Aerospace fabrication , stiletto heels , modern computer architecture , and more : The design inspiration for Bang & Olufsen ’s three new wireless speakers — which were unveil at an event in New York today — run far and extensive .
There ’s the Beo 17 , a compact , put - it - anywhere speaker , the Beo 18 , a standing speaker , and Beo 19 , a dodecahedron - influence subwoofer . These three satiny devices represent B&O ’s first maraud into the wireless sound market , and they ’re the first consumer mathematical product to gasconade good calibre base on a new standard put forth byWiSA , the Wireless Speaker and Audio Association .
That means the sound blasting through each twist arrives uncompressed , at 24 - piece and 2 - 5.8 gigacycle per second . So how does it fathom ? Pretty damn good . At the launching outcome today , B&O EXEC cranked a Steely Dan racetrack through each gadget at top intensity ( along with a Bourne Identity clip ) , and the sound was crisp , immersive , and tonally well - balanced — meanwhile , the bass was acute but not granular .
Now onto pattern . Bang & Olfusen has ostensibly embraced classic seventies audio designing over the past few years : First with theirAirPlaydishes ( which cite Arne Jacobsen’sspeakers from 1967 ) and later , with their mod - tingedPlaymakerseries . That ’s not to say these mathematical product are retro — but they take care to reference the golden geezerhood of early digital sound recording figure . More on that later — but first , permit ’s take a look at the BeoLab 17 .
The 17 is B&O ’s first in high spirits - end wireless compact loudspeaker . It ’s roughly the size of a nice burnt umber table book , though thick , with a curving anodized aluminum casing that ’s been finely detailed to allow its four internal feeler to function properly while encased in metal .
As lead B&O designer Torsten Valeur told Gizmodo after the launching event today , the design of the front panel has an unexpected source . Though it could easily be read as a character reference to Herzog & de Meuron’sBird ’s Nestin Beijing , or even Zaha Hadid ’s Guangzhou Opera House , as Valeur ( who is a trained architect ) pointed out , it ’s not .
In fact , the knotty lines are in reality based on a part of the speaker consumers never in reality see : The structural ribbing that normally play along the inside of the paneling . Here , it ’s been turn inside out . “ It ’s taking a complex body part that ’s already there , and exposing it , ” he explain .
The BeoLab 18 is a direct citation to B&O ’s best - selling Cartesian product , the BeoLab 8000 speaker , designed by British industrial designer David Lewis in 1992 .
Lewis , if you ’re not conversant with him , design many of the company ’s most noted products — starting with the wood - panel Beomaster 3000 , which launched the caller in earnest in 1969 . In a way , Lewis ( along with B&O room decorator Jacob Jensen ) was to B&O what Dieter Rams was to Braun : A visionary who gave the society a design voice in the emerge 1970s electronics market place .
David Lewis ’ BeoMaster 3000 , now in MoMA ’s permanent aggregation .
Valeur , who was also the lead intriguer on the revamp of Lewis ’ classical gadget , worked for him for almost twenty long time . “ My first sidereal day in the situation was a chip shocking , ” Valeur order Gizmodo at the launch today . “ I was put at a mesa , and he say , ‘ this is your table — project a telephone ! ' ” That equipment eventually became theBeoCom 2 .
David Lewis ’ original design for BeoLab 8000 . Image byBeoPhile .
Three months after Lewis ’ death , the B&O squad asked Valeur to redesign Lewis ’ most famous merchandise , the BeoLab 8000 . Valeur refuse — it was still too shortly . But as time went on , he resolve to take on the project , the results of which were bring out today at the Beo 18 .
The 18 is an obvious tribute to Lewis ’ employment , but there are conflict aplenty : The biggest , of course of study , being that it ’s wireless , pile 24 - bit uncompressed sound and two 160 W class D amplifier . The organic profile was inspired by a melodic legal instrument , and the original fatal cover of the 8000 has been put back by long spindles of gill or oak — a reference point , perhaps , to Lewis ’ wood - panel work from the 1970s . The 8000 ’s geometrical , pencil - shaped base has been translate into a sinuous , anodized aluminum percentage point — akin to a stiletto , according to the designers .
BeoLab 19
The BeoLab 19 is the subwoofer of the grouping , designed to function in bicycle-built-for-two with the 17 . Its dodecahedral shell is made from mold , 2 mm aluminum sheet — prompt by a mental process common to astronautics conception , concord to intriguer Jakob Wagner . “ I ’ve always been fascinate by honey oil engines , ” he explained in a video today . “ They ’re just facial expression of utter performance . ”
seemingly , these pentangular home base are more than aesthetic : Along with two eight - inch drivers , they stabilize the structure of the subwoofer , which perches on a comparatively small item of contact with the ground .
All three speakers are due to strike the market at the end of November — the Beo 17 will be $ 3,990 , the 18 will be $ 6,590 , and the 19 will cost $ 3,395 .
All images byMichael Hession .
audioBang & OlufsenDesignSpeakers
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