Bowers & Wilkins’ new Formation speakers are an ultra premium alternative to Sonos

Bowers & Wilkins’ new Formation Suite, a luxury high-end audio system for the whole home, has officially launched today. It is comprised of five very expensive products — with designs that you’ll either love or hate — that can be wirelessly synced to each other a la Sonos. Each of the speakers in the Formation suite support high-quality 96kHz / 24-bit sound via wireless streaming, and Bowers & Wilkins touts that they feature a simplistic user interface to allow for easy setup.

For a broad look at what’s new, there’s a soundbar, a twin-pack of bookshelf speakers, a subwoofer, a wedge-shaped speaker for corners, and lastly, the most affordable product in the lineup is an analog-to-digital / digital-to-audio converter that supports AirPlay 2.

Here’s a breakdown of the five products straight from the press release:

Formation Bar – Nine optimized drive units provide a wide soundstage including a dedicated center channel, so you always feel like you’re in the center of sound action. Priced at $1,199.

Formation Duo – With the same carbon-domed, tweeter-on-top technology and Continuum cone driver as Bowers & Wilkins’ industry-defining wired speakers, now experience legendary sound, wirelessly. Priced at $3,999.

Formation Wedge – Uniquely characterized by a 120-degree elliptical speaker shape, with dedicated full-range stereo sound components experience room filling high-resolution stereo sound. Priced at $899.

Formation Bass – Opposed drivers, powerful amplifiers and Dynamic EQ provide accurate audio depth and dimension without distortion. Pairs with other Formation components for the ultimate audio immersion. Priced at $999.

Formation Audio – Patented Formation Wireless Technology turns any traditional passive system into a high-fidelity streaming system for a best-of-all worlds sound experience. Priced at $699.

Bowers & Wilkins is no stranger to the world of high-end audio, both when it comes to the sound performance that’s expected and the price that such quality often demands. So it’s not much of a surprise that the entire Formation Suite lineup costs almost $8,000 when you add it all up. For most consumers, Sonos makes a whole lot more sense. But if those speakers fail to measure up, now there’s a much fancier version.