B&O and Houzz apartment takeover

I was a busy little gadgety gad-about last week. One stop included an evening with Bang and Olufsen, and design app maestros Houzz.

As well as playing with multi-platform wireless VR and visiting the newest luxury goods show, I had chance to sample some of B&O’s range of goodies.

In partnership with Houzz, the theme was perfect for London, as it was “Flexible Living”. This concept aims to utilise the space in your home to its utmost.

Houzz

This website and app has become the place to browse and save beautiful home photos.

Not only that, Houzz will help you find the right design and construction professionals.

The community has grown to include more than 40 million homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals located across the country and around the world.

Houzz does seem to be a great one-stop-shop for inspiration, advice and the people to make your plans reality.

Bang and Olufsen

Horizon

The audio visual brand was the main focus of the event for me. This rather nice apartment was dotted with the latest lifestyle speakers and televisions.

First up was the Horizon television. This 4K UHD screen has the tech to automatically adjust to the content being played and ambient lighting conditions.

I quite liked it on the very 70s-style wheeled trolley. This obviously makes it easier to put to one side to be wheeled out when needed. See, flexible living.

We also saw the smaller model on a ring stand. This allows the screen to be rotated without messing up your carpet.

The Horizon comes in two sizes, a 48-inch and 40-inch version.

Beosound 1 and 2

Beosound 1

The Beosound 1 is a portable wireless speaker. It is constructed from extruded aluminium and does look lovely.

Its 360-degree sound performance isn’t too shabby either. The Beosound 1 has integrated access to Spotify, Deezer QPlay and TuneIn.

Thanks to its rechargable battery, you can just pick up the Beosound 1 and take it to wherever you need it.

The Beosound 1 packs a 40 watt class D amp for the full-range driver and a 20 watt class D amp for the woofer.

Beosound 2

If you need more then the Beosound 2 might be more up your street.

Slightly larger than the Beosound 1, the Beosound 2 has similar features to the 1 and supports Bluetooth, AirPlay, Google Cast and DNLA.

This is purely mains powered as it contains no fewer than 5 amplifiers. 1 x 40 watt class D for the 3/4-inch tweeter, a pair of 11 watt class Ds for the two 2-inch mid-range drivers and then a further two 20 watt class D amps for the 5 1/4-inch woofer.

The 360-degree audio does fill a room. You can, of course pair the Besound 1 and 2 with other speakers, as well as each other, to get the multi-room party pumping.

Beosound 35

Also present was the Beosound 35. What looks like an architect’s soundbar is much more than that.

It connects to Apple AirPlay, Bluetooth 4.0 and DLNA for streaming music from a networked device. The 35 will play nice with MP3, WMA, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, WAV and AIFF, up to 24-bit/192kHz.

It is integrated with web-based services too: Spotify Connect, Deezer, TuneIn radio.