Bang & Olufsen has launched its new Beosound Theatre, a high-end soundbar designed to deliver the power of a multi-product home cinema from one single product.
Featuring 12 speaker drivers, including two custom-made long stroke 6.5” woofers and 800 watts of amplification power, Beosound Theatre provides up to 112dB sound pressure level creating a powerful and cinematic immersive experience.
Speech clarity is managed by the custom-made centre channel, where the tweeter is mounted directly in front of the midrange. The alignment of these drivers ensures a better sound distribution elevating the quality audio experience for everyone in the room, while directivity has been designed to optimise speech quality.
“We originally developed the Beam Width and Beam Directivity Control for Beolab 90 to reduce the effect of sidewall reflections at the listening position,” said senior technology specialist, Jakob Dyreby. “Basically, to make the walls disappear. In Beosound Theatre, we are using the technology to direct sound away from the listener, which increases the perception of spaciousness and gives a much more immersive experience.”
Taking a modular design approach, customers can easily transform the soundbar into a complete wall-mounted or floor standing Bang & Olufsen TV experience. The modular design thinking also applies to the TV screens and the cover of the soundbar, which are both replaceable. The aluminium ‘wings’ are also extendable for customers whose TV screens grow as they upgrade, allowing Beosound Theatre to continue providing integrated solutions for greater longevity.
“We know that our customers want to invest in products that last, which is why Beosound Theatre has been modularly designed to outlast many TVs in its lifetime,” added Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, head of product circularity. “We have made a solution that enables you to update your product rather than replace it, and a product that can evolve with you over time.
“The Beosound Theatre interface bracket provides the possibility to dock almost any screen to the soundbar. This means that people don’t have to invest in a new TV or can simply choose what they believe is the best TV solution.”
The interface bracket is motorised and forms a seamless connection between the stand and the TV screen. Cleverly hiding any clutter to present the TV as one integrated design, the bracket includes a compartment to fit smart TV boxes and to excess cables from view.
Although Beosound Theatre can be used as a powerful one-product solution, it can also evolve to be used as a dedicated sound centre, making the home cinema even more powerful and immersive.
Starting with seven built-in outputs and supporting up to 16 external loudspeakers, it can be the centre of a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 surround configuration. In this setup, Beosound Theatre functions as a centre speaker that merges the Dolby Atmos decoding and custom-tuned post-processing with Bang & Olufsen’s proprietary True Image algorithm to maximise the capabilities of all Bang & Olufsen loudspeakers.
Beosound Theatre comes with a new unique bass management system. Conventional systems usually send the bass to the most powerful loudspeaker, which is usually the subwoofer, but Beosound Theatre uses all Bang & Olufsen loudspeakers in the system to work together as a single unit. This not only gives the maximum potential of the entire system, but also helps to control the resonance in the listening room, making sure that the various loudspeakers work with and not against each other.
The soundbar comes with Bang & Olufsen’s new setup technology called Roomsense. By placing the external microphone at the listening position, Beosound Theatre will work with the Bang & Olufsen App to measure the distance from the listening to soundbar. But more than this, it will also assign a role for each speaker if it is placed free standing, up against a wall or in a corner, as well as overall room compensation to avoid unwanted resonance.
Bang & Olufsen’s own proprietary software platform called ‘Mozart’ is built into Beosound Theatre, continuing Bang & Olufsen’s heritage of ensuring that the soundbar can connect seamlessly with products as far back as 1986, creating a cross-generational home audio setup.
The platform also anticipates the future, packed with processing power and memory, allowing Bang & Olufsen to introduce new features, capabilities, and connectivity over time to ensure an equally seamless experience with home audio settings of the present day and those in the years to come.