Soundbars are all the rage at the minute, as they effectively do what a five or six-speaker system can do without the fuss (and setup time).
And while the technology isn’t really new (there have been single-speaker home theatres for around a decade now) they are finally getting really, really good. So good, that Danish superbrand Bang & Olufsen finally thought it the right time to produce a dedicated TV speaker, compete with Dolby Atmos and four built-in bass drivers.
Oh, and there’s no need for a separate subwoofer, either. Somehow, B&O has managed to squeeze 11 speakers into it’s the Beosound’s rectangular frame.
How does it sound?
Bang & Olufsen doesn’t do things by halves. As well as Doly Atmos, you get Dolby True HD, streaming support from AirPlay 2, a built-in Chromecast, B&O Beolink and Bluetooth 4.2 That means it will play nice with whatever picture or audio streaming network you might currently be subscribed to.
Elsewhere, you also get HDMI eARC which boosts bandwidth speeds from your TV – a complicated technology but one that makes any audio sounds better than it actually is.
No surprises, it sounds pretty sweet.
Any downsides?
Prepare to adopt the fetal position – as mentioned abovesoundbar Danes don’t do anything by halves – so don’t expect a cut-price audio system here. The Beosound Stage Smoked Oak version costs a whopping AED 9,645, while the Aluminium and Bronze versions are AED 6,425.
Each was designed by fellow Danish firm, NORM Architects, with acoustic fabric provided by Kvadrat. It’s quite subtle when placed under your television (perhaps too subtle for something that costs that much).
Bang & Olufsen’s Beosound Stage does sound fantastic, and if you can afford to drop some serious cash on a space-saving sound system, then this certainly won’t disappoint. And given that the closes competition – Sennheiser’s Ambeo soudbar – costs almost double the price; perhaps the Beosound Soundbar is a bit of a bargain after all.
Well, at least that’s what we’ll keep telling ourselves.
