If you have a rich uncle you’ve misplaced somewhere, best start hunting for his address. You may need to tap him if this speaker from Bang & Olufsen (B&O) catches your fancy. That, or break the bank. The Beosound 2 costs all of ₹1,49,999. There’s a somewhat smaller and cheaper one called the Beosound 1, but we’re looking at the larger of the two here.

To begin with, Bang & Olufsen, Dutch audio experts, only make high-end products that fit into what you might call the ‘luxe’ segment. Before you get indignant at the price tag, there are enough in India who can readily shell out that much to equip every room in the house with one of those, if not with some that cost a hundred times more. In B&O’s product range, the Beosound 1 and 2 are really towards the bottom of the food chain; there being quite a few speakers that cost over fifty times this amount. All the same, it’s surprising that a Bluetooth speaker (known to be inferior in sound to any wired system) should cost quite as much as it does.

Space age looks

Looking for all the world like a pet space rocket that’s all set to take off, the Beosound 2 has a very contemporary design. And that’s for a reason or two. First, B&O want it to fit in nicely in any modern home and lifestyle. If you’ve got a lot of antique furniture or curvy wooden stuff, you might want to consider whether it fits your decor because it has a very distinctive space age look that you could either love or hate. It’s quite solid and built of a single piece of aluminium, but you can carry it from one room to another. This is no listen-on-the-beach kind of speaker though, or the kind of thing you take on a trip as it isn’t battery powered or ultra portable.

The other reason for the Beosound 2’s shape is that it’s a multi-directional speaker and designed to push out sound no matter where you place it, filling the room — which it does, not just because of its directionality but its sheer volume. You get it to work by connecting to the wall socket as there’s no battery here. It’s too powerful to be running on battery for any length of time. Then, you bring out your phone or tablet, and download the B&O app. You can communicate with the speaker via Bluetooth or WiFi. Within the app, there are a number of services featured and ready to play straight from there. TuneIn Radio, Spotify and a few other familiar names are there. You can also play through your iTunes on an iOS device.

Anyone who first hears the Beosound 2 gets a bit of a shock at the powerful sound coming out of a form factor that small.

Awe-inducing music

Eyes open wide with surprise and you can see that no one expected that loud a sound. There are no visible controls on the top of the speaker where there’s a little disk, but you’ll notice a little light. Fiddle around and you’ll find it’s touch sensitive. One little tap will play or pause or wake the device up. A light swipe will change tracks. But there isn’t much more than that — no fiddling with bass or treble. That you will need to do by using a third party app with enough equaliser settings. Volume is set by rotating the disk on the speaker and it’s very sensitive to the touch. More likely, you will use your playback device to control what happens on the speaker. Beosound 2 supports AirPlay, Google Cast and DLNA, for anyone who prefers to listen through these methods. When needed, the B&O app will upgrade the firmware, removing bugs and improving features such as its ‘multiroom’ capability. If you have the money, you can equip your mansion with several of these speakers or combine Beosound 1 and 2 versions and play music everywhere as you connect them through the app. You can either play different music in different rooms, creating some confusion or let the same sound flow throughout your home.

The Beosound 2 packs an enormous punch. And herein lies the problem: Everyone doesn’t like the somewhat heavy sound. Many find it over-bassed rather than clear, skewed rather than balanced and realistic. But there are those who will also enjoy the sheer power. But because the output is likely to appeal differently to different people and because the product costs as much as it does, it’s best to go across to a B&O showroom and have a careful listen first.

Price: ₹1,49,999

Pros: Unique modern look, powerful sound, flexible with support for music sources and playing methods, sensitive touch controls

Cons: Very expensive for a wireless speaker, skewed towards heavy bass