Bowers & Wilkins M1 Black (per unit)

I ordered this speaker (3 pieces) as an addition to my surround set and to replace 1 speaker. In 2009 I had already ordered 3 pieces of the M1 in the color silver.

Design: Unfortunately Bowers and Wilkins no longer supplies this speaker in silver, so I ended up going for the black version.

When unpacking the loudspeaker, I immediately noticed that Bowers and Wilkins further developed and designed the loudspeaker. The foot is nicely painted with a nice chrome line, which gives a chic look. Previously this was all chrome. In addition, the grille that protects the tweeter and mid-range is fully extended from top to bottom. In the old version, the top and bottom were still finished with a kind of plastic/rubber-like material. By now fully implementing the grid, the finish is more refined.

The paint job is very neat because of the somewhat coarse finish, it has a nice matte appearance.

Speaker position: An Allen key is supplied with the speaker in the bottom of the foot with which you can adjust the speaker completely. You can place the speaker on the foot both vertically and horizontally. This makes it possible to place the loudspeaker in any situation. A wall bracket is also included. This way you can always place the speaker.

Compared to the old version, I can't rotate the logo when the speaker is placed horizontally.

Connection: With this loudspeaker, the connection of the cable is clearly improved. With the old version, the cable had to be connected by means of a clamp connection that you had to tighten with an Allen screw. This had the disadvantage that you had to struggle a bit to do this well, but also that the cable had to make a very strange angle.

This version has a mechanism where you press in a clamping bush and then slide the cable in. This is easy and ensures a better connection.

For choosing the cable, the cable cannot be thicker than 1.5mmq. Also can not be connected with RCA plugs.

Sound quality:

I bought this speaker with the idea of using it as a surround system. This is how they are sold. I can say that this speaker delivers more than you would expect from such a small speaker. The new version is brighter and gives a wider tonal range again. Even if you increase the volume well, these speakers remain clear and provide an enormous experience. It is required to add a sub-woofer, these speakers are too short for real low tones.

Are you really someone who likes to listen to music and likes that all instruments come across as pure. Then I would like to direct you to look a little further. Despite the fact that the speaker can reproduce this well, if you increase the volume, the purity disappears a bit more. This is probably due to the fact that the housing is not made of wood and is not too big.

Has a very good sound, very suitable as a replacement for my hi-fi speakers, but placed in combination with a subwoofer. Had tried Cambridge Audio first, the size of a carton of milk. Sounded a lot less. Completely satisfied now.

I have 3 of these speakers. These are used as center and surround in combination with a pair of B&W 685 s2 speakers. The sound is fine, although a subwoofer must be added for very low tones. You have to get used to sound, other speakers give a different sound than what you are used to.