Bang & Olufsen announced today the new Beosound A5 Spaced Aluminium. Honouring Bang & Olufsen’s heritage in excellence in aluminium design and craftsmanship, the Beosound A5 Spaced Aluminium grille is crafted and finished by hand at Factory 5 in Struer, Denmark.
The Beosound A5 Spaced Aluminium grille is a delicately crafted design that champions Bang & Olufsen’s approach to pushing boundaries within aluminium exploration. It is made from more than 3500 aluminium discs, giving the illusion of floating at the front of the speaker.
Vice President of Product Marketing, Michael Henriksson, explains, “We have worked with different circular patterns across our speaker grille designs for many years. It has become a signature, but this is a brand-new style”.
He continues, “Usually, the circular shape is the hole in which sound flows through a speaker grille, whereas here we flipped the idea on its head and made the circular shape the central attraction and the sound flows out around it, effectively inverting our past design to create something different and striking.”
“The look of the “floating discs” is created using a second layer of aluminium, carefully designed in a grid behind the surface to create the optical illusion and let the sound flow through”.
Building the portfolio of Beosound A5.
Spaced Aluminium joins the existing portfolio of Beosound A5 finishes – Nordic Weave and Dark Oak. “Beosound A5 was designed to be a canvas for aesthetic exploration and building emotional durability. Even looking at the Raffia and Wooden grilles, they’re both so different to one another. It’s hard to believe it is the same speaker” says Michael Henriksson.
“Whilst the Nordic Weave and Dark Oak variants do differ in style, they both feel warm and natural, reflecting and blending into the materials and textures we are used to seeing in our homes. The vision with Spaced Aluminium is totally different to that. This edition feels graphic, contrasting and technical. It is still somewhat neutral and pure, but extremely expressive and sculptural. It adds a completely new dynamic to Beosound A5, and we only want to add to this over time.”
Beosound A5, which launched in April 2023, sits at the junction where portable and home audio meet. Designed to be carried from room to room with ease, whether placed on the floor, shelf or table. Thanks to an IP65 water and dustproof rating, Beosound A5 can also be taken outside and on any adventure, effortlessly. With more than 12 hours of playtime and a wireless phone charger integrated into the top panel of the speaker, Beosound A5 is Bang & Olufsen’s most versatile speaker to date, and the perfect portable audio companion. It is controlled by either a sleek user-interface or directly from the Bang & Olufsen App.
A history of aluminum excellence.
Bang & Olufsen has led the way for material innovation with aluminium for nearly 70 years, since 1955 when the company defied the conventional approach of using cadium, chrome and nickel for audio products, and instead opted for experimenting with aluminium.
On this topic, Michael Henriksson notes “We wanted to keep this edition of Beosound A5 very pure, focusing in on our work with Aluminium, the unique texture and sheen that this material gives. Keeping the shade natural and matching perfectly to the body of the speaker and the new handle keeps the focus on the artwork, intricacy and craftmanship of the grille.
This edition took time to hone and refine and pushed our capabilities within aluminium design at Factory 5 past even our own expectations.
We’ve got a rich history in aluminium, and we’re intrigued by our past. Aluminium is a timeless material, that ages gracefully and reflects our values for creating products that last. Having said that, we’re also very inspired by the future of where we can take aluminium as a material for our products, pushing boundaries and developing new designs through creative experimentation. This is only the start.”
Unlocking new features.
Alongside a new finish of Beosound A5, in Spaced Aluminium, new software updates are planned for the portable speaker. These updates unlock new features through Bang & Olufsen’s future-gazing software platform, Mozart.
Automatic Stereo Pairing through ultra-wide-band technology will be activating in the new software update, which means that two Beosound A5 speakers can automatically pair once in range of one another, for smoother connectivity. Using the Bang & Olufsen app, Beosound A5 can also seamlessly integrate into a multi-product Bang & Olufsen home audio setup, thanks to advanced connectivity.
Fluid Sweet Spot will also be introduced, providing music as the artist intended. When stereo paired, a single tap in the B&O app will let Beosound A5 fix an ideal sound output based on the listener’s position, seamlessly.
