Bang & Olufsen Announces $40,000 Active Speaker System With Sound Control

Bang & Olufsen announced the BeoLab 50 loudspeaker with sound control features that tailor the sound for individual listening in a sweet spot or 180-degree sound for a group. The $39,710-per-pair speakers will be available next month, B&O said. The speaker’s “beam width control” is operated by the Bang & Olufsen app. The active speaker system, with a 2,100-watt amplifier, has an external mic that measures acoustic surroundings and applies compensation filters to produce optimum sound at various listening positions, said the company. The speakers are connected in a master-slave configuration and incorporate wireless multichannel audio streaming based on WiSA (Wireless Speaker and Audio Association) technology. The industrial design of the tall rounded speakers combines aluminum surfaces and what the company calls “light oak lamellas.”