Let me tell you a story about home stereo. It’s a thrilling, decade spanning, epic saga involving drama, mystery, intrigue, romance and comedy.
OK, not really. We built a house. When we were building the house, I ran my own wiring for networking and for speakers. I did that because the house we were living in didn’t have either of those things and I’m a pretty tech savvy person so I wanted both of those. This was also at a time when wireless (speakers and networking) was not really all that advanced or at the same level of speed and quality as the wired equivalents. So, I got in to the house for one evening before they put up drywall and ran all the wiring I wanted.
Do you want to know how much of that I actually used?
The Ethernet was totally worth it. And to be honest I wish I had managed to do that in the house I’m in now. Even as far as wireless networking has come, it can still be a pain to get all my devices (TV, Blu-ray, cable/satellite receivers, streaming devices) to reliably connect to our home wireless from all the various places they are set up. And wireless is still noticeably slower.
The speaker wiring? Never used it once. For all the fancy speakers and surround sound speakers and center channel and sub-woofer, most of it went unused. I had the speakers hooked up in front and those got used, when we happened to watch a movie on DVD (this was before Blu-ray), but circumstances always seemed to get in the way of hooking up and actually using the rear surround speakers. This was also a time before it was easy to connect all your AV components. There was no HDMI. There were no smart remotes. You needed an electrician to figure out all the wires to hook up all your stereo components. Times are a little simpler now. Everything is infinitely easier to set up, even as it is more sophisticated.
A perfect example of this is the new Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar, Wedge and Bass at Best Buy. You may be thinking that Formation Bar, Wedge and Bass is some new Hippity hoppity group, but it’s not. It’s a line of incredible speakers that are technically advanced and look really nice. And Wireless. No more dangling wires behind your TV stand. Well, there might be dangling wires, but not from your sound system.
OK there might be one or two wires, but not 14. Let me explain. The Formation Bar connects to your TV, with an Optical Audio cable. That’s it (along with a power cord). After a little configuration, your TV will use that for it’s audio. Don’t want to watch TV but want to listen to some music? Stream to the Bar. Are you all about that Bass?
Add the Formation Bass sub-woofer. It will automatically connect to the Bar. No wires needed. Need some streaming music in another room? Add a Wedge.
There are a ton of options and configurations. You can configure all of them with the Bowers & Wilkins Home App. All your devices will connect wirelessly with a patented mesh network. I don’t pretend to reeeeally know what that is, but it is designed to not mess with your home wireless network. And best of all, you will experience amazing sound with an attractive sleek design.
So head over to Best Buy today because you can save $200 when you buy the Bar and Bass in store before September 7th. You know you want to.
Disclaimer: The reviewer was compensated for this post in the form of a Best Buy gift card.
