In brief: B&O is a bit late to the soundbar party but it hopes that the time it's taken will make you dance to the tunes of its premium Beosound Stage, unveiled at an arts exhibition in Venice, Italy.
There are few brands that can take the liberty of launching their products outside of relevant industry events. Porsche unveiled its 911 GT2 RS at the gaming-focused E3 two years ago and luxury electronics brand Band & Olufsen has shown off its premium Beosound Stage soundbar at Venice Biennale's art exhibition in Italy.
While the high-end electronics brand can be found in TVs, headphones, free-standing speakers and car audio systems, it's the first time that the company is entering the soundbar market. Considering that it's already a crowded one, B&O has included just about every feature there is to fit in its premium offering.
Buyers can setup the Beosound Stage, either on a wall mount under their TV or place it on a shelf and then listen to the "rich and superbly deep bass" driven by its 11 drivers that each have a 50-watt amplifier. It's got 4-inch woofers in the center channel to handle low-end tones, two 1.5-inch drivers at the main left and right channels and a pair of 3/4-inch dome tweeters on each side to help with the mid-range.
In terms of wireless connectivity and features, there's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board along with built-in Chromecast, AirPlay 2 and multi-room listening capability. Support for Dolby Atmos and TrueHD ensures 3D audio that's lossless and immersive for watching movies and television.
There are plenty of presets to help with that as well, including TV, Music, Movie, Night, Listening and None, if you fancy that. A 3.5 mm audio jack is also present, as well as an Ethernet socket, HDMI and HDMI eARC for hooking it up to your TV.
The Beosound Stage comes in three finishes. An aluminium or bronze model will set you back $1,750 while the more expensive oak version comes in at $2,600 with availability starting this November.