Benjamin Hubert is an award-winning British design entrepreneur and founder of London creative agency LAYER, focused on experience-driven design for both the physical and digital worlds. Led by Benjamin and a growing creative team, LAYER works with brands to create products that “will help define the way we live, work and communicate in the future, from A.I to smart wearables and furniture systems, to the next generation of media devices and mobile communication tools.”
“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.
While this new design clearly highlights Bang & Olufsen’s dedication to craftsmanship, the collaboration with Benjamin Hubert resulted in a versatile speaker inspired by the compact form factor of a book. “The slim, sculptural structure is the quintessential bookshelf speaker, designed to seamlessly sit anywhere in the home, whether discreetly tucked away or prominently on display. Built to extend sound without taking up space, Beosound Emerge’s resemblance to an interior object allows it to seamlessly integrate alongside books and other domestic objects. The side panels wrap around the speaker like the cover of a book, while the front of the speaker is marked with Bang & Olufsen’s logo in the same way the spine of a book features the author’s name,” the company describes.
The Beosound Emerge is available in two finishes, each clearly appealing to a different demographic. Using tactile and warm materials inspired by residential interiors, the Beosound Emerge Gold Tone model features an oak wood cover that wraps around a woven Kvadrat textile on its spine. The pearl-blasted aluminum, anodized in a gold tone, visually grounds the speaker in luxury and is aesthetically pleasing from every angle due to its tapered silhouette. The speaker is also available in a high-grade aluminium Black Anthracite finish with a pearl-blasted grill. The polymer side panels feature a vertical corrugated pattern that accentuates the slim lines of the speaker.
“As a studio, we like to build long-term partnerships with the brands we work with and 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 as a response 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,” says Benjamin Hubert.
The speaker’s user interface is intuitively incorporated into the top of the Beosound Emerge. The buttons can be activated through soft touch where users can pause music and change track or easily access favorite radio stations and playlists. The volume adjustment is a unique experience, enabling a circular motion to adjust up or down for a smooth and sensory interaction.
Bang & Olufsen’s dedication to creating a home speaker inspired by interior objects has resulted in a unique loudspeaker driver configuration that enables a full-range sound experience from a slender form. To achieve this level of acoustic quality, the designers worked in close collaboration with the Bang & Olufsen’s acoustic engineers.
A 1.45” midrange driver is mounted at an angle to maintain the narrow design, emitting sound from the front along with a 14mm (0.6”) soft dome tweeter. The output of a 4” side-firing woofer is guided to the back bass port of the product, the total result being a sound dispersion wide enough to fill the room with sound. Each driver is powered by its own Class-D channel with thermal protection, and the overall system is tuned with Adaptive Bass Linearization. The low frequency range is improved by built-in active room compensation technology that customizes the sound design for the placement of the speaker in any room, ensuring an optimized experience in every listening environment.
Bang & Olufsen’s commitment to longevity across its product portfolio is also prevalent in Beosound Emerge. While already an updated design featuring dual band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB-C, the speaker has been modularly designed, providing access to Bang & Olufsen’s new replaceable connectivity module introduced in the Beosound Level. This module has been front-loaded with enough processing power and connectivity technology to receive new performance updates and features for years to come. If the connectivity and streaming technology ever becomes outdated, the module can be replaced with the latest technology updates, future proofing the speaker.
The new Beosound Emerge can also be added to Bang & Olufsen’s Connected Speakers set up to deliver music throughout the home. The slim speaker can be placed in a small room to fill the space with clear sound, and it can be used to complement an existing speaker setup in the same space, together with the Beoplay A9 or Beosound Balance or any of the Bang & Olufsen Connected Speakers.
For an even more impactful music experience, two Beosound Emerge speakers can be paired together for stereo using a new technology developed by Bang & Olufsen. This wireless stereo implementation will soon be also available on a range of speakers including Beosound Balance and Beosound Level. The Danish company also points-out that, with its minimalistic footprint, the Beosound Emerge can generate a true Stereo experience in a home office or even used as a desktop solution.
For multiroom setups, the Beosound Emerge supports Apple Airplay 2 or Chromecast, and features a built-in radio and microphone for voice control. Bang & Olufsen’s proprietary Beolink connectivity will be available on Beosound Emerge via an over-the-air software update in the autumn.
The Beosound Emerge speaker in Gold Tone is available now online and in Bang & Olufsen stores in selected European markets from $899 USD / 749 EUR, and in Black Anthracite from $699 USD / 599 EUR. Global availability is scheduled from Autumn 2021.
www.layerdesign.com
www.bang-olufsen.com
