How much are you willing to pay for good, or even great, home audio? We’d probably have as many different answers as people who answered. And what about near-perfect home audio?
Danish audio stalwart Bang & Olufsen celebrates its centenary this year, so it’s kind of fitting that its local distributors picked now to officially launch the flagship Beolab 90 floor-standing speakers in the country.
Polarising design, effortless sound
The Beolab 90 isn’t new, it was first launched in 2015 and named for the company’s 90th anniversary. Yet, ten years later, it is still regarded as one of the best complete packages for exceptional home audio.
For those who aren’t already familiar with the Beolab 90, it’s what’s known as an active floor-standing speaker, meaning it stands on the floor (duh) and doesn’t require any additional equipment before it’ll play your tunes.
It features a 360-degree design, initially evident by the fact that finding the ‘front’ with all the covers on was tricky. This was made further apparent by the sheer number of drivers – and their placement – when the customisable fabric, aluminium, and wood covers were removed.
In total, there are 18 Scan-Speak drivers scattered around each speaker: seven 1in tweeters, seven 4.5in mid-range drivers, three 10in woofers, and one 13in front-firing woofer. Each tweeter and mid-range driver gets its own ICEpower amplifier, while the four woofers also have exclusive access to their own 1,000W Class D amps. That brings the total system power of each Beolab 90 speaker to 8,200W.
While it doesn’t use B&O’s modular Mozart platform, the Beolab 90 features plenty of support for most kinds of analogue and digital inputs, including balanced XLR or even audio over USB. The only one missing from the speaker itself is HDMI – you’ll need the Beoconnect Core for that.
They also boast a plethora of fancy audio features, including active room compensation, adaptive bass linearization, beam width control, beam direction control for five sides, and even thermal protection.
Beolab 90 or a brand new sports car?
When it comes to incorporating these into your home, a big strength for Bang & Olufsen, the company offers a decent selection of customisation, and if you’re willing to pay extra, will even design a completely custom one of one speaker to fit your exact design specifications.
Speaking of paying, you should probably sit down for this part. The Beolab 90 starts at R4.2 million for a pair with the ‘standard’ finishes. That price will climb if you want to colour-match them to your lounge suite.
Are they worth it for that much money? Probably not, for most people. And that’s okay, those folks can put their AirPods back in and carry on with their lives. If you do have a sports car-sized budget for your next audio upgrade, you should seriously consider the Beolab 90. Head to Bang & Olufsen’s store in Mall of Africa to hear them for yourself.
