http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi Thoughts on all things Hi-fi, loud speaker and sound related Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:00:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The midrange is where the real musical action is invariably found, and a smooth midband is an invaluable loudspeaker quality. Enter Kevlar. It's been Bowers & Wilkins' cone material of choice since 1974, and with good reason. The basic woven fabric is first impregnated with a stiffening resin that cures ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=240 If you have a Zeppelin, we hope that you are already enjoying the fantastic sound that it offers. But as is always the way with hi-fi, if you put a bit of thought into placement the resulting performance will improve. Small things can make a big difference in audio. For starters, ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=232 According to What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision the music industry is getting together to launch another new digital music format. The new downloadable format - currently called CMX - will provide users with more than just music. It will also offer lyrics, artwork and other bonus goodies. There doesn't appear to ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=215 [caption id="attachment_211" align="alignright" width="112" caption="Free Lossless Audio Codec"][/caption] The 24-bit FLAC files we offer full members of Society of Sound are proving incredibly popular. They are close to being the most popular of the three formats we offer, which is both reassuring, and a little bit surprising. Reassuring because we feel ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=210 There's nothing we like more at Bowers & Wilkins' London offices than racing in first thing in the morning, plugging an iPod into the office Zeppelin hitting 'shuffle songs' and seeing what comes up. [caption id="attachment_200" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Bowers & Wilkins office Zeppelin"][/caption] All of our music is stored in wonderful ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=195 [caption id="attachment_181" align="alignright" width="185" caption="B&W 800 series speaker"][/caption] The final edits are being made to the next releases on the Glyndebourne CD label to be released in the autumn and we are very pleased to have been able to donate some speakers for the recording of these. The 2009 Festival (21 May-30 ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=180 [caption id="attachment_175" align="alignright" width="158" caption="Computer Audiophile symposium"][/caption] Demonstrating the complete journey from performing through recording to playback, Computer Audiophile have announced their inaugural Computer Audiophile Symposium taking place at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California. With representatives from Meridian-Sooloos amongst others, the symposium will focus on getting the best high quality playback for your ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=174 [caption id="attachment_166" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Our set up in the London B&W office"][/caption] As everyone knows, just as CDs supplanted vinyl and cassettes, MP3 and other digital-music formats are well on their way to replacing CDs as the most popular way to listen to music. In our minds that usually means more convenience ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=142 So, you've bought your brand new speakers - be it our award-laden Zeppelin ipod system, the equally heavily awarded 685s or a gleaming pair of 802D's - and you're lining up your favourite music to test them on. We want to know what you've found sounds the best. Which stand-out  track ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=131 The eminent sound artist Janet Cardiff is the latest Fellow to join Society of Sound. She works mainly in collaboration with her partner George Bures Miller, and - according to Wikipedia - "first gained international notoriety...in 1995." Her latest installation, The Murder of Crows, uses one hundred B&W speakers and is ... http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/hifi/?p=104