Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 Computer Speakers - The British Aristocrat

A Little History

For audiophiles or for those with deep pockets, the name Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) will be no stranger to you. Famous for their outrageous Zeppelin iPod speaker system, there's actually more to the name.

Formed in the mid 1960s by John Bowers and Peter Hayward in England, their goal was to make B&W the world's foremost producer of loudspeaker systems. Their systems are world renowned and are well received to the point that even the legendary Abbey Road Studios and Skywalker Sound studios have, at some point in their history, used B&W systems - specifically the famous B&W 801 speakers.

Today, B&W is diversifying their business by creating more consumer-oriented fare. The Zeppelin marks the first step in that direction, and they are following up with their first ever speaker system designed specially for computers - the MM-1.

Sure, after the Zeppelin, the MM-1 isn't the most imaginatively named pair of speakers, but then again, B&W has had a history of giving odd names to their products. For example, their headphones are named simply "P-5", whereas some of their speakers go simply by their series name like "XT" or "CM".

Head on to the next page to find out more about B&W's latest.

The Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 Computer Speakers

First of all, you should have a proper frame of mind of the MM-1. It is a 2.0 speaker system that has been touted by B&W to be a serious high-fidelity speaker set for the PC. It has a proper aluminum 1-inch tube-loaded tweeter to handle all the high notes and a woofer unit for mid-range notes and bass. The MM-1 has also been specially calibrated such that if you place the speakers by the sides of your display, the sweet spot will be right in front of your screen.

Instead of depending on your computer's inconsistent analogue signal output, music is streamed from your computer to the MM-1 digitally via USB, after which it is then processed by the MM-1's very own digital signal processor. This ensures a clean signal and the best reproduction of your music.

In terms of looks, the B&W MM-1 is somewhat disappointing, or to be more accurate, understated. The twin speakers certainly exude a premium look and feel, but they also resemble two fairly large tins, which is really unexciting. We may be harsh, but this coming from the company which gave us the gorgeous Zeppelin, the MM-1 just doesn't cut it in terms of looks.

Test Setup

Since the B&W MM-1 streams music via USB, there's no need for the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude soundcard that we usually use for our tests. Nevertheless, we will still be using the same Shuttle XPC SD37P2 (Intel 975X) as our test system.

Testing would be done across four categories: CD, MP3, movies and games. We'll be testing the B&W MM-1 across a wide variety of tracks to gauge its performance.

To fully and accurately ascertain the performance of the speakers, we subjected them to four main tests. First, they were tested for their abilities in playing music, and this was broken down further into two sub-categories: CD and MP3. Next, were movies, and lastly, games.

For music, we played a variety of different tracks to see how the speakers would perform across different genres such as acoustic, jazz, orchestral and trance. In movies, we were interested in the overall experience. Was dialogue clear? Were the sound effects apparent? And does it feel like a cinematic experience? Likewise in games, we were interested to find out if the speakers were capable of enhancing the gaming experience. Did it immerse us into the game atmosphere, and did we feel like we were 'experiencing' the game, instead of merely playing. In short, what were interested in was how the speakers made us, for lack of a better word, 'feel' while we were playing the test materials.

Of course, different people have different musical and sonic tastes. Some are bassheads while others are treble freaks, so your preferences with speakers may vary.

The complete list of testing material is as follows:

CD Testing:

• Pod Race Scene from Phantom Menance
• Tyrannosaurus Rex Sound Effects from Jurassic Park
• Theme from Jurassic Park
• Apollo 13 Lift-off Sound Effects
• Theme from Cutthroat Island
• Fanfare for Louis, performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony

MP3 Testing:

• Hotel California - Eagles
• Sail on Soothsayer - Buckethead
• Melt My Heart to Stone - Adele
• Elements of Life - Tiesto

DVD Testing:

• Lord of the Rings - (Starting sequence, Balin's Tomb & Bridge of Khazad-dum)
• Swordfish (Starting sequence)

Game Testing:

• Far Cry 2

Report Card

Our usual practice is to begin testing the B&W MM-1 with our collection of CD tracks to give us a good initial feel of what the speakers are capable of. With tracks ranging from sound effects, movie dialogues and orchestral pieces, our CD testing gives the speakers a good initial work out. As soon as the music started playing, we could immediately tell that the B&W MM-1 was something special. Despite its modest size, it sounded extremely full-bodied and loud. The Pod Race scene displayed the MM-1's amazing ability to project a spacious soundstage as we could easily make out the pods swooshing from left to right. And in spite of lacking a subwoofer, the MM-1 could reproduce low notes with tremendous ease. The roar of the racing pods from the Star Wars track and the growl of the T-rex from the Jurassic Park recording was deeply satisfying.

The B&W MM-1 continued its impressive showing as we moved on to MP3 testing. They seemed to be nothing it couldn't handle. Hotel California sounded magnificent to the point where it sounded as if The Eagles were playing in our very own test lab. Imaging is top notch as the lows, mids and highs were faultless and everything just sounded so natural. To further elaborate, Buckethead's Sail on Soothsayer was tackled expertly too, with the MM-1 displaying great speed and dexterity; while Tiesto's Elements of Life allowed the MM-1 to display its prowess in playing dance tracks, as it pumped out deep, powerful and punchy bass notes.

The B&W MM-1 was a keen performer when playing movies as well. Dialogue was crystal clear and even with its modest size, it was able to deliver the goods during the explosion scene at the opening sequence of Swordfish.

The B&W MM-1 could not be flustered at games too. We played a bit of Far Cry 2 and the MM-1 was brilliant here as well. Gun shots and explosions had oomph and sufficient "feel", whereas the background noises of the jungle was managed beautifully. All in all, the MM-1 made for an immersive gaming experience too.

Jolly Good Sound

The new Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 speakers might look plain and uninspiring, but it sounds anything but that. To be honest, it completely bowled us over, and it's been some time since we've heard anything this good. Where some systems are tuned specifically for a certain purpose, the MM-1 seems to have all bases covered as it sounded good when we were listening to music, watching movies or even when playing games. This makes it an ideal compact sound system for your desktop.

From an audio perspective and as far as 'mainstream' speaker brands are concerned, the B&W MM-1 is as near perfect as it's going to get. Its audio performance floored us, and there seems to be nothing it cannot do well. For that, we've given this pair of 2.0 speaker set full marks for its performance aspect.

Unfortunately, it is not perfect. For one, we don't quite like it from a design perspective - it's too dull for a B&W product. The black cloth grille also catches dust and lint easily. Another minor complaint we have with the MM-1 has got to do with heat. The top of the speakers are brushed aluminum and we found that the right-side speakers heat up real bad during operation. We suspect that's because the right-side speaker is where all the processing circuitry is located.

However, these minor niggles won't detract you from the listening experience and if you value audio performance above anything else, the B&W MM-1 is the one for you.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.