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Brilliant Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28 designer smart speaker is our new style icon

Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28 speakers aside a Beovision Harmony OLED TV in a designer living room

The Beolab 28 is a stunning new studio grade wireless speaker from Bang & Olufsen. The designer tower incorporates adaptive acoustic technology that allows it to be placed anywhere in a room, with optimized performance.

Said to be the most advanced wireless speaker yet from the brand, the slim cylinder design incorporates a built-in subwoofer with a custom 6.5-inch driver, so there’s no need to shift furniture to accommodate a separate subwoofer. Active Room Compensation adapts the bass response to the room.

The mid-range is handled by a trio of 76mm full range drivers, two on the front and one on each side, coupled to a 25mm tweeter.

Power is prodigious, with peak Class D amplification rated at 625W per speaker.

To adapt this output to the room, Beam Width Control is used. Narrow mode is for classic sweet spot listening, minimising side wall reflections, while Wide mode diffuses the sound around the loudspeakers, for a more convivial living room performance.

The designer speaker tower incorporates adaptive acoustic technology that allows it to be placed anywhere, with optimized performance…

Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28 speakers wall and floor mounted in a living room
Beolab 28 can be floor or wall mounted

Bang & Olufsen has always favoured theatrics when it comes to presentation, and the Beolab 28 is no exception. Each speaker incorporates ‘curtains’ that open when switched on, or move when the sound beam is adjusted. The brand says this ‘stages the listening experience’ –  we just think it looks cool. 

Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28 ‘floating on air’ design

Beolab 28 can be floor or wall mounted. The design of consists of a column with a round curvature in the lower end, followed by a conical shape that contains the woofer. The speaker is held together by a backbone which hides cable wires and gives the impression that the speaker is floating on air.

Designed and crafted in Bang & Olufsen’s Factory 5 in Struer, Denmark, the anodised, aluminium cylinder is formed using a spinning production process, while being pressed into shape. To create the conical shape of the foot, the aluminium component uses complex expanding and reducing techniques. 

The distinctive look is inspired by the iconic column shape seen on the Beolab Penta, first introduced in the late Eighties, and the Beolab 6000 / 8000 models from the noughties.

The Beolab 28 is available in Natural Silver, Black Anthracite or Bronze Tone aluminium, with a choice of knitted fabric or solid wood embellishments to interiors. Fabric covers are available in grey and grey mélange, while wooden covers are available in light oak, oak, smoked oak and walnut.

The wooden covers are made at Bjerrum Nielsen, a supplier Bang & Olufsen has worked with since 1949.

Close up of the touch control pad on a Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28 speaker
Touch Control is activated by proximity sensors

The user interface on top of Beolab 28 lights up when approached thanks to built in proximity sensors. Listeners to pause/play, skip and turn the volume up or down. Four favourite buttons offer quick access to favourite radio stations or Spotify playlists. 

The Beolab 28 is also designed to be future-proof, employing Bang & Olufsen’s new replaceable connectivity module. While this boasts enough processing power and connectivity technology to receive performance updates for years to come, it can be upgraded with a more advanced module if and when required.  

The Bang & Olufsen Beolab 28 Fabric edition is priced from £9,750 a pair, with the wooden model tagged at £10,750. 

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About Steve May

Creator of Home Cinema Choice magazine, and editor of The Luxe Review, Steve muses and reviews for Trusted Reviews, T3, Yahoo UK, Home Cinema Choice, Games Radar, Ideal Home, Louder Sounds, Channel News and Boat International. He’s also the editor of professional home cinema website Inside CI. He's on Twitter and Instagram as @SteveMay_UK

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