Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional

loudspeakers A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an Acoustical engineering#Electroacoustics, electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often ...

and

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

. B&W was founded in 1966 by John Bowers in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, B&W was acquired by

Sound United DEI Holdings is the US parent company of several brands of consumer audio electronics and vehicle security/remote start systems. DEI Holdings is owned by New York City and Boston-based private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners. History ...

, a holding company who owns several other audio brands.

Technology, research and development

Research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

has been a core activity within B&W, stimulated and exercised by its founder John Bowers (1922–1987). From the start of the company, earnings were invested in

new product development In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product (business), product to market, renewing an existing product or introducing a product in a new market. A central aspect of NPD is prod ...

. In 1982 the company opened a dedicated, purpose-built research centre titled 'SRE' or 'Steyning Research Establishment' in

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Horsham District, Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the ...

, about 10 miles from

. The buildings were fit for audio-related work since they were previously used by

SME SME may refer to: Economics * Small and medium-sized enterprises * Socialist market economy, an economic system of China Organizations Music * SME Limited, UK audio turntable manufacturer * Sony Music Entertainment, US * Spontaneous Music Ensembl ...

, the English

tonearm A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

designer who felt the downturn in tonearm sales due to the introduction of the new digital media CD. SRE housed a prototype shop and listening rooms, ranging from semi-anechoic to typical small living rooms. Also available was advanced equipment like a laser

interferometer Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber op ...

and

PDP-11 The PDP-11 is a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a set of products in the Programmed Data Processor (PDP) series. In total, around 600,000 PDP-11s of all models were sold, ...

/35 computer. The design of B&W loudspeaker cabinets has been done by industrial designer

Kenneth Grange Sir Kenneth Henry Grange, CBE, PPCSD, RDI (born 17 July 1929, London) is a British industrial designer, renowned for a wide range of designs for familiar, everyday objects. Career Grange's career began as a drafting assistant with the archit ...

since 1975. Morten Villiers Warren became manager of design in the late 1990s when designing the new 800 series of speakers. Noteworthy loudspeaker innovations by B&W: *The patented use of

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

fibres, impregnated with a stiffening resin, resulting in B&W's distinctive yellow

speaker cone In the field of acoustics, a diaphragm is a transducer intended to inter-convert mechanical vibrations to sounds, or vice versa. It is commonly constructed of a thin membrane or sheet of various materials, suspended at its edges. The varying air ...

s started in 1974. This

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

proved to provide controlled rigidity and internal

damping Damping is an influence within or upon an oscillatory system that has the effect of reducing or preventing its oscillation. In physical systems, damping is produced by processes that dissipate the energy stored in the oscillation. Examples incl ...

, minimising distortion, as Fryer determined by using laser interferometry on speaker cones. *Phase linear transmission was realised in the DM6 from 1976. In the DM6, the speakers are mounted in different vertical planes. *In 1977 the DM7 introduced a

tweeter A tweeter or treble speaker is a special type of loudspeaker (usually dome, inverse dome or horn-type) that is designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically deliver high frequencies up to 100 kHz. The name is derived from the high ...

separate from the main speaker cabinet. This has been a feature of many B&W speaker designs since. *Engineer Laurence Dickie invented the 'Matrix' enclosure which reduces cabinet sound colouration. This bracing topology resembles a wine-case, providing multiple thin panel-braces, spaced throughout the enclosure, improving rigidity. This was in response to Celestion's SL6000 loudspeaker that was made with Aerolam cabinet walls. Dickie's response was to use the same concept but make it all the way through the cabinet rather than just the walls. Matrix has been used with great success by B&W ever since. *The 'Nautilus' speaker resulted from research commenced by Bowers into 'perfect dipoles'. Before Bowers died, he handed this research to the young Dickie who discovered the principle of the exponential tapered tube. The Nautilus project was one of the most extensive research and development projects undertaken. Instead of open-backed drivers, it uses drivers loaded by reverse-tapered

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, or exponentially diminishing tubes, to absorb the rear radiation. The construction is based on

fibre-reinforced plastic Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP; also called fibre-reinforced polymer, or in American English ''fiber'') is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass (in fibreglass), carbon (in carbon-fib ...

enclosures. The result of the distinct speaker shape was a near perfect response and near-zero enclosure colouration. *The 'Flowport' is an improvement that reduces friction in the air moving through the

bass reflex A bass reflex system (also known as a ported, vented box or reflex port) is a type of loudspeaker enclosure that uses a port (hole) or vent cut into the cabinet and a section of tubing or pipe affixed to the port. This port enables the sound fro ...

vent. This is realised by covering the surface of the vent with dimples, just like a

golf ball A golf ball is a special ball designed to be used in the game of golf. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than , has a diameter not less than , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like g ...

. * The diamond tweeter was developed to create the optimal ratio of tweeter dome mass and material stiffness. The tweeter is grown into shape by

chemical vapour deposition Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In typical CVD, the wafer (substra ...

Formation

Released in 2019, the Formation Suite consists of Duo, Wedge, Bar, Bass, Audio and Flex.

History

Early years

Bowers & Wilkins began as a radio and electronics shop in Worthing. It was started after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by Bowers and Roy Wilkins who had met while serving in the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

during the war. The shop expanded to include televisions retail, a rentals business and a service department run by Peter Hayward. When the shop began supplying public address equipment to schools and churches in Sussex, Bowers became increasingly involved in the design and assembly of loudspeakers, eventually setting up a small production line in workshops behind the shop.

1960s

In 1966, Bowers started a separate business: B&W Loudspeakers Ltd., and was no longer involved with the shop itself. The first production line was established in the workshops in the shop's backyard. The shop still exists to this day, and the remnants of the original production line can still be seen. The shop is now owned by and managed by Roy's son Paul Wilkins, who together with Chris Hugill used to run the UK distribution arm of B&W, B&W Loudspeakers UK Ltd. They also acted as the UK distribution of the aforementioned Aura range of electronics, and Nakamichi compact cassette decks. The 1967 P1 was the first commercial speaker from B&W. The cabinet and filter were B&W's own, but the drivers came from

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and

Celestion Celestion is a British designer and exporter of professional loudspeakers. History Origins What became Celestion was started in Hampton Wick (suburban London) in 1924. ''Cyril French'' and his three brothers had taken over a plating works ...

. The profits of the P1 allowed Bowers to purchase a Radiometer Oscillator and

Pen Recorder A chart recorder is an electromechanical device that records an electrical or mechanical input trend onto a piece of paper (the chart). Chart recorders may record several inputs using different color pens and may record onto strip charts or circu ...

, allowing for calibration certificates for every speaker sold. In 1968, Audioscript in the Netherlands became the first international

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

appointed. The DM1 (Domestic Monitor) and DM3 were introduced. Dennis Ward (a former technical manager at

) became a member of the board in 1969.

1970s

In 1970, the ionovac-tweeter equipped P2 speakers were produced. They were also licensed by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and rebadged in Worthing to be distributed in Japan. Bowers decided to develop a loudspeaker wholly built in-house. The sizeable DM70 from 1970 combined

electrostatic Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest (static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for amber ...

mid- and high range on top of a traditional bass unit. The distinct shape of the loudspeaker won a British Industrial Design Award. Good press reviews made exports start to rise. In 1972 a new production facility was opened in Meadow Road, Worthing. Housing

anechoic chamber An anechoic chamber (''an-echoic'' meaning "non-reflective") is a room designed to stop reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also often isolated from energy entering from their surroundings. This combination means ...

s and extensive Bruel & Kjaer measurement equipment, the research team investigated phase linearity and

construction using laser

interferometry Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber opt ...

. 1972 also saw the introduction of the DM2, a three unit system, consisting of an 8-inch bass/mid-range speaker rear loaded with an acoustic line, a

HF1300 tweeter, and a super tweeter. B&W received the

Queen's Award Queen's Award can refer to: * Queen's Awards for Enterprise, formerly The Queens Awards to Industry * Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom * Queen's Award for Forestry T ...

for Export in 1973, and built programme content monitors for the BBC. In 1974, Kenneth Grange of Pentagram was appointed as

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactur ...

. The 1976 DM6 loudspeaker introduced Kevlar cones and phase linear filter and enclosure design. The Steyning research facility is opened and a PDP11/35 computer is acquired. The building was bought from SME Ltd, also based in Steyning. The 1977 DM7 showed a tweeter separate from the main cabinet and a passive radiator. After a tenfold increase in export since 1973, the second Queen's Award for Export is awarded in 1978. The 801 loudspeaker, taking three years of development, was introduced in 1979.

1980s

Research into amplifiers and active filters leads to the Active One loudspeaker, branded under the name of ''John Bowers'' in 1984. Laurence Dickie was hired as an amplifier designer. Dickie was not employed as a Loudspeaker engineer but in his spare time he developed the idea of a 'matrix' construction, after initial inspiration of Aerolam being used by Celestion. Dickie's reasoning was to extend the structure of Aerolam to fill the entire cabinet. He presented his ideas to John Bowers and it was tested by the research team and found to have significant qualities in reducing loudspeaker cabinet colouration. A new range with this 'Matrix' culminated into the first 'Matrix 1,2 and 3' loudspeakers, to much acclaim. The 800 loudspeaker range was improved into matrix versions with its very rigid cabinet construction in 1987. In December 1987 Bowers died. Robert Trunz took leadership of the company and asked Dickie to independently complete the work of John Bowers, who was researching a way of producing a speaker with zero cabinet effect. This ultimately became the 'Nautilus' Loudspeaker premiered in its prototype form in 1991. Also in 1987, John Dibb joined the company, later to become responsible for many speaker designs, notably several signature models. Dibb's 1987 'Concept 90' CM1 loudspeaker was the first B&W speaker with a plastic molded matrix cabinet.

1990s

Silver Signature loudspeaker was launched to commemorate the company's 25th anniversary as well as the introduction to 'Project Nautilus'. Increasing demand led to by opening an additional production site at Silverdale, Worthing, West Sussex in 1992. In the mid 90s Joe Atkins took control of Bowers and Wilkins. The 1993 'Nautilus' Loudspeaker was officially launched and still remains the company's flagship product. In 1998, Some of the Nautilus technology was introduced in the somewhat more affordable Nautilus 800 series.

2000s

In 2002 B&W moved its Worthing production, warehousing, and head office to a new £7 million location on a former landfill site in Dale Road, Worthing. A second plant was built in Bradford. B&W took over its production factory for cabinets in Agerbæk, Denmark in 2003. In the same year, the Bradford location was left for new premises in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. In 2005, Bowers & Wilkins replaced its top-of-the-line N800 range with the new 800D range. The most publicized change was the introduction of diamond dome tweeters on some models 2005 also saw B&W receive the Queen's Award for Innovation for the tube-loaded drivers on the 800s. The EISA Award for European High-End Audio Component of the Year is awarded to the 603. The PV1 receives the European Home Theatre Subwoofer of the year 2005–2006 award. The XT series introduced aluminium as a speaker cabinet material. In 2007 the 'Zeppelin'

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

speaker system was introduced. In 2008, the " Jaguar XF Audio System" was introduced, a car audio setup with 14 speakers and a powered 440 Watt

Class AB In electronics, power amplifier classes are letter symbols applied to different power amplifier types. The class gives a broad indication of an amplifier's characteristics and performance. The classes are related to the time period that the active ...

DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...

amplifier. Bowers & Wilkins' latest project is the Society of Sound. Launched in June 2007, it is an online community focused on issues and discussions relating to high-quality sound. The Society of Sound has many celebrity "Fellows", who contribute material. Fellows include

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

, film composer James Howard, musician Dave Stewart, jazz singer

Cassandra Wilson Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wi ...

, and industrial designer

. In May 2008, Bowers and Wilkins started the Bowers & Wilkins Music Club, now known as the Society of Sound, returning the company into the music business. The Society of Sound is a subscription-based music retail site. Albums are currently available in either

Apple Lossless The Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), also known as Apple Lossless, or Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE), is an audio coding format, and its reference audio codec implementation, developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music. ...

Flac FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software p ...

format. The site is a partnership with

Real World Studios Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World Records record label, Real Wor ...

, and artists to be featured have been

Little Axe Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, September 1949)Allmusic biography/ref> is an American musician who also performs under the stage name Little Axe. Career Early career Grounded in blues music learned from his father, a steel worker who p ...

Cara Dillon Cara Elizabeth Dillon (born 21 July 1975, in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving t ...

Gwyneth Herbert Gwyneth Herbert (born 26 August 1981) is a British singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Initially known for her interpretation of jazz and Swing (genre), swing jazz standard, standards, she is now established ...

, and

Portico Quartet Portico Quartet are an instrumental band from London, UK. They are known for their use of the hang, a modern percussion instrument. Their debut album, ''Knee-Deep in the North Sea'', was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was '' Time Out� ...

. Former

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was fir ...

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Brett Anderson Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004-2 ...

had his solo album

Wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

released through the Society of Sound before being available for retail.

2010s

In May 2016, Bowers & Wilkins was bought by Eva Automation, a company founded two years prior by

Gideon Yu Gideon Lee Yu (born May 14, 1971) is a Korean-American technology, media and sports investor, executive and advisor. Yu is currently a co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team. He was previously the team president. In 2012, Yu became the ...

. In October 2017 Bowers & Wilkins became the official headphones and loudspeaker partner of

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

2020s

In October 2020 Sound United LLC acquired Bowers & Wilkins.

Locations

The headquarters for Bowers & Wilkins is in Worthing, West Sussex.

References

External links

Bowers & Wilkins Web Site

History of Bowers & Wilkins

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers and Wilkins Loudspeaker manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1966 Companies based in Sussex 1966 establishments in England British brands