B&O Beosound Balance
Excellent network speakers for enjoying music without being aware of your equipment.
Introduction.
At home, there are many opportunities to enjoy music, and I wanted to enjoy music with good sound as much as possible, so I chose the Bang and Olufsen Beosound Balance to introduce this time. As it is a network speaker, I use it together with the music service on my smartphone. It plays music sources on the network instead of CDs or vinyl records, which are the conventional sources for enjoying music on an audio set, so you can enjoy music very easily. In this article, we present the Beosound Balance from Bang and Olufsen.
Pleasant sound in space
Not only Beosound Balance, but all Bang and Olufsen products have the Active Room Compensation function, which is not affected by the conditions of the room in which it is installed, automatically detects obstacles in the space (reflections and standing wave effects) and automatically creates a frequency response to suit the space, always listening to music The sound is optimised for the room. I forget the model number of their flagship speaker Beolab, which was launched in 2003 or so, but it was a hot topic at the time and I was surprised when I saw and listened to the actual product. I remember being surprised when I saw and listened to the actual product.
I have owned Bang and Olufsen products in the past and still use them occasionally. I own a Beosound 3200, which is a CD player and radio in one, and a set of Beolab 6000 powered speakers.
The Beosound3200 and Beolab6000 are a good combination, and although I bought them more than 20 years ago, they are still useful for listening to CDs. The world of audio is a world of mass, and the pursuit of sound quality inevitably leads to large, space-consuming and mass-producing products. The big audio sets are also very attractive, and I have considered buying one a few times, but in the end the combination of Beosound 3200 and Beolab 6000 was so good that I didn’t go for a big audio set.
I know this is a bit off topic, but if you build an audio set with a set from the source to the amplifier and speakers, which is called pure audio, you can enjoy music with great sound, but if you think about it from a monitor point of view, you should decide where to place the speakers based on where the sound can be heard best, such as the listening point. Bang and Olufsen’s approach is to build a system based on the idea that you can enjoy music in the whole space, not just the monitors, so you can enjoy high-quality sound even if you place the speakers where you want them, depending on the situation in the room. You can enjoy music with high quality sound even if the speakers are placed in different positions according to the room conditions. The Bang and Olufsen system is a little rougher than pure audio in that it is installed in a way that allows you to enjoy music with high quality sound without having to think too hard about the listening point, which is a feature of Bang and Olufsen’s products.
Maximum enjoyment of music distribution services
The Beosound Balance from Bang and Olufsen, introduced here, is a recent technological innovation that allows you to enjoy high-quality sound wherever you play music in the room, without limiting where you place it, and this has been described as ‘pleasant sound in space’.
I myself am a great lover of music, and although there are times when I get carried away and times when I cool down a little, I own more than 5000 CDs (I have never counted exactly) and listen to all genres of music, from classical symphonies to small groups, solo and rock, from the 30s to the 70s. The music source for Beosound Balance is basically Deezer.
What is good about music distribution services such as Deezer is that you can easily search for the music you want to listen to, and there are a lot of music genres and tunes that are grouped together, so you can enjoy music as background music in a casual way. The sound quality is also perfect as the delivery rate is on a par with CDs, and unlike CDs and records, there is no need to search for the source, so you can enjoy music at any time.
Two Beosound Balance units are connected via stereo pairing and I use an iPhone, so I put the Deezer app on my iPhone and enjoy the music source from Deezer on the Beosound Balance stereo.
One of my Beosound Balance is Natural Oak and one is White Marble.
More about Beosound Balance
From the official Bang and Olufsen website
Recommended room area 10-80 m² 100-800 ft²
Speaker configuration 1 x ¾” tweeter 2 x 2″ full-range 2 x 3″ full-range 2 x 5 ¼” woofer
Amplifier 1 x 50 W class D for tweeter 2 x 100 W class D for full-range 2 x 100 W class D for full-range 2 x 200 W class D for woofer
Frequency range 26-23,000 Hz
Maximum sound pressure level (SPL) @1 m 104 dB SPL
Low-frequency reproduction performance 88 dB SPL
Pair with the stereo pairing Beosound Balance for stereo sound.
Outstanding acoustic technology Active Room Compensation Adaptive Bass Linearisation Beam Width Control Beam Direction Control (3 sides) Thermal protection
Customisable sound EQ 5 presets available for customisation via the Bang & Olufsen app
Materials Aluminium/wood/marble Wool polymer
Size (W x D x H, cm) 20 x 38 x 20 (W x D x H) cm
Weight From 7.2 kg (depending on colour variant)
Power consumption Standard 100 W in standby 4,5 W
Power supply Power supply built-in Power Cable
Bluetooth version Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth codec AAC SBC
Wi-Fi Dual-Band Wi-Fi (2.4 & 5 GHz) IEEE 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac
Supported streaming services Apple AirPlay 2 Spotify Connect Chromecast built-in TIDAL Connect B&O Radio Deezer QPlay 2.0
Conclusion.
In this article, we have introduced the Bang and Olufsen Beosound Balance. Since it is combined with the music distribution service Deezer to create an environment where I can casually enjoy high-quality music, I have many opportunities to come into contact with music in my daily life, sometimes as background music and sometimes in a serious way to enjoy music by listening to the instruments and voice sounds, following each one of them one by one.
The speakers are multi, tweeter 1, full range 2, woofer 2 speaker configuration and the amplifier is also multi-compatible, so the sound quality is deep, and there is enough power to sound music with a wonderful sound quality that is not inferior to full-fledged pure audio. The sound quality is also very deep and the power is ample.
Although it is a small speaker, the bass is tight and it sounds with a solid mass, so the outline of the sound is not blurred, the mid-range with a sense of mass and the clear treble are well balanced, and the initial rise of voice and musical instruments is quick and you can also enjoy pleasant attack sounds.
I find them very useful as they are easy to use and provide high sound quality suited to my environment.
Shop.
I bought my Beosound Balance at Bang & Olufsen’s Seibu Shibuya shop. Not only the Beosound Balance I purchased, but also a full range of speakers from the large Beosound 50 to smaller ones, earphones and headphones, and a TV demo, so you can experience the world of Bang & Olufsen as a whole.
The shop is located in the Seibu Shibuya shop, and the shop staff are courteous and take their time to explain and listen to the products, so you will be able to choose products that will satisfy your needs. They can also help you coordinate the system with your interior design, so even if you have a product you like, but find it difficult to think about the installation and system, you can consult with them without worry.
Recently, networking has become a problem, and you may be concerned about the hassle of setting up your smartphone, but the staff at this shop will support you in setting up the apps, so I think you will be satisfied not only with the purchase, but also with how you use the system afterwards.
I also asked Bang & Olufsen Seibu Shibuya to repair the CD pick-up and motor drive of my Beosound 3200, which I have used for more than 20 years, but it has been a long time since it was discontinued and there was no parts supply, so I was thinking what to do. They are now dealing with the problem. They are also an excellent manufacturer that takes responsibility for the products they have sold in the past, and the Japanese staff involved in the project are very good.
I am impressed by the attitude of Bang & Olufsen and its staff, who take it for granted that old machines are not disposed of but repaired and used carefully, which is in line with what is being said these days about sustainability.
I have purchased the Beosound Balance, Beoplay EQ earphones and H95 headphones from Bang & Olufsen’s Seibu Shibuya shop. Whenever I purchase any product, I am treated with the same courteous customer service.
The earphones and headphones are also excellent and we hope to introduce them in a separate article.
