Before the Zeppelin iPod dock made Bowers & Wilkins a commonplace name in the world of gadgets, the company was known for its amazing, but pricey, loudspeakers. In that tradition B&W just announced the $2800 PM1 mini-monitors. These bookshelf speakers are a mere 25-inches tall but weigh 20lbs each and use some of B&W’s most advance speaker technology. Forget the sound for a moment, the delicious Mocha Gloss finish makes the speaker look the cost of admission alone.
B&W speakers are instantly identifiable by the iconic Nautilus tapering tube tweeter. But while the tweeter on the new PM1 compact loudspeaker might look like the B&W speakers from the ’90s, it’s an entirely new housing that likely accounts for the vast majority of the high MSRP. The aluminium tweeter doom can now reach 40kHz through a new design that employees a stiffer carbon fiber ring to brace the voice coil and the whole assembly. The result moves the already barely audible break-up frequency range from 30kHz to 40kHz, but produces a larger range as a whole with noticeable difference around the 20kHz range. The PM1’s bass/midrange driver also uses a revamped assembly that sports a new anti-resonance plug that’s shaped like a mushroom and fits tight in the front voice coil.
Expect the PM1 speakers to hit approved B&W dealers this July.