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Quite paradoxically, the most design product of the IFA was not unveiled on the stands of the Berlin show, but during a private event. A shift representative of this 2022 edition, where the lack of real audio novelties was sorely felt.
Among the many novelties presented at the IFA in Berlin, a few products caught our attention in terms of design, such as the Solitaire Waterbase sink or the Joe multifunction oven. There is, however, a newcomer who has truly distinguished itself in this aspect: the Beosound Theatre. This ultra-elitist soundbar perfectly represents the fierce desire of the Danish manufacturer Bang & Olufsen to always offer products that know how to fulfill their main function while sporting an atypical look with extremely neat finishes. It would be easy to think that all this has only a purely visual interest (by inflating the bill excessively in passing), but the design of the Beosound Theater conceals some nice finds in terms of design.
First of all, the imposing and “ultimate” soundbar from Bang & Olufsen is able to be grafted onto a television in a clever way thanks to its integrated mounting system, a first for a product of this type, whether on a piece of furniture or on a stand. It also includes a compartment for accommodating cables and possibly a multimedia box. To “blend” even more into the decor, the Beosound Theater is also able to equip itself with aluminum parts specially designed by the B&O teams (in its Factory 5, a factory prized by many other brands for its know-how on the work of aluminum), in order to correspond to different diagonals of televisions.
Options are also available to customize the color of certain parts, and potentially add solid wood slats in front of the soundbar. Here, the interest is very clearly visual, and will have the effect of significantly increasing the bill. © Bang & Olufsen / Digital
The soundbar’s modular and durable look takes an interesting turn when we look at its electronics. As with its latest products, for example the intriguing Beosound Level, Bang & Olufsen has made sure to make many parts of its soundbar easily accessible and removable, including the “connected” module. The manufacturer also specifies that the bar only uses 40% of the calculation capacity of the internal processor, guaranteeing a certain longevity in the face of future software updates and the addition of new functionalities.
This “design” point was not the only one to draw attention to the Beosound Theatre, which had other arguments to put forward, particularly on the sound side. As far as audio is concerned, it is clear that this 2022 edition of the IFA has been more than disappointing. And for good reason, the two major IFA announcements did not take place physically in the halls of the show, but during private events, Bang & Olufsen and Sennheiser (with its Ambeo Soundbar Plus and Sub) having decided to keeping to himself. Only Jabra, with its Elite 5, has chosen to play the game of the usual presentation on a stand. The other major players have made or will make their important announcements before or after the IFA.