The new Beolab 28 active loudspeaker is a case in point. When you start playing music, cloth or slatted-wood “curtains” on the front of each speaker open, and the concert begins. The speakers can be placed on the floor or mounted on the wall.
The engineering behind the speaker is hardly less impressive. The Beolab 28 is a three-way design—a 6.5′′ woofer, three 3′′ full-range drivers, and a 1′′ textile-dome tweeter—with a total of 625W of class-D amplification per speaker. Specified frequency range is 27Hz–23kHz (no deviation given), and maximum SPL is 110dB (per pair). The Beolab also has clever DSP functions to help overcome problems in real-world listening rooms and to adjust output for different listening situations; and a network streamer that supports Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify Connect, and UPnP/DLNA.