Listening to B&O’s $8,000 soundbar made me think about Mother Earth

Sustainability is a giant theme at IFA this yr, however each firm has a distinct thought of what the time period means. For Bang & Olufsen, it’s the power to make use of your (very costly) new soundbar for actually many years, due to a deliberate deal with upgradability and serviceability. Oh, and the sound is not dangerous both, guaranteeing you received’t really feel the necessity to improve anytime quickly.

Let’s get it out of the way in which: the B&O Beosound Theatre prices as a lot as a good used automobile. It goes as much as $7,990, which places it out of attain for all however the highest strata of the market. So how does B&O justify that asking worth?

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Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre specs and options

• 12 speaker drivers; 12 energy amplifiers
• Frequency response: 28Hz-23kHz; Most sound stress: 112 dB SPL; Bass functionality: 94 dB SPL
• 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos decoding, Dolby Digital TrueHD , Dolby Digital plus 7.1 (together with DD5.1) , Dolby MAT
• Superior Bass administration system. Customizable Sound EQ
• Energy consumption: 120W
• Bluetooth 5.1, Twin band WLAN 2.4 / 5GHz 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac
• 3 x HDMI enter with CEC enter; 1 x HDMI eARC with passthrough 4K 120FPS / 8K 60FPS / 40Gbit
• Ethernet change with 4 x 1Gbit ports; 1 x 3.5mm jack slider for microphone mute
• Beolink, Chromecast, Spotify Join Airplay assist

First, it’s the sound high quality. We got a demo of the Theatre at a swanky presentation house B&O had arrange in downtown Berlin. The primary a part of the demo consisted of the soundbar taking part in music throughout 5 genres, starting from a classical piece to a vocals-oriented cowl of I Was Made For Loving You by Maria Mena, and culminating in a hair-raising rendition of Rammstein’s Adieu. Even with the transient time allotted to this a part of the demo, we have been impressed with how balanced the soundbar was, how crisp the devices have been separated, and the way clear the vocals got here throughout. It was actually a high-end listening expertise.

Subsequent, the B&O rep performed us a clip from Bohemian Rhapsody (the 2018 film starring Rami Malek) to spotlight how the Theatre reproduces voices. B&O’s purpose was to handle the rising challenge of imbalanced and uneven voice copy that may occur once you mix-and-match content material, streaming providers, and {hardware}, which forces many customers to depend on subtitles.

For the ultimate a part of the presentation, B&O attached the Theatre to 2 additional audio system arrange behind us. The purpose was to reveal the system’s modularity and the way the soundbar interoperates with different audio system to render one of the best encompass expertise potential. To point out this, B&O used the opening automobile chase scene from James Bond: No Time To Die, which is heavy on tire-screeching, gunshots, and suitably rousing music. Probably the most attention-grabbing bit was the half the place Bond and his costar sit in a bulletproof Aston Martin whereas the baddies riddle it with bullets. We might clearly hear bullets thudding towards the automobile from completely different instructions relying on the scene, which actually added to the viewing expertise.

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The Beosound Theatre sounds spectacular, however the know-how and the long-term pondering behind the machine might be essentially the most attention-grabbing half about it. For one, this product is suitable with audio system going again many years, which means house owners can plug it into their current setups with minimal trouble. It’s additionally forward-looking: the producer says the product shall be upgradeable for at the least decade, in each {hardware} and software program. The soundbar really runs Linux and B&O says it can present software program updates and connectivity enhancements all through the product’s lifetime. To accommodate future updates, 50% of the system’s computational energy presently goes unused.

In fact, soundbars are supposed for use along with TVs. The Theatre includes a modular design that may match nearly any display screen measurement from 55 inches to 75 inches. The soundbar could be positioned on the bottom, mounted on a wall, or mated with a TV and positioned on a motorized stand that rotates to regulate to the person. Customers can change TVs or mounting strategies themselves, utilizing generally obtainable instruments, because the system is designed with upgradability and modularity in thoughts.

The design is elegant, but inconspicuous. The upper-end model (seen in photos all through this text) includes a mid-century-modern-like wood grate that’s impressed by sailboats.

To wrap it up, the Beosound Theatre’s excessive price ticket makes it inaccessible to most individuals, the creator of this put up included. I received’t ever have the ability to justify spending $8,000 on a really fancy speaker. However I can acknowledge that a few of that cash would go in the direction of a noble purpose: making shopper electronics rather less disposable and a bit extra sustainable.

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If you should buy one product “for all times,” moderately than “improve” each few years, you’re saving future-you some money and sparing future-Earth a bunch of air pollution. That’s an excellent mindset to have once you’re searching for units, even once they don’t price a small fortune.