B&W Exploration of deep Sounds

Most of us want to conceal them or, for the least, see them as little as possible. After all, Subwoofers rely on bass frequencies nature: they are non directional, hence no need to put them behind your Mother in law’s flower pot (although one might precisely wish to use bass frequencies to… well, facilitate its premature destruction). Some might consider their Hi-Fi or Home Video systems, however, as the best expression of today’s designers’ hype and will want them in plain view. The B & W PV1 is certainly for them.

The PV1 is certainly a piece of design, like any Italian sport car is, and it certainly plays in the top end of the market. So the project specification was certainly “do whatever to come with the best and most beautiful”. And it came. It is directly inspired, not by the latest NASA research but by what is best for the conquest of the undersea world: a bathyscaphe, which is basically a round shape, because the sphere can endure enormous pressures in the deep blue.

You simply place the beauty on the floor on a rubber ring behind which the terminal panel is protected. One can chain two PV1 together if needed (?).

B & W engineers have placed two back to back 200 mm drivers (think of these 2001 A Space Odyssey’s spherical capsules that came out of the main vessel) in order to reduce or even get rid of the vibration caused by each of them, a little like some two-engine aircraft equipped with contra-rotary propellers mounted on the centre line… and you place it carefully because it weighs more than 20 Kg and is… round, so not so easy to move. A rubber circle protects the terminal panel which includes line level input and output, two pin power, and a telecom-like RJ11 speaker level sockets. A set of five controls (+/- phase, high frequency, low frequency roll off, volume, on/auto/stanby switch) are placed so as to be in the line of the outer skin of the device.

Power is obtained from a 500 Watt digital amp, and the structure has been conceived to be very strong.

The lowest frequency is 18 Hz, with a low pass filter that one can set from 40 to 140 Hz in seven stages. The result is impressive with no colouration, deep long bass. At such price one could expect the best and it is there, very versatile and capable to adjust with almost any combination of speakers. It certainly delivers as much quality as bigger devices.

It is priced at GBP 950.

Weight: 20.5kg
Size (WxHxD): 29x34x35cm
Power: 500 watt integrated power amplifier
Drivers: Twin 200mm back-to-back mounted drivers
Inputs: 1 RCA line level, 1 RJ11
Outputs: 1 RCA line level
Controls: Volume, low frequency roll-off, phase +/-, high frequency roll-off, on/auto/standby
Finishes: Silver, or gloss black (both come with a dark grey trim)
see B&W website on www.bwspeakers.com