The audio quality of PC speaker disappoint way too often. The more fastidious Hi-Fi users have started to accept the PC as an alternative source for audio signals. It’s not that uncommon to see incredibly expensive speakers connected to huge amplifiers being fed by a signal from a notebook at various Hi-Fi events. Well renowned speaker builder Bowers & Wilkins has turned things around. It has designed a set of speakers that is said to offer Hi-Fi audio quality in a compact format.
The company is perhaps better known as B&W and here it has used 3″ bass and midrange drivers together with 1″ treble in an overall tube-like design.
Each driver is powered by an integrated 18W amplifier and it has even included a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for adjusting the audio signal to optimal quality. B&W MM-1 connects to a USB port and will do without a sound card, and it comes with an integrated earphone amplifier.
All hi-fi set ups have a sweet spot – the area in the listening space where music sounds at its best. With full size hi-fi , that area is usually some distance away from the speakers. So we’ve made some electronic adjustments to the MM-1 to make sure the sweet spot is where you are: a few feet from the computer screen. You’ll always be right in the middle of the action.
B&W hasn’t revealed any prices, but MM-1 will start shipping in February.
