Owner's Manual
3
ENGLISH
1. Formation Bar Carton Contents
Formation Bar
TOSLINK optical digital connection cable
Mains power cable set appropriate for your territory
Wall bracket
Document pack
Environmental Information
This product complies with international directives,
including but not limited to the Restriction of
Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electrical and
electronic equipment, the Registration, Evaluation,
Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
and the disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE). Consult your local waste
disposal authority for guidance on how properly to
recycle or dispose of this product.
2. Installing Your Formation Bar
Your Formation Bar requires a mains power supply
to operate so must be located within reach of a
mains socket. If your Formation Bar is to use a wired
connection to your home network it will need to
be located within reach of an appropriate network
(Ethernet) cable.
Your Formation Bar is intended to be positioned
directly below your TV screen and can be placed on
a shelf, table or furniture unit, but can also be wall-
mounted on a dedicated wall bracket.
If you decide to place your Formation Bar on a
shelf, ensure that the shelf is easily able to support
the weight. Furthermore, Formation Bar audio
performance may be diminished if mounting furniture
or shelf panels are imsy or resonant.
Note: If your Formation Bar is to be mounted on a
wall bracket, be sure to install the bracket in line
with its included instructions. If you are unsure of
the suitability of a wall, or of your ability to install
the wall bracket, you should engage specialist
help. Stud-work and plasterboard walls are
unlikely to provide adequate strength or rigidity to
support a Formation Bar and bracket.
Connections
In addition to a mains power socket your Formation
Bar carries an optical digital audio input socket
for connection to a TV and an Ethernet socket
for connection to a router should a wired network
connection be preferred to wireless (WiFi).
Note: The USB socket located on the Formation
Bar rear panel is intended for service and
diagnostic use only. It cannot be used for any
other purpose.
The Formation Bar optical digital audio input is
intended specically for the connection of an optical
digital TV audio output. Use the supplied TOSLINK
cable to connect your TV audio output to the
Formation Bar audio input. The Formation Bar will
automatically switch to its TV audio input when a
signal is present.
Your Formation Bar will automatically identify
and decode Dolby Surround encoded material
and create a surround sound experience. If a
Formation Bass subwoofer is connected in the same
Formation space as your Formation Bar it will switch
automatically to a low frequency effects (LFE) role
when Dolby Surround encoded material is identied.
Once your Formation Bar is set up, you should
switch off your TV internal speakers from the TV
audio settings menu. You may also have to enable
the digital audio output from the TV settings menu.
Switch On and Off
With all connections made, and the Bowers &
Wilkins Home app installed on your mobile device,
your Formation Bar is ready to be set up. Your
Formation Bar has no mains power switch and,
following a short start-up routine, will be operational
as soon as it is connected to mains power. It will
play an audio prompt when its startup routine is
complete.
When a Formation Bar that has not been previously
used is rst switched on it will automatically enter
setup mode to enable its connection to your home
network and to any other available Formation
devices. Setup mode is indicated by a slow orange
pulse illumination of the Form touch button
.
The Formation Bar will also appear in the Bowers
& Wilkins Home app as available for set up, either
on the initial app page, or after selecting ‘Add
Formation product’ from the app Settings page.
Your Formation Bar manages its operational state
and power consumption entirely automatically and
will switch to a power saving mode after twenty
minuets of inactivity. There is no need ever to switch
off your Formation Bar, however should you wish
to do so, simply disconnected it from mains power.
Your Formation Bar will retain its settings without
mains power.
You can restart a Formation Bar by a short press and
release of the reset button located on its rear panel.
Pressing the button will switch the Formation Bar off
and on again. All settings will be retained when your
Formation Bar restarts. You can also restart your
Formation Bar via the Bowers & Wilkins Home app
Settings page.
If you wish to to reset your Formation Bar to its
default settings, press and hold the reset button for
ve seconds. On restart, your Formation Bar will
enter setup mode. All settings will be deleted when
your Formation Bar resets. You can also reset your
Formation Bar via the Bowers & Wilkins Home app
Settings menu. The reset button is illustrated in
Diagram 2.
Network Set Up
• With your Formation Bar in setup mode, with its
Form button
illumination pulsing slowly
orange, launch the Bowers & Wilkins Home app
on your iOS or Android device. The app will guide
you with prompts though the set up process.
Note: Formation Bar employs a Bluetooth
connection to the device running the Bowers &
Wilkins Home app during the set up process.
Bluetooth signals have a relatively short range
and can be interrupted by room boundaries, so
we recommend that your Formation Bar and
Bowers & Wilkins Home app device remain in
close proximity during the set up process.
• The Bowers & Wilkins Home app will rst search
for Formation products in setup mode and display
a screen inviting the selection of one. Tap to select
your Formation Bar. If you have already set up
a Formation product and are adding an additional
one, select ‘Add Formation product’ from the app
Settings menu.
• The Bowers & Wilkins Home app will next invite
you to name the “space” in which your Formation
Bar is to be used. A list of default space names is
provided but you can also create your own. When
you have selected, or created, a space name,
the app will ask you to touch the Form button
on the top of your Formation Bar to conrm
the selection.
• If a wireless network connection for your
Formation Bar is to be used, the next set up stage
will connect your Formation Bar to your home WiFi
network. The app will ask you to conrm the
correct WiFi network and ask you to input its
password. Alternatively, if your Formation Bar is
connected to your network router using an
Ethernet cable, this stage of the set up process
will be bypassed.
Note: If you already have other Formation
products connected to your WiFi network,
Formation Bar set up will not require you input
the WiFi password.
• With WiFi network conguration, and space
selection complete, your Formation Bar is ready
for use. Your Formation Bar will play an audio
prompt to conrm successful set up.
Bluetooth Set Up
You can connect your Formation Bar to a Bluetooth
enabled audio source device, such as a smartphone,
to play audio over Bluetooth. Your Formation Bar
must rst be “paired” with the Bluetooth audio
source device.
Once you have completed the Formation Bar
network set up, open the Bowers & Wilkins Home
app Settings page, and select the Formation Space
that you wish to pair a Bluetooth device with. Next
select ‘+ Pair a new device’ from the Bluetooth
menu and follow the app instructions to complete
pairing. Your Formation Bar will play an audio prompt
when pairing is complete and its Space will become
available to the paired Bluetooth device for audio
playback.
Note: Up to eight Bluetooth devices can be
simultaneously paired with each Formation
space, however devices will not connect and play
to paired spaces automatically.