Bowers & Wilkins

Bowers & Wilkins traces its origins to August 1946, when John Bowers and Roy Wilkins opened a small shop in Worthing, England, to serve the growing community of amateur radio enthusiasts in the years following World War II. The two had met while serving in the Royal Corps of Signals, and Bowers subsequently worked maintaining clandestine radio communications during the war. As the shop began supplying public address equipment to schools and churches, Bowers became increasingly absorbed in the design and assembly of loudspeakers.

In 1966, a former opera singer named Miss Knight bequeathed Bowers £10,000 in her will, enabling him to leave the retail business and establish B&W Loudspeakers Ltd in earnest. Early innovations included the use of Aramid Fibre for midrange cones in the DM6, and the 801 loudspeaker launched in 1979 became the reference monitor at Abbey Road Studios and other prestigious recording facilities. Bowers & Wilkins received its first Queen's Award for Industry in 1973.

Today Bowers & Wilkins operates as part of Harman International Industries, with headquarters in Carlsbad, California, and design and engineering rooted in its British heritage. The current product range includes the Nautilus and 800 Series loudspeakers, 700 and 600 Series speakers, a full line of headphones and wireless earbuds, subwoofers, home theatre systems, and wireless multiroom speakers.