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00:00Now, I must admit, I thought I was splurging when I spent 700 quid on my Sonos ARC soundbar.
00:05This takes things to another level.
00:14This is the new Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre soundbar, and it starts at £5,500, or nearly
00:22£7,000 if you want this fancy wood on the side.
00:25Which makes it the world's most expensive soundbar at over twice the price of, say,
00:31the Sennheiser Ambio or the DVLA Dion.
00:34But does it make it the best soundbar, and is there any way you could possibly justify
00:39spending that kind of money on this?
00:40Well, maybe.
00:41But first, a quick mention from our sponsor, TCL, who are also showing off some exciting
00:46new tech here at IFA in Berlin, and I was invited as a special guest to have a little
00:51tour of their booth and see what they had going on.
00:54We've got new mini-LED TVs, up to 8K.
00:58This guy, a 136-inch 4K cinema wall.
01:02It always amazes me how much stuff TCL make.
01:05I mean, who needs four normal walls when you could have three and a cinema wall?
01:10Now this is only a prototype for now, but it looks incredible thanks to that micro-LED
01:14display, which is essentially the next-generation screen technology that gives us the best of
01:18OLED contrast with the brightness of mini-LED or QLED.
01:22This is definitely one to keep an eye on, but for now, here are some new TVs that you
01:26can actually buy.
01:27And TCL have unveiled a range of new mini-LED and Quantum Dot 4K and 8K TVs.
01:33Take the new C935s, which top out with this whopping 98-inch model.
01:37We're talking 4K, mini-LED, Quantum Dot, up to 2,000 nits of brightness.
01:42Also 144Hz refresh, which you don't see very often and would be great for PC gaming,
01:47as well as Dolby Atmos and IMAX enhanced sound.
01:50And all these run Google TV software, with a bunch of TCL's own display and software
01:55tech that's upscaling and optimising the picture in the background.
01:58And it's not just TVs, TCL is now also getting into gaming with this new 34-inch mini-LED
02:04165Hz gaming monitor.
02:06There's so many people here.
02:08Paulina, what do you make of the wall?
02:10I love it.
02:11Cinema at home.
02:12Cinema at home.
02:13I like that.
02:14Look who it is!
02:15It's Vincent!
02:16Yay!
02:17How you doing buddy?
02:18Fine man.
02:19I'm a big fan of your channel man, you're doing great work here.
02:22I admire him, I look up to this guy.
02:24What do you think of the TCL booth?
02:25Fantastic.
02:26I think, you know, they've kicked it out with some really nice displays, especially
02:29like the really large ones, you know, I'm a sucker for size.
02:32I've heard that.
02:33TCL have also been showing off their new fresh in-AC units.
02:36There's a whole range of fridges and washing machines, as well as a whole load of other
02:40smart home tech.
02:41And that's TCL.
02:42If you want to find out more about some of the tech I just showed you, click the links
02:45in the description below.
02:47Okay, so what makes the B&O Sound Theatre special, aside from that price?
02:51Well, there's a few things.
02:53And before we even get to the sound quality and the features, what really sets this apart
02:56is B&O expect it to last 10 years or more.
03:00It's modular, repairable and upgradable.
03:02Which they say technically you could do yourself, although that would void the 3 year warranty.
03:07Really you'd get an engineer from the shop to come to your home and make any changes.
03:10But for example, this whole section can be removed and swapped out for new connections
03:14and inputs in the future.
03:16The audio chip can be upgraded, although even now they say it's only using 50% of its computational
03:21power.
03:22They've essentially built this to be as future-proof and also sustainable as possible.
03:27So instead of maybe buying a whole new soundbar every few years, this could last you over
03:31a decade.
03:32Although that is a big if, we've heard promises of modular upgradability by brands before.
03:38But what gives me more confidence here is the fact that you can pair this with older
03:42B&O speakers going back as far as the late 1980s and then use those as extra or surround
03:47speakers.
03:48You just plug them in and the software does the rest.
03:50This stuff is built to last.
03:53So let's talk about this design.
03:54And while you can place it any way you like, really this is designed to have the TV mounted
03:58on top of it.
03:59It should work with nearly any TV, although here they're demonstrating it with 55, 65
04:04and 75 inch LG OLEDs.
04:07So you mount this bracket to your TV, which uses its VESA mount holes, and there are adapters
04:12if your holes are in weird places, if you know what I mean.
04:15But once mounted, either on top of the soundbar or on a wall mount or one of their famous
04:19swivelly stands, you can then hide and run all your cables through the back and keep
04:23everything nice and tidy.
04:24There's even room for an Apple TV inside the bracket if you want.
04:27It's designed to be an all-in-one piece and an all-in-one soundbar.
04:32And I must admit, it does look good.
04:33The fabric option is less intrusive, but with the oak wood, it becomes a piece of furniture
04:38with slightly retro, scandy vibes.
04:41I like it a lot, and naturally with B&O you can customise the collar and the finish of
04:45the fabric and the wood all at an additional cost.
04:47Also, these aluminium wings can be changed out for bigger sizes if you upgrade your TV
04:52in the future, so it's always flush with the edge.
04:54And I'm told it does actually improve the sound quality as it helps direct the sound
04:58forward.
04:59So, technically, the bigger the TV, the bigger the wing, the better the sound.
05:09Speaking of which, how does this actually sound?
05:12Well, as you would expect, given B&O's pedigree and also that price tag, it's pretty incredible
05:17actually.
05:18Now, I want you to clap on the third beat.
05:25Don't speed up!
05:26Rog, keep that time.
05:30Don't speed up!
05:34Inside, you can see this thing is chocked full of forward, side and up-firing speakers.
05:39In total, we have 12 speaker drivers, including two custom 6.5-inch woofers.
05:44In fact, these are the biggest subs in any soundbar.
05:47And if you don't have any other speakers, then this is a good place to start.
05:50But the B&O Sound Theatre can also be the centre of a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos setup, and it
05:55even supports up to 16 external loudspeakers, with the soundbar acting as the centre.
06:00B&O were actually demoing the theatre with a pair of Beolab 28 floor stand speakers,
06:06which during this James Bond showcase, which they tell me they have got the licence for,
06:09so hopefully this video won't get taken down, they were working as the rear channels.
06:13And the theatre soundbar and the software then does all the mixing.
06:16Now, the theatre does require a calibration when you set it up for the first time, and
06:20again, each time you add a new speaker or change the setup, but that does mean you're
06:24always going to get the best sound.
06:32And actually, it does reinforce the fact that it's not just the hardware and the fancy
06:35design, the software magic behind the scenes and the options you have in the app itself
06:40all make a big difference.
06:42We get four HDMI ports, one of which is the latest 2.1 spec that supports eARC, Dolby
06:47Atmos, 8K or 4K 120, which is great for your PS5 and Xbox, as well as your UHD Blu-ray
06:52player or TV box, and that's along with eight power links, and we get more streaming
06:57options than you can shake a stick at, from Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Spotify
07:01Connect, Beolink Multiroom, DLNA, there's a ton of options.
07:05Now I have to admit, I'm not a audiophile really, I'm not a professional sound engineer
07:09or audio expert, I'm much more of a sort of consumer when it comes to these kind of
07:13products.
07:14And also remember, what you're hearing is recorded by my microphone and then compressed
07:18by YouTube and then being played back by your speakers or earphones, so there's a lot
07:22of loss here, which is not what you want to see or hear when it comes to a speaker,
07:27so you really have to experience this in person.
07:29But to my ears at least, it sounds epic.
07:31I wouldn't buy one, at least not yet, because this is a first.
07:35So I've only had a couple of hours to play with this, and I would love to take this home
07:38right now, put it next to my Sonos ARC and have a proper side-by-side.
07:42Now with any kind of high-end, especially luxury tech, there will be diminishing returns,
07:46but I am confident this sounds better, even if it's subtle, and of course it's not just
07:50about the pure sound, it's also the design, the upgradability, how it sort of feeds into
07:55the TV.
07:56There's a lot more to it than just a soundbar.
07:59What strikes me is that in stark contrast to the slightly gimmicky marketing stunt that
08:03was the Balenciaga speaker bag thing they did recently, for me this is a real piece
08:08of art, a piece of furniture, and also a piece of extremely high-end audio equipment.
08:13And arguably, if you're going to spend thousands and thousands on a TV, then maybe, just maybe,
08:18you could convince yourself to drop another six or seven grand on a soundbar.
08:23However, this is also an extremely niche market, the vast majority of us wouldn't dream of
08:28spending this kind of money on a soundbar, and with other brands giving us more compact
08:32and more affordable options, the Beer Sound Theatre is kind of going in the complete opposite
08:36direction.
08:37But then again, you don't criticise Ferrari or Maserati or Lamborghini for making a very
08:41good, very expensive car that only a few people will actually buy.
08:46So what do you reckon?
08:47Should I buy one of these, or maybe just have to save up a little bit?
08:50Let me know what you make of the new Beer Sound Theatre in the comments below, and I'll
08:54also link to it if you do fancy checking it out for yourself.