BANG & OLUFSEN BRINGS GOOGLE ASSISTANT TO BEOSOUND 1 AND BEOSOUND 2

August 23, 2018

Delivering on the promise to bring voice to the company’s range of speakers and headphones1, Danish luxury audio brand Bang & Olufsen today announced Beosound 1 and Beosound 2 with the Google Assistant2

Bang & Olufsen’s unrelenting focus on sound excellence and superior quality.
“We are on an exciting journey to bring the convenience of voice technology across the portfolio to our audience of design-conscious customers, who expect the highest standards in terms of sound and craftmanship. Considering that Beosound 2 with the Google Assistant is the most powerful and best sounding voice-enabled speaker on the market today, this first step marks a solid commitment to our customers”, says Bang & Olufsen Director of the staged and flexible speaker categories Petros Belimpasakis.

The conical body of Beosound 1 and Beosound 2 hovers slightly above the surface, releasing thumps of bass from beneath. At the top, which is slightly open, the speaker driver plays downwards into an acoustical lens creating an evenly distributed spherical sound profile. To make sure that the Google Assistant can hear commands through the wall of sound coming from the speakers, the sound engineers have built advanced acoustic echo-cancelling technology and five microphones into the aluminium structure that constantly analyzes which sounds come from the speaker and which are commands from the consumer.

Speakers that feel your presence
Beosound 1 and Beosound 2 are designed by Torsten Valeur from David Lewis Designers as an acknowledgement of the fact that people use sound in different ways. While Beosound 1 is crafted for portability and comes with a built- in rechargeable battery, Beosound 2 needs a permanent power connection to produce its vigorous output of excellent sound. The black composite top functions as a minimalistic control panel, and you simply turn it like a wheel to adjust the volume. As the speaker has sensors built in, it knows where you are approaching it from so you intuitively always swipe in the right direction for next and previous track.

Assign tasks to a single button
More than the Google Assistant built-in, Bang & Olufsen has added four favorite buttons to the top of the speakers, which allows you to assign tasks to a single button. Commands you would use often, such as streaming a radio station, your favourite music playlist, reading out the weather report or what is in your calendar for today can be assigned to a single button. The buttons are content agnostic, so they work with any device and music service that are Google Assistant compatible.

Chromecast and AirPlay 2
With both Chromecast and Apple AirPlay 2 integrated into the speakers, any major music service can be streamed to Beosound 1 and Beosound 2 from your smartphone and distributed in a multiroom product setup. And with the Google Assistant built-in, the speakers have advanced smart speaker functionality, for controlling your speaker or other smart home devices.

Pricing and availability
Beosound 1 and Beosound 2 with the Google Assistant built-in are available in Bang & Olufsen stores, in key markets, starting mid-September 2018 and, respectively, early October 2018, at the retail price of $1,750 USD for BeoSound 1 and $2,250 USD for BeoSound 2.

To enhance the portability use case for the new Beosound 1, Bang & Olufsen has designed a new docking station that allows you to pick up and move the product around with greater ease. Recommended retail price is $175 USD. At time of launch, the two speakers will be available in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA. More countries will follow as the Google Assistant will be available on new markets.