Bang & Olufsen Create iPad, iPhone, iPod Dock

Think of a room, any room. A bedroom, guest room, or open-plan kitchen? In a summerhouse, chic apartment, or family home? Now just add BeoSound 8 to fill up your room with Bang & Olufsen sound and style. If you keep your music on an iPad, iPhone, iPod or computer, you are essentially all set to discover the iconic style and breathtaking sound quality that has made Bang & Olufsen one of the most sought-after names in home audio.

We haven’t had the advantage of testing the BeoSound 8 with the BeoLink iPhone app but apparently it should work. So you can close the curtains, dim the lights and adjust the music, all with a single tap on your iPhone or iPod touch. The Bang & Olufsen home automation (BeoLink) controls all systems of modern homes; audio, video, lighting, curtains etc. BeoLink for iPhone puts all this power in your pocket.

Using Wi-Fi , BeoLink for iPhone controls Bang & Olufsen products and other home automation devices in your home, via the Master Link Gateway.

You get a simple and intuitive iPhone app built with Bang & Olufsen’s exceptional ergonomics and ease of operation, that is an experience in itself.

A simple swipe with your finger changes the channel or raises the volume, without even looking away from the TV screen.

A quick tap and the mood of the room changes completely, including lighting, temperature, music and more.

Features:
– controls Bang & Olufsen’s products in your BeoLink network.
– finger gestures: control your home without looking at the phone screen.
– automation scenes: completely change the mood of a room, or of the whole house.
– automatically generates the screens to match your home set-up.
– discovers Master Link Gateway units automatically, and downloads your home configurations.
– supports multiple homes and multiple user profiles.
– a demo mode is also included to preview the experience.

Requirements:
– Bang & Olufsen products connected via BeoLink network.
– Bang & Olufsen Master Link Gateway in the same network as your iPhone or iPod Touch.
– Only works via local Wi-Fi network. 3G access not supported.

This is a free app and you can download it here

Move BeoSound 8 from room to room or hang it on a wall. All you need is a power outlet, your music player of choice, and a desire for real sound quality. Secure your iPad, iPhone, or iPod firmly in the adjustable holder and prepare for a surprise. The sleek speaker design gives little clue about the fidelity and depth of the sound that is about to come your way.
The conical shape of the speakers on BeoSound 8 has two functions. Design-wise, the shapes ‘disappear’ to create an unobtrusive impression from most viewing angles and make placement easier. In terms of audio quality, they eliminate standing waves by avoiding parallel surfaces. It may sound very technical, but you’ll find that the proof is in the experience.

Playing music from your own phone, computer, or media player gives you the advantage of a familiar navigation environment. In addition, you can now download an app version of the sleek and stylish BeoPlayer for your docked iPad, iPhone, or iPod. You can also adjust sound levels and skip tracks quickly and conveniently on BeoSound 8 itself. Music on a docked or USB linked device can be controlled via the dedicated round remote control or of course your existing Beo4 or Beo5 remote controls if you already own other Bang & Olufsen equipment.
To match your personal taste and the room you place it in, BeoSound 8 comes in either black or white with aluminum details and matching power cord. When you feel the need to add a splash of color to the room, the list of options includes six fabric speaker covers in lavender blue, purple, green, yellow, black and white.
 

BeoSound 8 offers flexible placement options to fit easily in your living space. You can hang it on a wall using a custom wall bracket or place it on a side table, where the speakers will appear to float millimeters above the surface. The conical speaker backs are excellent if you prefer to place your BeoSound 8 in a corner. But a loudspeaker’s performance is strongly influenced by its physical position in the room, and a corner placement can be especially difficult, as the walls will tend to “play along”, muddling the bass level in particular. Luckily, Bang & Olufsen has a solution.

BeoSound 8 can be adjusted to its placement by means of a manual position switch, which adjusts the speakers’ performance according to whether the system is placed in a corner, against a wall, or standing freely. The three switch positions will change the equalization of primarily the bass channel according to a room response target based on a large number of measurements taken in different positions in different rooms.

This unique Bang & Olufsen feature was introduced to ensure accurate sound reproduction at all times with complete freedom of placement.

ABL is a Bang & Olufsen patented solution basically to get more bass in small spaces. It is a solution where we make use of the surplus capacity in the built-in amplifiers and driver units at normal listening levels, for a bass extension. With this, we get more bass than the loudspeaker would otherwise be able to produce. However, this solution entails a risk that the driver unit might not be able to handle the extra boosts at higher volume levels. To solve this, we have introduced an electric circuit to monitor the sound level, so when the music peaks in the lower frequency areas and maybe come close to distorting the sound quality or damaging the driver unit, the bass signal is reduced accordingly.

The price though, is reported to be around £900/$1445 when it goes on sale at the end of this month.