Status Symbol: Bang & Olufsen's Beovision Harmony
Who needs a $22,500 TV? When Bang & Olufsen begins shipping the first units of its Beovision Harmony television set next month, you might be raising your hand.
The Beovision Harmony wowed everyone at Milan Design Week this past spring with its expansive 77-inch OLED thin screen and eye-catching butterfly-wing design. It’s easy to see why.
When Beovision Harmony is turned off or just playing music, the thin screen rests close to the floor, partially covered by two meticulously crafted oak and aluminium fronts, which house the powerful sound center. But when Beovision Harmony is turned on, the two fronts fan out — like a butterfly opening its wings — and the screen rises to the perfect viewing height. Turn off the TV, and the finely choreographed sequence plays out in reverse.
“The motion of the Beovision Harmony is inspired by the pantomime theater at Tivoli Gardens, a famous amusement park in Copenhagen,” according to Kresten Bjørn Krab-Bjerre, creative director at Bang & Olufsen.
In other words, theater for your home theater.
Television as Centerpiece
Bang & Olufsen hopes to make the television “a welcome addition” to the living space, says John Mollanger, Bang & Olufsen’s Executive Vice President of Brand and Markets. “With Beovision Harmony, we wanted to create a meaningful object for the interior that reduces the visual presence of the TV and transforms it into something that people will develop an emotional attachment to.”
Television for Techies
The Beovision Harmony does not just rely solely on its aesthetic beauty to captivate its audience, however. It’s also built for maximum visual and acoustic performance, on par with the Bang & Olufsen tradition. The intricate grading pattern brings a three-channel, fully active DSP-based sound center, which will please the most serious techies and audiophiles. Paired with LG’s top-class 77” OLED screen — featuring brighter, self-illuminating pixels and stunning color — the Beovision Harmony delivers a premium entertainment experience for movies, sporting events and must-see shows.
In addition to the robust speaker system, Beovision Harmony offers music streaming with integrated music services like Tune-In and Deezer. You can also stream directly from your smartphone via Apple Airplay 2, Chromecast built-in or Bluetooth. Beovision Harmony also comes with LG’s most recent webOS 4.5 platform, which allows you to access your favourite media service providers such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube.
Whole House Integration
Beovision Harmony also integrates seamlessly with Bang & Olufsen’s growing collection of multiroom products. For those looking to immerse themselves in first-class surround sound, Beovision Harmony comes with a built-in 7.1 surround sound decoder, making it possible to connect up to eight Beolab speakers such as Beolab 18, Beolab 50 and Beolab 90. All sources and connected devices are can be controlled with the Beoremote One — a beautiful piece of technology that has been ergonomically designed and crafted from a single piece of extruded aluminium.
No doubt it—the Beovision Harmony just may be the ultimate future status symbol for home entertatinment.
Beovision Harmony, including the LG OLED C9 77” TV optimized for Bang & Olufsen, will be available in Bang & Olufsen stores starting October 2019. Beovision Harmony will be available with a combined oak wood/aluminium front or a combined Grey Melange two-tone fabric/aluminium front and comes with two placement options: floor stand and wall bracket. For more information, visit www.bang-olufsen.com.