Design and build:

B & W Panorama 3 and Formation bar are large soundbars that are available in black color. If you have large TVs of 70 to 80” sizes, then these bars will be a good fit. Design wise, the Formation bar is different with rounded sides and curves on the body. The soundbars are made of plastic and wrapped with fabric grille. In Formation bar, the sides are made of metal.

Panorama 3 has a reflective part on the top panel that might reflect scenes. This may cause annoyance and disturbance. Overall, the build quality is great, but you need to take care of the cloth grille.

Performance:

Comparing B & W Panorama 3 vs Formation bar, the Panorama 3 is a 3.1.2 channel bar that supports Dolby Atmos. The Formation bar has a 3.0 channel configuration that does not support Dolby Atmos. Panorama 3 can get slightly louder than the Formation bar. In terms of dialog clarity, the bars show excellent representation. Voices are loud and intelligible thanks to the dedicated center channel.

Panorama 3 soundbar can deliver a good sense of height. The sound is well controlled, and the movies are quite engaging. It can deliver room-filling sound in small rooms. It has a wide soundstage with average focus. With 2 built-in subwoofers, the low ends are good and much better than any stereo soundbar. Compared to the Formation bar with no subwoofer, the Panorama 3 can deliver a decent amount of bass. Instrumental sounds are accurate and lively making this bar a good option for music.

This Bower & Wilkins Dolby Atmos soundbar has two upward-firing drivers. It can create a good sense of height that is great while watching movies. Overhead effects are present but average. At least it is better than any non-Atmos bar like the Formation model. The bar has good dynamics and can bring out the details very well. As long as you are within the sweet spot, the bar delivers accurate sound production. That said, as a 3-channel bar, you need to be forgiving before criticizing.

Bower & Wilkins Formation bar is a simple soundbar. It has a total of 9 drivers for front left, right and center channel. Out of the box, the bar has a neutral audio profile. The bar has a broad soundstage that is decent and accurate. Users can hear the sound following actions on screen. This gives quite an engaging experience. Similar to the Panorama 3, the bar can get quite loud, but it is suggested not to crank them up too high to avoid distortion.

The Formation bar has mediocre surrounds as it does not have any surround speakers or side-firing drivers. It is capable of producing clear and detailed sound despite some lacking on bass and surround effects. These can easily be improved with the addition of external speakers. That said, the bass still sounds rich and well-defined from this single bar. The soundbar is quite musical and we had no issues listening to different music genres.

Features: 

Comparing the B & W Formation vs Panorama 3 bars, the Formation is expandable, but Panorama 3 is not. With the Formation bar, you can add Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bass wireless powered subwoofer 749FRMBASS along with Bowers & Wilkins Formation Flex speakers 749FMRFLEX.

The Formation soundbar can be a part of B&W's proprietary Formation Wireless Multiroom Audio Eco-System. Users can connect a maximum of 6 Formation speakers where you can play the same song on all or different in each speaker.

With Panorama 3, it can be a part of Bowers & Wilkins Formation & Zeppelin Series speaker. The number of connected speakers and source (Tidal, Spotify Connect, Qobuz, Soundcloud) are similar to the Formation bar.

Connectivity:

Look at the back panel of the bars for physical inputs but the Formation bar lacks HDMI port. Panorama 3 has both HDMI and optical port along with Ethernet port. In Formation bar, you will have optical and Ethernet ports. Most new TVs connect via HDMI so for them the Panorama 3 will be a good choice. They both have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.

With Wi-Fi, streaming from online services and apps is very easy. Bluetooth allows to connect to 8 devices at once but you can play from one device at a time

Control options:

Compared to the Bower & Wilkins Formation Bar, the Panorama 3 has touch sensitive buttons that let you control volume, playback, and enable Alexa. It also has a multifunctional button. With Formation bar, you have volume, play/pause and change input options. Unlike the formation bar, Panorama 3 can be controlled with Alexa.

Along with controlling the bar, you can use it to stream contents from different sources. Instead of remote, Music Bower & Wilkins app is available for giving commands to the bar from a distance. However, you can control the bars through the TV remote.

Settings:

These soundbars are designed to be easy to use. They offer only bass and treble adjustment options. For that, you can use the mobile app. We wish for a basic voice mode or night mode that would have been quite a help in tweaking the sound. 

Cost:

B & W Panorama 3 and Formation bar are quite expensive as a standalone bar. They are similar priced and are available at around $1000.

FAQ:

Why are Bower & Wilkins speakers so expensive?

Bower & Wilkins speakers like the Panorama 3 and Formation bar are quite costly as a standalone soundbar. However, the company is known to use premium material in the build, test the bars with skilled personnels and ensure top notch audiophile grade sound.