Bang & Olufsen\u2019s Beosound Premiere lands like a spaceship in a room full of toasters. That\u2019s not an exaggeration; it\u2019s just what happens when a company known for treating speakers like sculpture decides to rethink the soundbar. This thing doesn\u2019t just sit under your TV. It commands the room, a slab of pearl-blasted aluminum that looks like it was milled from a single ingot of the future. And yes, it costs \u00a33,900, which is about as much as most people pay for rent, but let\u2019s be real, if you\u2019re the kind of person who buys a soundbar as a statement, you\u2019re not exactly shopping for Black Friday deals.<\/p>\n
The Premiere\u2019s design is what happens when industrial designers are given free rein and a budget that doesn\u2019t flinch. The up-firing tweeter sits center stage like a jewel, surrounded by 1,925 precision-machined perforations, a nod to Bang & Olufsen\u2019s 1925 founding year, because of course it is. The aluminum chassis isn\u2019t just for show; it houses ten custom drivers, including four racetrack woofers and a tweeter that looks like it belongs in a museum. The side-firing and up-firing drivers are part of the visual language, a reminder that this isn\u2019t a black plastic slab pretending to be invisible. Then there\u2019s the lighting: 90 LEDs that pulse and shift with your adjustments, because why should your soundbar be any less extra than the rest of your smart home?<\/p>\n
Designer: Bang & Olufsen<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think all this design flair would come at the cost of actual performance, but the specs tell a different story. Ten amplifiers push 70 watts to the woofers and 50 watts to the rest, delivering a frequency range of 32 Hz to 23 kHz. The Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 decoding is paired with Bang & Olufsen\u2019s proprietary True Image algorithm, which supposedly creates a soundstage wider than the unit itself. The company calls it Wide Stage Technology, and while I haven\u2019t heard it yet, the idea of a soundbar that can convincingly fake a surround setup without extra speakers is intriguing. The max output of 102 dB at 1 meter means this thing can get loud, but the real test will be how it handles the subtleties: dialogue clarity, spatial separation, that kind of thing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The connectivity suite is what you\u2019d expect from a flagship product in 2025, but with a few Bang & Olufsen twists. HDMI eARC with 8K passthrough is table stakes at this point, but the inclusion of an Ethernet switch with three 1Gbit ports is a nice touch for anyone tired of juggling network cables. Bluetooth 5.4 and AirPlay 2 are here, obviously, but the real party trick is Beolink Surround, which lets you wire up additional B&O speakers for a true multi-channel setup. The fact that you can still use analog audio via USB-C (with an adapter) feels like a nod to the audiophiles who refuse to let go of their turntables. And yes, there\u2019s a voice assistant option, but it requires an external Google device, because Bang & Olufsen would rather you use their app than bark commands at a microphone.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Now, the elephant in the room. \u00a33,900 is a lot for a soundbar, but let\u2019s put it in context. The Premiere isn\u2019t competing with Sony or Sonos; it\u2019s competing with high-end AV receivers and speaker setups that cost twice as much. The Haute Edition, limited to 25 pieces and priced at \u00a311,000, is another story entirely. That\u2019s not a soundbar; that\u2019s a flex. Each one is hand-milled with a pattern that takes 17 hours to carve, because why not? It comes with a numbered certificate and a wooden box for the remote, because at that price, you\u2019re not just buying audio equipment; you\u2019re buying a piece of design history. Or at least, that\u2019s the pitch.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The real question is whether the Premiere can justify its existence beyond being a conversation piece. Bang & Olufsen has a reputation for building products that sound as good as they look, but the soundbar market is crowded with solid performers at a fraction of the cost. The Premiere\u2019s trick will be convincing people that its spatial audio and design justify the premium. For now, it\u2019s hard to deny that this is one of the most interesting pieces of audio gear to come out in years. Whether it\u2019s worth the price of a used car is another matter entirely. But if you\u2019re the kind of person who sees a soundbar as an extension of your aesthetic, the Premiere might just be the centerpiece you\u2019ve been waiting for.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The post B&O Just Launched a $5,000+ Soundbar That Costs More Than Your First Car<\/a> first appeared on Yanko Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bang & Olufsen\u2019s Beosound Premiere lands like a spaceship in a room full of toasters. That\u2019s not an exaggeration; it\u2019s just what happens when a company known for treating speakers like sculpture decides to rethink … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n