Bowers & Wilkins

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Bowers & Wilkins

Type	Private
Founded	1966
Headquarters	Worthing Britain
Key people	Joe Atkins Chairman
Industry	Consumer electronics
Products	Loudspeakers
Website	www.bwgroup.com

Bowers & Wilkins is a high-end British loudspeaker company. The company name is often abbreviated to just B&W. The company was founded by John Bowers in 1966. On the death of John Bowers in 1987, the company was entrusted to Robert Trunz who encouraged and developed the John Bowers Philosophy of research and development that culminated in the Nautilus in 1991. Still their flagship product, the Nautilus speaker, shaped like its namesake seashell invented by B&W scientist Laurence Dickie, who also invented the 'Matrix' system for reduced cabinet colouration and distortion. Nautilus was developed on the back of research by John Bowers into 'perfect dipoles'. Instead of open ended drivers, it uses backless open magnet transducers placed in back to front horns, or exponentially tapered tubes to cancel all rear radiation. The result was a near perfect response and zero cabinet colouration. The next in line is the well-received 800 series, which is also used by many classical music labels (e.g. Philips and Decca) in their studios to monitor recordings, and thus popular among classical music aficionados. B&W speakers are also well-known for attention to fit and finish, such as the use of real wood veneers. Joe Atkins is current owner and chairman, from the USA. B&W is still based in its home town of Worthing, West Sussex, England. Engineers of note, who have worked on R&D for over two decades in Steyning include Steve Roe, John Dibb and Peter Fryer.

B&W is part of the B&W Group Ltd, which also includes Rotel and Classé electronics (midrange and high-end, respectively) and iCommand control systems for custom installations. B&W previously offered a range of electronics (Amplifiers etc.) under the Aura brand, but it was discontinued in 1997.