Bang and Olufsen’s collaboration with Benjamin Hubert is designed to deliver an impact while blending in.
Wired Speakers, in my humble opinion, are the bane of modern interior design. Having an audiophile as a husband means there are long yet lengthy arguments of aesthetics over audio, but there is hope! The latest in the range of these modern, space-saving speakers is LAYER Design and Bang and Olufsen’s collaboration named the BeoSound Emerge that emerges stealthily as a 6.7cm thick, book-inspired speaker that’ll deliver the punch without taking up any precious real estate.
A vision in delicate craftsmanship and soft lines, using a signature mix of wood, fabric, and metal, the speaker, is designed like a book that is slightly open at the edge. The book’s spine is where the B&O logo is placed, just like an author’s name rests on the spine of their creation. “The vision for Beosound Emerge was to create the slimmest speaker possible that could still deliver full range, ultra-wide sound despite its size through its revolutionary driver configuration. Whether placed on a bookshelf in the bedroom or a tight corner of the kitchen, Beosound Emerge’s slim design allows you to extend your music to a new room or complement an existing speaker in the same area without taking up extra space”, says Christoffer Poulsen, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Management at Bang & Olufsen. And they have the specifications to back it up – with a 4in woofer, a 1.45in mid-range driver, and a 0.6in tweeter, which B&O says can cover a frequency range of 45Hz – 22,000Hz. It includes smart assistant connectivity to wrap up the modern-day packaging (including Google Assistant, Airplay 2, Chromecast, Bluetooth).
Speaking about Beosound Emerge, Benjamin Hubert says, “As a studio, we like to build long-term partnerships with the brands we work with. Beosound Emerge is our second collaboration with Bang & Olufsen. The super-slim speaker has been designed to minimize the physical footprint and maximize the audio output to respond to the real estate in people’s homes being at an unprecedented premium. At LAYER, we believe that technology should enable happiness but doesn’t necessarily need to be an expression in its own right, so it was equally important for us to create a new architectural format with a strong sculptural sensibility and a more domestic material palette that will stand out in the saturated audio market while seamlessly fitting into the home.” While my heart is set on the classic Gold Tone, they have a Black Anthracite version to match a more brutalist schematic.
The Scandinavian design carries through with modularity in the design – individual parts of the speaker can be easily replaced in case of any changes or updates that you want to make, increasing the product’s longevity. In pure form, the design bears a resemblance to the Sony PS5. Maybe verticle designs are the new norm! While the classic aesthetics and approach are forever gold, it would be great if they can rope in someone like dbrand to create custom covers – for sure, I would be in line to buy some of my bookshelf favorites, like a custom illustration of Harry Potter book covers!
Designer: Bang and Olufsen with LAYER Design.
Behind the scenes with Benjamin Hubert, founder of LAYER Design.
Beosound Emerge with Beosound Balance, a previous speaker from the same series.
Whatever your aesthetics, Beosound Emerge can uplift the space.
The slim design is designed to blend into a bookshelf, compromising on the size, but not the quality. Didn’t we say tiny size, mighty sound!
The device is made with premium materials like oak, knitted fabric, and aluminum.
The design draws a parallel to IKEA’s Symfonisk series, where products are designed to deliver double functionality – like a bedside lamp with speakers or the latest being a picture frame emitting working as a speaker.
You can even pair two Emerge’s together to create a stereo pair.
The Light Oak model retails for $899 while there’s a cheaper, if still premium-priced Black Anthracite model for $699, to be released by October 2021.
B&O says you’ll be able to replace that part with the latest version and continue using the speaker as the removable component has enough processing power to accommodate updates and new features “for years to come.”
