If you’re unfamiliar with Bang & Olufsen, then you’re unlikely to recognize any of their equipment as audio gear. Their turntables, amplifiers, cassette decks, and CD players all look closer to museum pieces than usable music equipment.
The BeoLab 8000 speaker pair is no exception. These are tower speakers that wouldn’t be out of place in a modern art display. But for all their minimalist design, they create a maximum impact.
First, a bit of background for history buffs. Bang & Olufsen was founded in November 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen. They started their business in the attic of Quistrup, a manor/farm in Struer, Denmark.
Their goal was authenticity. They wanted listeners to enjoy music the way it was recorded. They worked to create equipment that allowed listeners to be enveloped in the music without experiencing the fatigue that some speakers result in.
Backed first by family shareholders, then eventually by international retailers, Bang and Olufsen worked towards their dream. Today, they’re still known for their unique products and their wonderful sound quality.
What’s silver and black and gleaming all over? The BeoLab 8000s. Slim and slender, these speakers are as easy on the eye as they are on the ear. Each graceful column of silver is roughly 52” tall but has a base that’s only 6.7” by 6.7”. They also have a reflective finish, which both catches the eye and allows them to blend into their surroundings.
Perhaps the best bit is how the silver tower tapers off at the bottom end, like an upside-down candle. It’s quite effective to see them balanced so delicately. Though solidly attached to their heavy cast-iron bases, there’s still the illusion that they could tumble over at the slightest breeze.
Considering good loudspeakers tend to be associated with cabinets the size of large phone booths, the elegant pillar is such a juxtaposition to what you’d expect that you can’t help but stare when you see them. They make the perfect centerpiece - no matter where you place them.
However, the true brilliance behind the aesthetics lies in the type of loudspeaker they designed: an active speaker. An active loudspeaker, as opposed to a passive one, has a built-in amplifier. The reason for this is so the speakers can obtain the maximum sound pressure possible from each speaker part without any distortion.
B&O takes it a step further. Each BeoLab 8000 holds two amplifier units. Having these amps directly inside the speaker improves sound performance and allows the speaker to play at high volume without distortion.
And since the amp lies in the base of the speaker, B&O has the freedom to create an elegant shape with a cabinet much smaller than your average speaker. And yet you still receive purity of sound thanks to the combination of having the amplifier, treble, and bass units all in the same speaker.
If you listened to the BeoLab 8000s without knowing what they look like, you’d be shocked to find out that such clean, deep bass could come out of such thin tower speakers.
To get the sound pressure that bass requires, you need to move a lot of air. Some loudspeakers go the reliable route of using a larger woofer, which is to say, a woofer with a large-diameter loudspeaker membrane. But B&O speakers like these go a different route. They instead make customer driver units with a smaller but “deeper” membrane. So while most loudspeakers have membranes that move shorter distances, Bang & Olufsen speaker membranes are extra-heavy and move greater distances; and they do this with smaller diameters, which helps produce a deeper bass without needing drivers that take up a whole lot of space. The result? More freedom in loudspeaker designs.
B&O’s BeoLab 8000s also use an active electronic crossover network. This network uses an equalizer that allows the speakers to adjust the frequencies before they are amplified. This allows for a more fine-tuned, harmonic sound as the signal from the source gets shaped before it reaches the separate power amplifier for bass and treble.
And with their patented ABL (Adaptive Bass Linearisation), the loudspeakers are adaptive. This means that the speaker adapts to the audio signal it receives, giving incredible bass reproduction in a compact package.
The Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 8000 is one of B&O’s most iconic loudspeakers, instantly recognizable for its slim, cylindrical aluminum design and superb sound. Introduced in the 1990s, these active speakers feature built-in amplification, allowing them to connect directly to your audio source without the need for a separate power amp. With their elegant looks and detailed sound, the BeoLab 8000s are as much a statement piece of modern design as they are high-fidelity speakers.
Thanks for reading! We have a pair of these rare Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 8000 speakers up for sale on our website, so you can check that out here. If you’re interested, we also have a YouTube Short showing one of the speaker covers sliding up: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/C1pzOnzAPIs
Have a great day!
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