The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge is a premium home speaker that stands out from the crowd thanks to its unique design. Its elliptical shape calls to mind the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021, though, unlike the Zeppelin, this speaker doesn't offer built-in voice assistant support. This stylish device is an excellent addition to your home decor, and its support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Apple AirPlay 2 technology makes it easy to wirelessly stream audio from your phone or other mobile devices.
The Bowers & Wilkins Wedge is satisfactory for music. Out of the box, it has decent frequency response accuracy, especially in the mids, where most voices and instruments reproduce. As a result, it's suitable for listening to lots of different music genres. It gets loud, too, and its bass and treble adjustments let you switch up its sound. It lacks a full graphic EQ to adjust its output across the range.
The Bowers & Wilkins Wedge isn't intended for watching movies, but if you want to watch videos through a paired smartphone, it can get the job done. Dialogue is clear, and there's a little boom in the bass for action-packed scenes. There's very little latency over Apple AirPlay, too, so you don't have to worry about lip-synching issues.
The Bowers & Wilkins Wedge is fair for podcasts. Dialogue is clearly reproduced, meaning you can follow along with your favorite shows with ease. The speaker gets loud and lets you wirelessly stream from your phone over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Apple AirPlay. Its wired-only design means you can't easily bring it with you from room to room as you listen.
This speaker doesn't support voice assistants.
The Bowers & Wilkins Wedge is a wired-only device that isn't meant for outdoor use.
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge is available in either Black or Silver color variants. We tested the Black variant, and you can see the label for our model here. However, we expect the Silver version to perform similarly.
If you come across another version of this speaker, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
The Bowers & Wilkins Wedge is a unique-looking home speaker that's designed to stand out when placed among your home decor. It offers impressive audio quality, with an adjustable EQ available in its companion app. Its high-end pricing can be limiting for many, and compared to other home speakers, it lacks built-in voice assistant support.
You can also check out the best home speakers, the best Bluetooth speakers, and the best Bluetooth speakers for bass.
The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021 and the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge are both high-end home speakers with unique designs. Depending on your style, you may prefer one to the other. That said, only the Zeppelin offers built-in voice assistant support. It performs a little better at max volume, so you notice less compression in the mix.
The Sonos Five is better than the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge. Both of these wired home speakers have high-end price tags, and while the Bowers & Wilkins has a stand-out design, the Sonos is more likely to blend into your home decor. When it comes to sound, the Sonos brings more low-bass, too. However, it doesn't offer Bluetooth connectivity like the Bowers & Wilkins.
The Devialet Mania and the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge are both very high-end speakers. They each have stylish designs and, depending on your preferences, you may like one more than the other. The Devialet is battery-operated, so it's much more portable, and its IPX4 rating for water resistance makes it more suitable for outdoor use. Unlike the Bowers & Wilkins, it has built-in voice assistant support.
The Denon Home 350 is better for home use than the Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge. Both are stylish wired-only speakers with sleek designs, though the Bowers & Wilkins will stand out more in your home decor. That said, it can't reproduce as much low-bass as the Denon and lacks built-in voice assistant support. Overall, the Denon is the more versatile choice.
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge and the Bluesound PULSE 2i are two premium speakers with different strengths. They're both wired-only devices with different designs, and you may prefer one over the other based on your tastes. As for the sound, the Bluesound is a bit louder, while the Bowers & Wilkins brings a touch more bass.
The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge is a unique-looking home speaker that's designed to stand out. It has an elliptical shape, similar to the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021, and it's wrapped in fabric. On top, there's a glass panel with LED touch control lights.
This speaker has a solid and premium feel overall. It's wrapped in mesh fabric with a faceted pattern, but it doesn't feel as tight as the fabric that comes with the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021. The fabric seems like it could rip if you aren't careful when carrying it. Similar to other home speakers, it isn't rated for dust or water resistance, so it's not meant for use near water.
The controls are on top of the speaker. Overall, they're really easy to use, and you can adjust the volume or play/pause your audio with the touch of a button. They light up when you touch them, too, which makes it easy to see what you're doing in a dark room. However, other functionalities like skipping tracks can only be done through your paired device or the app, which isn't ideal if you don't want to use your phone.
This speaker has decent frequency response accuracy. Overall, its sound profile is pretty even. As a result, it's suitable for listening to many different types of audio content. There's a little extra boom in the high-bass that adds some excitement to rumbling tracks like EDM and hip-hop, though the slight dip in the mid-mids can make voices slightly hollow or recessed at times. If you want a different sound, you can adjust the bass and treble in the companion app.
Its soundstage is great. This speaker can playback stereo content without downmixing it to mono, so sound effects like instruments are accurately localized to pinpoint locations in the soundstage. For example, if you're meant to hear a guitar on the right and a keyboard on the left, the speaker will reproduce each sound accordingly. It has good directivity, so the soundstage is perceived as spacious and open-sounding.
This speaker gets loud, so it has no trouble filling larger or more open spaces with sound. Some compression and pumping artifacts are present at max volume, especially in the bass range. The Bluesound PULSE 2i is a good option if you want a speaker that gets even louder with less compression at max volume.
While there aren't any built-in voice assistants, you can set up another Amazon Alexa device to control this speaker via the Bowers & Wilkins app.
The Bowers & Wilkins Music app is rather simple. There are bass and treble adjustments if you want to change the speaker's sound, and you can also use the app to access music streaming services like Deezer and Tidal. Also, there's a feature called Spaces that lets you play music from other Bowers & Wilkins devices within the same area. Check out a video of the app here.
Aside from its power port, there's a USB-C input on the rear of the speaker to service it. However, you can't use it to playback audio.
You can stream content from your mobile devices to the speaker via Bluetooth. It has a fantastic range, so your phone or tablet remains connected to the device, even if you're further away. If you're using an Android device, the relatively low latency means you won't notice any lip-synching issues while watching videos. However, there's a bit more of a delay over iOS devices. Some apps compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary.
You can wirelessly stream audio to the speaker over a Wi-Fi or Apple AirPlay connection. Thanks to its low latency over AirPlay, you won't notice a delay between the audio you hear and the visuals on screen when watching videos. Of course, some apps compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary slightly.