Majority Bowfell Plus Review

Introduction

Has anyone else noticed how Majority is quietly planting its audio devices on several newly acquired retail shelves?

Although widely available still on Amazon, you will also see the range crop up at Currys, Robert Dyas and even John Lewis. To say that these guys are marketing masters would be a delightful understatement.

But it’s also a testament to the Cambridge company’s commitment to providing value for money, along with a number of speakers which sound pretty good. The increasingly honed audio quality emanating from its range has not gone unnoticed and it’s in marked contrast to some of the brand’s gadgets I auditioned three or four years ago.

Even better – and although the manufacturing is sadly outsourced to China – these guys are Brits. So I, for one, will be cheering them along on their journey.

And so it is to yet another soundbar from the company’s extensive budget-friendly world. The Bowfell Plus is a vanilla stereo 2.1 soundbar plus sub, but minus HDMI. The dimensions make it perfect to complement a smallish flat-panel display or computer monitor, but more on the specific applications will follow later.

Design

• Robust soundbar section
• Wireless, ultra-slim subwoofer
• Decent, responsive remote

For just over £60 these days, no one is expecting the earth to shift on its axis, nor the wheel to be reinvented. But it would be great to be a fly on the wall at one of Majority’s product development meetings.

If it goes something along the lines of ‘How do we extract every ounce of value from this product category’, I believe could flap my wings with some satisfaction. The Bowfell Plus surely fits that remit, if indeed conversations like that do exist.

So, it’s good to reveal that this combo is well-made and easy to set up. The 38cm soundbar section is just the right size for a 40-inch or ageing 28-inch display, but perhaps more aptly for a desktop monitor. The left and right drivers are concealed behind a sturdy metal gauze frontage and the case is fashioned from shiny injection-molded black plastic.

It looks like it could take a beating from a house full of toddlers and still survive. And no cat or slobbery dog will easily nose nudge it from a shelf-top placement.

As well as a rudimentary but well-designed plastic remote control, you can change the volume and input mode, or toggle power on/off, from the right side of the soundbar. That’s also where you will find the auxiliary 3.5mm input, particularly useful for those who wish to use the Bowfell Plus with a desktop computer.

Majority doesn’t leave me short when it comes to accessories in the box. There’s RCA to 3.5mm and an end-to-end mini-jack, along with a handy full-operation manual wrapped up neatly in the extras bag.

Also alluring is the super-slim sub design. If you’re thinking of dropping it down by your feet or wedging it to the side of the TV stand – or even plonk it on the desk next to your penholder – the 9cm width will happily oblige. The large driver is obscured by a black cotton grille while the front facing side features a passive reflex port which will boost certain deep frequencies.

It’s a wireless enclosure and pairs with the bar over Bluetooth instantaneously. As it’s forged from run-of-the-mill particle board, any evidence of that is reserved for the rear side, which should be out of view anyway.

Features

• Bluetooth 5.0 streaming
• 100 watts power output
• USB and aux 3.5mm/RCA stereo inputs

For a sub-£100 soundbar to omit an HDMI ARC connection is hardly unexpected. But using the optical cable interface was serviceable and produced no noticeable lag from actors’ voices. Obviously with the 2.1 channel count limit, there’s also no need for onboard decoding of 5.1 sources like Dolby Digital.

With that said, the Bowfell Plus does produce a wide soundstage with an impressive faux surround sound effect. So, if you were hoping for a more cinematic envelope, you should get some of the way there.

100 watts of power is distributed among the three aforementioned drivers from compact Class D-based amplifiers. You get three nifty listening preset EQs, which were surprisingly effective. The dialogue mode does what it says on the tin, confidently raising voices to the fore, while music keeps the balance of mids and highs in check without over-extending bass energy.

While the movie mode makes the most of reformatting filmed or AV sources to fit the 2.1 container, the bass could get brash. The independent bass and treble controls on the remote only apply to the music mode, so there was no obvious way to dial back the sub during TV watching.

Note that there is a helpful multi-coloured LED light behind the soundbar’s gauze to indicate which source you are using. As the Bowfell foregoes a front-on readable display, this is an efficient way to communicate the status to the listener/viewer. Bluetooth 5.0 recognition is indicated with a blue light, naturally, while optical is orange and USB shines green. I assume most users will flit regularly between the first two.

Sound Quality

• Wide soundstage
• Grounded dialogue
• Goes loud

Seeing as a soundbar could easily need to cast its energy across larger living room sizes, I’m usually in the habit of letting them rip on the test bench. That means nudging up the volume until I reach that uncomfortable distortion threshold where things start to fall apart. Every device has its limit.

Kudos to Majority, though, the Bowfell Plus can dispense its output in a medium sized room without flinching. Both voices and music are meaty and fleshed out – even from 15 or more feet away.

I also set up the soundbar around my workstation with it butted up to a Dell monitor and the sub down at my feet. From such a close range, both the devices sonically marry up well and produce a persuasive sense of immersion in movie mode.

That’s partly because the Bowfell Plus at least attempts to create a pseudo-surround aura from its 2.1-channel array by widening the soundstage. Whether that’s due to the small driver design, their placement or basic onboard DSP is not clear from the provided materials.

And it’s because of that width component that the Majority is quietly confident when playing back my tunes in music mode. The strings soar both left and right during Yvonne Elliman’s If I Can’t Have You (TIDAL), while the expressive vocal appears to be centre-locked. That pleasant image won’t be so obvious when sitting further back in the room, but you will still benefit from this wide-cast wrapping. Even the subwoofer plods along sensitively without drawing attention to its location.

For a more recent and dynamic recording, I turn to Dubstar’s Tectonic Plates from the Two album. This time the guitar moves into the foreground and the subwoofer gets a tougher workout. It’s all highly listenable while not being subjected to the pitfalls of so many super-cheap speakers. I’m a hawk when homing in on affordable Class D-based amp shrillness or paper racetrack driver emaciation. But they’re not too bad here.

Movies won’t disappoint too much either. In fact, the Majority can produce a nicely scaled presentation. The crumbling buildings during the Spectre opening sequence clunk and thump assuredly with good effects directionality and space. The sub does let the side down, though – it struggles with the load on occasion and reverts to boominess when it gives in. But we’re talking, what, £60 here? And Thomas Newman’s belting score is clear and decipherable.  

Should you buy it?

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