B&W Bows Panorama 3 Sound Bar With Atmos, Multiroom Capability

Bowers & Wilkins highlighted spatial audio in the launch of the Panorama 3 sound bar with a Dolby Atmos decoder and tuning by B&W engineers. It’s the first Panorama redesign since the Panorama 2 hit the market in 2013 and is upgradeable over time, including for multiroom capability soon after launch, the company emailed Thursday. It will be compatible with other Panorama sound bars, B&W Zeppelin music systems and the company’s Formation products in a multiroom setup, the company said. Like the first two, the Panorama 3 is billed as a full-range stand-alone speaker system that doesn’t require additional bass from an external subwoofer. The $999 Panorama 3 has 13 drivers, including the series’ first upfiring units for Atmos, plus two subwoofers, all with 400 watts of amplification. It includes AirPlay 2 and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth for iOS and Android users to stream music from mobile devices; it also has Spotify Connect. An HDMI cable links the sound bar to a TV. Users can control volume and power via the TV or cable box remote, the company said. Capacitive touch-control buttons on the top light up when touched, and the sound bar can be voice-controlled by Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant. Other streaming services available via the Panorama 3 include Deezer, Last.fm, Qobuz, SoundCloud, Tidal, TuneIn and the Bowers & Wilkins Music App.