Following their Primavera Sound debut, we take a closer look at Bowers & Wilkins new sound system ahead of WOMAD

Premiering their new sound system at Primavera Sound this June, audio innovators Bowers & Wilkins, amazed festival goers with their audio-visual concept which far surpassed its original label. A fully immersive territory, the three-sixty-degree sound collage cocooned each reveler taking them on a journey to ultimate sonic pleasure – marking another step in Bowers & Wilkins mission to make the benefits of hi-fi sound accessible to the masses.

Gone are the days of shouting: “Louder, louder”, or wishing the DJ could crank it up a little, each set was played at thunderous volumes, to rave reviews; and with headliners of the Bowers & Wilkins X Boiler Room stage including the likes of Jamie XX, John Talbot and Pional, it’s safe to say there were no better artists to take head up the test drive. In addition to the headliners, the stage also featured a carefully curated line up of the best up-and-coming and established artists in modern dance music today including Catalan favourite William Dafoe play and 25-year-old Londoner The Haxan Cloak.

If we’re talking technicalities, Bowers & Wilkins responded to a perceived lack of definition from existing festival sound-systems, taking the acoustic technologies and principals of its much-lauded reference speakers and dramatically up-scaling them to meet the demands of large festival venues. Comprising of four huge, three-metre high speaker stacks which, when combined, are be capable of delivering 120dB of bass in tandem with reduced distortion and greatly improved directivity, the system provides you with ear popping sounds like never before.

“In creating this new system we’ve asked ourselves why people go to gigs and festivals. The answer is that nothing beats the rush of experiencing live music with others,” says Bowers & Wilkins Brand Director Danny Haikin. “But there’s a catch. Although concerts and live events are responsible for some of our most treasured musical memories, all too often something is missing from the experience: sound quality.”

So making sure they included all the essential ingredients, the Bowers & Wilkins Sound System brings hi-fi quality sound into the live music environment, but with the realism you’d expect from a top-end speaker, delivered at scale for the first time.

‘Sound System’ will next be appearing at WOMAD festival, 24th-27th July 2014.