The Besound Stage is Bang & Olufsen’s first ever soundbar
No need for a seperate subwoofer and a price tag bordering on sensible – are you quite sure?
Soundbars are a home cinema hot ticket right now, so Danish superbrand Bang & Olufsen has debuted its first ever dedicated TV speaker complete with Dolby Atmos and four built-in bass drivers. That last part is important because according to the company the Beosound Stage doesn’t necessitate a separate subwoofer, which when practicing the dark arts of Scandavian minimalism simply won’t do. In fact, the 3-channel sound system somehow manages to squeeze in no fewer than 11 speakers powered by an equal number of 50W class D amplifiers. As well as Dolby Atmos you get Dolby TrueHD, plus streaming support from AirPlay 2, Chromecast built-in, B&O Beolink or Bluetooth 4.2, and as a result the Beosound Stage is every bit a multiroom speaker as it is adept at making helicopters sound like they’re landing on top of you. The soundbar also supporters HDMI eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel), this boosts the bandwidth and speed of data transfer for a higher quality audio signal from your TV. Featuring a silver aluminium, bronze aluminium or oak frame designed by fellow Danes NORM Architects and acoustic fabric provided by countrymen Kvadrat, the Beosound Stage is actually a pretty subtle affair – surprising given the brand’s Harmony TV incorporates a behemoth of a wood panel soundbar that opens like a pair of oversized butterfly wings. It’s about now we adopt the wince position before revealing Bang & Olufsen‘s pricing, but from £1,250 the Besound Stage is bordering on a high-end bargain considering Sennheiser’s admittedly brilliant Ambeo soundbar is almost twice the price at £2,200. Get your grubby mitts on one later in the autumn.
James Day
