and Wilkins: Speaker Excellence

Another one for the ears…

John Bowers and Roy Wilkins met during WWII while in the British military. Realizing they had a common interest in electronics and radio, they opened a shop after the war which is still open to this day.

Music, sweet music...

In the mid-60’s, John Bowers decided to take another hobby, building speakers, into a separate business venture – B&W Loudspeakers Ltd. In the 70’s, the company took off with the release of the 801 loudspeaker (current model 801D pictured). Subsequent models of this design have been used at Abbey Road Studios, Sony Music Studios NYC and Skywalker Sound.

One trademark of the B&W speaker line is the yellow woven Kevlar speaker cones used for their light weight and strength. The other visual feature of note: the curiously shaped speaker enclosures - a technology which originated from their flagship Nautilus speaker project. The current speaker product line has expanded from the high end stereo systems to home theater systems, mini speakers, iPod docks and even now car audio, with a custom setup in the new Jaguar XF.

As for the sound, you’ll find excellent dynamics and a relaxed sort of detail to what you hear. B&W speakers also represent the space of the recording very well – the sound of the recording venue, as well as the location of instruments within that space.

Let your ears have a listen and see what you think. We recommend staying with anything in the 800 Series lineup, as it represents the undiluted best of the B&W sound and technology.