If you have too much money, you can easily spend it with the British speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins (B & W): 65,000 euros cost a pair of "Nautilus" speakers, which the company has been offering since 1993. Significantly cheaper - but still far from cheap - are the new powered speakers of the "Formation" series, with which the company is now trying to prove itself in the fiercely competitive market for networked loudspeakers.

Unlike many competitors, B & W does not use language assistants like Amazon's Alexa or the Google Assistant. Unlike the products from Google and Amazon and some Sonos devices, no microphones are built into the speakers.

The most affordable model of the new series is the all-in-one box "Wedge" for 999 euros. It has a wooden back wall bent at a 120-degree angle, which should ensure a broad sound pattern with the corresponding arrangement of the two mid, high and low woofers.

Bowers & Wilkins / TMN

The formation wedge can be built upright or lying down

The sound should correspond to the company philosophy of transmitting recordings as authentically as possible. The sound should be clearly defined, offering unusual precision and detail for this device category. At lower volume, the bass is quite restrained - the compact form factor sets limits - but comes out well, if you turn up the "Wedge" louder, it says from the manufacturer.

For those who are not deep enough, Bowers & Wilkins offers the "Formation Bass" subwoofer for $ 1099.

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To the new series also belongs the loudspeaker pair "Formation Duo" for altogether 3998 euro as well as a Soundbar for 1249 euro. Both can also be combined with the subwoofer. For connecting non-networked devices, such as a turntable to the system, there is the device "Formation Audio" for 699 euros.

However, Bowers & Wilkins did not develop their own app to control the new speakers, as Sonos has for years. Instead, the system uses Apple's AirPlay 2 to transfer music from Apple devices to the speakers.

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Spotify users can also access the devices via the "Spotify Connect" service. This is apparently also the only way to listen to music from an Android smartphone with the new B & W speakers.

To allow loudspeakers to play music synchronously in several rooms, the "Formation" loudspeakers build their own mesh WLAN. This should also help to avoid interference from other devices in the WLAN.

Bowers & Wilkins, traditionally a manufacturer of hi-fi speakers for recording studios among others, had already made a successful foray into the networked music business years ago with its distinctive "Zeppelin" models. A few years ago, the networking specialist Californian start-up EVA Automation bought the traditional British company.