The BeoSound 35, made by Bang & Olufsen, is a wireless hi-fi “super soundbar” that stands as an unbeatable “all-in-one integrated music system”.

The Details

Renowned Danish audio products engineers and designers Bang & Olufsen (B&O) have come up with a soundbar that’s not a mere soundbar in the usual sense but something far beyond that, aesthetically and sonically. It’s the pentagonal BeoSound 35, a wireless “all-in-one integrated music system” that I find formidably good among mounted or standing audio systems of this kind.

The BeoSound 35 can deliver clear and powerful sound for 24-bit/192 kHz high resolution audio. Other supported formats include MP3, AAC, AIFF, ALAC playback, FLAC, WA, and WMA (but not WMA lossless). What’s more, support for streaming services including Spotify Connect and the Deezer app is integrated right into the system. Likewise, so is support for AirPlay, BLNA, Google Cast, and TuneIn. There’s connectivity for Bluetooth 4.0 alongside “old school” hard-wired inputs. The company has, characteristically, made sure that it’s simplicity itself to pair up the BeoSound 35 with other B&O audio equipment if you want multi-room audio. According to B&O, all of this makes it a true “all-in-one integrated music system”, and I have to concur.

The unit has an OLED display built in, along with on-board touch controls. You control the volume with a finger swipe.

Behind the face cover, you find a pair of forward-facing 4″ woofers and a pair of 0.75″ tweeters which are angled at 90 degrees to the woofers, each pair driven by an 80-watt Class-D amplifier. The unit’s frequency range is from 45 Hz to 22 kHz.

The BeoSound 35’s aluminum outer shell and elongated pentagonal shape are a seamless blend of optimal function and form. The aluminum simultaneously helps with durability and heat dispersion. The pentagonal shape is much more aesthetically pleasing than the usual “rectangular box” shape of mounted wireless hi-fi speakers, but it also provides additional sound quality. That is, with the unit’s bigger loudspeaker at its center and the smaller tweeters on the ends you experience a well-balanced, 180-degree, room-filling sound without the annoyance or disappointment of hot spots or dead zones.

It has been thoroughly demonstrated that the BeoSound 35 can utterly cascade a room with crisp, high quality audio which doesn’t allow Beats-like bass dominance or distortion — whether you mount the system on the wall or set it up on a table with the included aluminum stand.

At the time of this writing, the BeoSound 35 has only had demo models heard. B&O are putting it on the market in April, 2016.

The post The Best Mounted Wireless Hi-Fi System of 2016 appeared first on Reactual.

We present here the four of the top rated directional outdoor speakers on the market. These outdoor speakers are best suited for maximizing sound quality in a defined space, such as a porch or patio.

Most can be easily mounted on an exterior wall under an eave or overhang, which has two advantages: it offers protection from the elements, and also adds reflective surfaces near the speaker to improve sound quality.

Boston Acoustics Voyager 4 Outdoor Speakers

Boston Acoustics brings its legendary sound quality outdoors with its Voyager 4 speakers, the smallest of the Voyager series. Each Voyager 4 speaker is enclosed in a weather-resistant polypropylene case, and features a 4” co-polymer woofer to withstand moisture and temperature swings. A ¾” Kortec dome tweeter provides high tones, and the Voyagers are available in black or paintable white to match any outdoor décor. The wedge-shaped rear case allows installation in a corner location.

The Boston Acoustics Voyager 4 outdoor speakers are available from Amazon for about $200 per pair.

Polk Audio Atrium 45 Outdoor Speakers

The Atrium 45 from Polk Audio is another high-fidelity outdoor speaker with a streamlined design, and it’s the most compact model of Polk’s Atrium series. Its 4 ½” polymer bass cone features a butyl rubber suspension surround, and a ¾” dome tweeter covers the high notes while a sculpted front baffle minimizes sound diffraction. But this performance speaker is rugged enough to hold up to the nastiest weather too: all hardware is stainless steel or brass, the brackets and grilles are aluminium, and the Atrium meets or exceeds military specs for waterproofing, salt and corrosion resistance.

The Polk Audio Atrium 45 outdoor speakers are available in either black or white. You can find them at Amazon for about $100 per pair.

Klipsch AW-400 Outdoor Speakers

The Klipsch AW-400 sets itself apart from the pack with its efficient power usage, meaning bigger sound from even relatively low-wattage inputs. There are larger models available in the AW series, but the AW-400 packs a 4” IMG woofer and 1” Tractix Horn polymer tweeter into a weather-resistant ABS housing. Non-corrosive aluminum grilles and heavy-duty zinc brackets help the AW400 stand up to the elements, and a 3/8” – 16 threaded insert adds flexibility for mounting options. The AW-400 is available with black or white finishes, which are paintable and UV-resistant.

The Klipsch AW-400 outdoor speakers cost around $220 per pair at Amazon.

Yamaha NS-AW150W Outdoor Speakers

The Yamaha NS-AW150 is the least expensive of the bunch, but still offers great sound in an efficient and weather-resistant package. The speakers utilize a 5” polypropylene mica-filled woofer and ½” PEI dome tweeter, and they are magnetically shielded so they can be used near televisions & monitors with no image distortion. They feature five-way binding posts to accommodate various cable connection types.

The Yamaha NS-AW150W outdoor speakers are available at Amazon for around $70 per pair.

The post The Best Rated Outdoor Speakers appeared first on Reactual.