B&O BeoPlay A9: AirPlay Gets Outlandish

High-end home entertainment kit provider and style trend-setter Bang & Olufsen has outed its latest music system, but though the BeoPlay A9 goes wireless, it's certainly not discrete. The vast, round speaker system – which reminds us of an archery target, albeit one with touch-sensitive volume controls and a companion smartphone and tablet app – can be wall-mounted or stood on three wooden legs, streaming music around your home via DLNA and AirPlay.

Behind the fabric front there are two 3/4-inch tweeters and two 3-inch midrange units, which each get an 80W class D amp of their own to power them. Bass is taken care of by an 8-inch unit with its own 160W class D amp,  and there's a bass reflex design to emphasize that.

B&O programs the BeoPlay A9 with three different modes, depending on positioning, whether you've got the speaker stood in the corner or freestanding the middle of a room, or wall-mounted. Six fabric cover colors are offered – silver, white, black, red, green, and brown – and three leg finishes, including oak, beech, and teak.

The touch sensor allows you to swipe up or down to change volume, while covering it completely mutes the system. Track selection and playlist management are done via the iPhone, iPad, and Android apps, and there's a line-in and USB ports underneath.

Unsurprisingly for B&O, none of this comes cheap. The BeoPlay A9 will be priced at a hefty $2,699 when it hits stores in the second half of November.