In brief: Bang & Olufsen’s latest wireless speaker keeps the company’s trend of exquisitely designed audio products. Based on the books’ form factor, the Beosound Emerge is a slim and elegant bookshelf speaker built with premium materials that reflect its price.
Designed by Benjamin Hubert of the London-based Design Agency LAYER, the Beosound Emerge looks like a piece of decoration in a living room or like a book on a bookshelf.
B&O’s objective was to “create the slimmest speaker possible” without sacrificing sound. The non-uniform center part is narrower in the speaker’s front and widens up in the back. Surrounded by two side panels, the speaker features B&O’s logo inscribed in the facade.
Available in black and gold, the latter is the most premium of the two. The black model features an aluminum front grill and base and polymer side panels, while the gold model has light oak side panels, an aluminum base, and woven Kvadrat textile.
The soft-touch buttons are placed on the speaker’s top, allowing users to pause or skip songs, change volume, and check the Bluetooth and microphone LED indicators. The Beosound Emerge supports Google Assistant, Spotify Connect, and multiroom technologies such as Apple AirPlay2 and Google’s Chromecast.
There’s a wide range of connection options, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, an Ethernet port, and a line-in/optical jack. There’s also a USB-C port to power the speaker and a micro USB service port.
On a more technical note, the Beosound Emerge features a 4-inch woofer driver (60W), a 1.45-cinch mid-range driver (30W), and a 0.6-inch tweeter (30W), covering a 45-22,000 Hz frequency range.
Like B&O’s Beoplay Portal, the company’s products tend to be priced higher than the rest of the competition. The B&O Beosound Emerge in black will goes for $699, and the gold model is $899. The speakers launch worldwide this fall.