Bang & Olufsen make some of the finest hi-fi and audiovisual products out there, so it stands to reason that the Danish high-end specialist can certainly create one of the best soundbars on the planet if they get the hang of it. pony. – y eso es aparentemente lo que sucedió.
The Beosound Theater has just opened in Berlin, very close to the great technology fair known as IFA, and we are here to see it (and hear it).
Beosound Theater bills itself as "an innovative and meticulously designed premium soundbar" that brings with it one big promise: the power of a multi-product home theater setup in one product. Additionally, B&O tells us that its new "bar" is "designed with the ambition of being the world's most powerful and immersive soundbar" while also being a visually stunning addition to your living room.
How do you provide a cinematic experience from just one bar? Beosound Theater comes with 12 speakers, including two custom-designed long-throw 6,5-inch woofers and 800 watts of amplifier power, delivering up to 112 dB sound pressure level.
Speech clarity is handled by a bespoke center channel, where the tweeter is mounted directly in front of the midrange. The alignment of these speakers ensures, according to B&O, a better distribution of sound, improving the quality of the audio experience for everyone in the room, while the directionality has been designed to optimize speech quality.
However, this isn't B&O's first foray into TV sound. Building on the beamwidth and direction control developed for Bang & Olufsen's flagship Beolab 90 loudspeakers (and who could forget the stunning butterfly-shaped Beovision Harmony TV and sound system in one, or the opulent Beosound Edge? ) and presented at IFA, Beosound Theater introduces a new three-dimensional sound directionality, thanks to the patent-pending combination of direct, side and upward drivers.
That means all the speakers work together to not only produce sound, but also control the width and direction of the beam; essentially, it's B&O's answer to Dolby Atmos in a stand-alone product that sits under your TV.
"We originally developed the Beolab 90's beamwidth and direction control to reduce the effect of reflections from side walls at the listening position, basically to make the walls disappear," said Jakob Dyreby, Sr. technology from B&O, adding: "At the Beosound Theater we use technology to move sound away from the listener, which increases the perception of space and provides a much more immersive experience."
At the same time, Beosound Theater is designed to last for decades thanks to its modular design, which allows you to upgrade rather than replace it.
Review: A premium audio experience from B&O TV for almost any screen size, as long as you can afford it
Bang & Olufsen is known for its unique approach to craftsmanship and design, but this product also has substance under the hood.
While we'd suggest one of the best OLED TVs as a starting point to pair with this particular bar, the Beosound Theater is built on B&O's core principle of modularity, so customers can turn the soundbar into a complete wall or floor. The home theater experience with Bang & Olufsen TV too, if your budget allows.
This modular design thinking also applies to the TV screens and soundbar cover, both of which are replaceable. The aluminum 'wings' are also extendable for customers whose TV screens grow as they're upgraded, though they come in three sizes (all of which look bigger and more impressive than our photos show).
Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, Product Circularity Manager at B&O, explains: "Beosound Theater has been designed in a modular way to outlast many televisions over their lifetime. We have created a solution that allows you to upgrade your product rather than replace it, and a product that can grow with you over time,” adding: “The Beosound Theater interface bracket offers the ability to connect almost any display to the soundbar.
This interface mount is motorized and forms a seamless connection between the mount and the TV screen, cleverly hiding any clutter and presenting the TV as an integrated design. The stand also includes a compartment to place smart TV boxes and hide excess cables; no one needs tangled cords that spoil the aesthetics.
In terms of compatibility and connectivity, the Beosound Theater has seven outputs and can support up to 16 external speakers to become the heart of a complete Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 surround sound setup. In this configuration, the Beosound Theater would function as a center speaker that fuses Dolby Atmos decoding and custom post-processing with Bang & Olufsen's proprietary True Image algorithm, to maximize the capabilities of all Bang & Olufsen speakers. So you can buy the Beosound Theater as a soundbar, and then add a pair of rear speakers like the Beolab 28 in a triangular configuration, if you like.
Additionally, Beosound Theater comes with a new bass management system that the firm says is "unlike any other", and since B&O is talking here, we're inclined to believe it. While other systems simply send the bass to the loudest speaker (usually the subwoofer), B&O says the Beosound Theater uses all the Bang & Olufsen speakers in the system to work together as one unit. This not only gives you the full potential of the entire system, but also helps control resonance in your listening room, ensuring that the various speakers are playing off each other, not each other.
And check out this solid oak and polished aluminum design! The company says it's designed "to reflect the natural grace of sailboats," with a keel-like aesthetic that makes it "appear as if it rests on a sheet of aluminum, floating in the air like a fluid of form."
And it's not just about the looks: the software is top-notch, too. Beosound Theater comes with Bang & Olufsen's new configuration technology called Roomsense. By placing the external microphone at the listening position, Beosound Theater will work with the Bang & Olufsen app to measure the distance between the viewer and the soundbar. But more than that, it will also assign a "role" to each speaker based on different placements, perform sound compensation for each speaker (whether it's placed on a stand, against a wall, or in a corner), as well as Global space compensation to avoid unwanted resonances.
But that is not all. The soundbar also comes with Bang & Olufsen's proprietary software platform called Mozart, which B&O says ensures the Beosound Theater can seamlessly connect to B&O products since 1986, creating a cross-generational home audio setup.
And in addition to respecting the past, Mozart's platform also anticipates the future; The platform is packed with processing power and memory, so Bang & Olufsen can introduce new features, capabilities and connectivity over time to ensure an equally seamless experience for years to come; it's almost as if the company read our tips on how to get the most out of your Dolby Atmos soundbar.
Prices? Clear. get ready. Beosound Theater is available in a premium wood or fabric finish. MSRPs start from €6490 EUR / €5590 GBP / 49 DKK, which works out to around €400 or AU$6549. We said premium…