Is it impossible to use a more powerful sub with B&W formation system?

Gafana

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I am pretty sure I already know the answer to my question. I got myself stuck into the formation ecosystem so now I have to deal with it. It's not a terrible system. The bar is pretty good, although I wish it had ATMOS for being $1100. My biggest problem is the sub is just not enough. It's a dual 6.5" (active/passive) that puts out a surprising amount of bass for it's size. Also, the bass is really tight, likely due to the small size and being sealed. It's just too small for my large great room I have it in. I have terrible dead spots and it just doesn't fill the room. They dont even allow you to connect 2 subs to do a 5.2. Even if they did, I'm not sure I can justify spending over $2000 for two Formation Bass subs that will probably perform only 10% as well as an SVS PB-16.

I would LOVE to connect in an SVS PB-16 :) But B&W formation is a proprietary wifi setup with absolutely no outputs or any way to tie into it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to address this bass problem? Or is dumping the B&W formation setup the only solution here?
 
Not possible as there isn´t connections and even if there was it would be quite silly to have 16" woofers with soundbar which has mini 2,6" drivers. :laugh: 🤪

I think it´s time to move that to bedroom / kids room and buy real system. There is lot of options for speakers in US to keep wife happy. For receiver i would look something like Denon X3700H / Marantz SR6015 as minium with dual subwoofer eq ability as you mentioned the dead spots.

Clearly there is more options for subwoofers aswell with the ID brands without the need to break the bank which have ability to fill large room. Naturally you would buy two! Rythmik offers also gloss black finish!




 
Not possible as there isn´t connections and even if there was it would be quite silly to have 16" woofers with soundbar which has mini 2,6" drivers. :laugh: 🤪

Whilst I appreciate the general sentiment and agree, you'd be surprised how much subs alone can add to tiny speakers. As I found to my surprise once whilst renovating the house, hooked up a couple of SVS PC Ultra subs direct to the TV for a laugh and wow, took the experience to another level instantly.

OP, time to ditch the soundbar or if you must have one, make sure it has sub preouts. Be advised, slim pickings:

 
It's an expensive option, but I think you could connect a third-party sub using one of these:

Formation Audio

Edit: After a quick look at the manual I'm less sure now. It's not clear if you can sync up a "TV Space" and a "Music Space".
 
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I am pretty sure I already know the answer to my question. I got myself stuck into the formation ecosystem so now I have to deal with it. It's not a terrible system. The bar is pretty good, although I wish it had ATMOS for being $1100. My biggest problem is the sub is just not enough. It's a dual 6.5" (active/passive) that puts out a surprising amount of bass for it's size. Also, the bass is really tight, likely due to the small size and being sealed. It's just too small for my large great room I have it in. I have terrible dead spots and it just doesn't fill the room. They dont even allow you to connect 2 subs to do a 5.2. Even if they did, I'm not sure I can justify spending over $2000 for two Formation Bass subs that will probably perform only 10% as well as an SVS PB-16.

I would LOVE to connect in an SVS PB-16 :) But B&W formation is a proprietary wifi setup with absolutely no outputs or any way to tie into it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to address this bass problem? Or is dumping the B&W formation setup the only solution here?
Hey, did you find any fix for this? as i find myself in the same confusion. I love the duos but need more bass. Happy to get the formation audio but nobody seems to be sure if we can connect an external sub to it.

Also can you use the duos as part of a 5.1 native home theatre system using the formation audio connected to an av receiver?
 

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