The new facility will be called, Southwater Research & Engineering (SRE) largely because it’s based in the West Sussex town of Southwater.

B&W says the new SRE will build on the achievements and legacy of its previous R&D centre that was based in Steyning, England.

All of B&W’s technical and acoustic innovations derived from the Steyning facility. The place was known as the University Of Sound, and B&W founder, John Bowers, formed it in 1981.

Milestones include the Diamond tweeter, the Continuum and Aerofoil cones as well as iconic models such as the Zeppelin, the 800 D3, the PX noise cancelling headphones and the genre-defining, Nautilus speakers.

The Southwater centre will be twice as large as Steyning and occupy some 2,750 square metres of space.

It will house multiple anechoic chambers and many more listening test rooms. It will also feature a suite of product testing and engineering labs and dedicated Headphone and Automotive Audio Labs.

In honour of John Bower’s legacy, Southwater will feature a near recreation of his original listening room to ensure B&W’s sound stays true to his vision, right down to the very couch that occupied the original listening space.

B&W is already gearing up for the move. It has increased the size of its R&D team by 40 percent over the last two years.

Ken McAlpine, Chief Technology Officer at Bowers & Wilkins said:

The team at SRE has more than 300 plus years of combined engineering expertise. The investment in the all-new SRE will ensure that our dedication to innovation continues for the next 50 years and beyond.

Industry commentators have watched with anticipation since Silicon Valley based EVA Automation purchased B&W as reported exclusively by StereoNET in 2016. It is expected Bowers & Wilkins will soon announce it's next generation of wireless audio (and perhaps video) streaming products.

In other related news, Danny Haikin, B&W's Brand Director who had been with the company since 1999, also announced this week that effective immediately, he had accepted the role of Head of Global Marketing with KEF.

For more information visit Bowers & Wilkins.