Bang & Olufsen is populating its B&O Play line of standalone, portable and intuitive products. New to the line is the BeoPlay A3 iPad sound system. The speaker operates as a stand and sound system. An accelerometer detects what position the iPad sits in order to direct sound.
The A3 is a rigid, wedge-shaped stand that snaps the tablet into place. Once the tablet is inserted, A3 can stand in multiple positions including upright in either landscape or portrait orientations, or sloped in either landscape or portrait. The latter sets the iPad at an angle that makes typing on the soft keyboard comfortable. Standing up, the A3 lends itself to watching video or reading pages such as following a recipe in the kitchen.
Multiple positions are possible with the BeoPlay A3, which features Bang & Olufsen's Adaptive Stereo Orientation. This feature uses an accelerometer to detect the position of the stand in order to send sound appropriately to an unidirectional two-inch subwoofer. Sound will be projected differently for standing and sloped, portrait and landscape positions. In addition to the subwoofer, half-inch tweeters are positioned in the three other corners of the A3.
Danish designer Steffen Schmelling created the BeoPlay A3 design for Bang & Olufsen. Before the A3, Schmelling designed the BeoTime clock and BeoSound 6 personal audio system for B&O.
The BeoPlay A3 weighs 1.5 kg, or about 3.3 pounds. It supports up to five hours of use on a single charge and can be plugged in to charge itself and the iPad while in use. B&O priced the BeoPlay A3 at $549. It will be available later this month.
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