B&W Formation series issue

[thomaskmh]

Anyone also experiencing sync issues with the speakers?

I owned a pair of formation flex speakers and I am trying to play music through iphone/ mac via Airplay2.

The issue is that there is always a delay or sync problem when I play the music, (1-2s) which annoys me a bit as the video I play on youtube does not sync with the sound.

I was thinking to buy a pair of formation duo for the TV in the living room, not so sure about it now.

 

[Deleted member 197450]

Anyone also experiencing sync issues with the speakers?

I owned a pair of formation flex speakers and I am trying to play music through iphone/ mac via Airplay2.

The issue is that there is always a delay or sync problem when I play the music, (1-2s) which annoys me a bit as the video I play on youtube does not sync with the sound.

I was thinking to buy a pair of formation duo for the TV in the living room, not so sure about it now.

The more I listen to my Formation Duo the more I think they are not so good with TV. They sound great with Spotify and Apple music but via Bluetooth through the TV wireless not so good. You are better off spending the money on a home cinema system or a TV with good sound. That’s what I do now.

 

[Deleted member 197450]

According to this review if you buy the Formation Audio device to go with the Duo and use its optical input they sound amazing via the TV:

https://www.t3.com/reviews/bowers-wilkins-formation-duo-review

Perhaps I will have to buy the Formation Audio device now to get the most out of them.

 

[davidf]

You’ll always get a delay in audio when playing visual sources. This can vary with different inputs, and is all down to the processing timing of the signal. Sometimes it’s small enough not to notice, but can be large enough to be annoying. Many source components like Sky boxes and Bluray players have an audio delay feature on them, so can be adjusted at source. If all your visual sources are integral to the TV, you’re at the mercy of TV manufacturers incorporating audio delay - which they don’t. So it’s not really a fault of the B&Ws, it’s just the way the sources work, and their possible lack of adjusting for audio delay.

You can but small boxes hat can delay audio, from cheap tat to stuff that offer multiple inputs and offer up to 500ms of delay. You’ll usually only need 100-200ms.

 

[Solo]

Anyone also experiencing sync issues with the speakers?

I owned a pair of formation flex speakers and I am trying to play music through iphone/ mac via Airplay2.

The issue is that there is always a delay or sync problem when I play the music, (1-2s) which annoys me a bit as the video I play on youtube does not sync with the sound.

I was thinking to buy a pair of formation duo for the TV in the living room, not so sure about it now.

Why would you want to buy the Duo's for TV? The Duo's are designed stereo speakers for music. Of course you can connect them to your TV, either via Bluetooth, airplay via Apple tv or via the Formation Audio, but the fact remains that they are not designed for that. I think there are better solutions, try the Formation Bar.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Why should he have to buy another piece of kit when what he has should be able to do the job?

 

[Solo]

Why should he have to buy another piece of kit when what he has should be able to do the job?

Not sure if i misread, but the OP is saying "I was thinking to buy a pair of formation duo for the TV in the living room, not so sure about it now. "

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I see what you mean - I read the word formation twice and presumed it meant the same pair - it doesn't seem to on second reading.

 

[bigboss]

According to this review if you buy the Formation Audio device to go with the Duo and use its optical input they sound amazing via the TV:

https://www.t3.com/reviews/bowers-wilkins-formation-duo-review

Perhaps I will have to buy the Formation Audio device now to get the most out of them.

Obviously, you don't get HD audio either via Bluetooth or Optical.

 

[juhanharm]

I have Formation Duo and Audio. No sync issues. Optical sounds good. Also AUX output from TV sounds good.

Duo is not designed as a home cinema system, but nothing wrong it using them. Nice compact system that sounds good. Never used the Bluetooth, so don't know about that.

 

[stevebrass]

I have just bought a pair of Formation Duo speakers, and they do sound fantastic. However, for their price, I would have expected their Bluetooth interface to work well with my LG TV (which does work well with my headphones). The speakers will pair, but sound frequently drops out from either or both channels making them unusable with the TV. I didn't get them primarily to work with the TV, but I think that at that price, and since they do have BT capability they would be better than the TV speakers. It might be because the TV is BT 5.0 and the speakers are 4.1. I tried the optical output from the TV with a TROND BT transmitter with low latency aptX BT, and that had exactly the same issue, so I think the speakers are at fault. It's a shame, they are great otherwise.
B&W support is pretty much non existent - it would be nice to know for sure what the problem is...
Steve