Bang & Olufsen, known for its premium speakers with unique designs, just released a fantastic new speaker that’ll look perfect on your office bookshelf. Why? The speaker, dubbed the Beosound Emerge, is designed to look like a book.
The audio gear company collaborated with London-based design agency LAYER to perfect the look, which is made with top-shelf materials like oak and knitted fabrics. Between its slim book-shaped design and signature Bang & Olufsen quality sound, it’s the perfect bookshelf speaker. It’ll look perfect in your living room, kitchen, library, or home office.
According to Bang & Olufsen, the speaker’s designer, Benjamin Hubert of LAYER, was “inspired by the compact form factor of a book” so that you could enjoy “crystal-clear audio quality that adapts based on the room you’re in—all from an elegant, tactile, ultra-slim profile.” The speaker is designed to be tucked away somewhere discreet but its beautiful design is also worth showing off, if that’s what you prefer. The speaker varies in width, however, with the front being more narrow than the back, so it wouldn’t sit entirely flush on a fully bookshelf.
The Beosound Emerge comes in two finishes: Black Anthracite and Gold Tone. The Black Anthracite is the basic option, featuring polymer side panels and an aluminum grill, while the more expensive Gold Tone option has a genuine oak wood cover, gold-colored aluminum, and a woven textile spine from Kvadrat. The fun of the speaker is that the panels wrap around the speaker like a book cover, and “Bang & Olufsen” is written on the front side, mimicking a book title label.
The speaker has a front-facing 37mm mid-range driver and 14mm tweeter, and the 100mm side-firing woofer pushes low-end tones out the speaker’s rear. It delivers ultra-wide 180-degree sound, and its room calibration tech will automatically adjust and optimize the audio based on its placement in a room. Intuitive touch buttons atop the speaker let you access Bang & Olufsen stations, search with Google Assistant, stream via Spotify, and control playback options. It also supports Chromecast and AirPlay 2 for wireless connectivity.
Those in Europe can purchase the Beosound Emerge on Bang & Olufsen’s website today, and global launch is planned for later this year. The Black Anthracite model runs $699, and the Gold Tone model is going for $899.
via Engadget
