We can’t tell if the Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 90 is a modern sculpture, a robot, or a geometric alien form. Yes, we know, it’s supposed to be a loudspeaker, but we doubt anyone will believe that when they see this thing for the very first time.
Designed to celebrate the company’s 90th anniversary, the speaker isn’t just ostentatious on the outside, it’s just as overelaborate on the inside, too, producing a sound that B&O claims “will blow the roof off your house and knock the socks off your guests.” With looks like that, we guess that’s the only thing that would be appropriate.
The Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 90 has an insane 18 drivers, each with its own dedicated amp (14 ICEpower and four class-D) pumping out a preposterous total of 8,200 watts. That’s higher wattage than the sound system on most small movie theaters, so you can imagine just how powerful these things are. By default, the 360-degree speaker is designed to push sound evenly across all directions, although you can narrow it down to a specific sweet spot via an accompanying app if you’re spending some listening time on your own. With help from the same app, the speakers can even optimize their sound profile based on room layout and furniture placement, so you can drop it anywhere in a room and enjoy the same high-quality audio with nothing more than a little tweaking.
It weighs an equally overwhelming 140-plus pounds, so this isn’t the kind of rig a burglar is likely to be able to pluck out of your house with ease. Which happens to be a great thing because the Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 90 costs a whopping $38,995 each.