Bang & Olufsen has revealed the Beoplay M3, a wireless multi-room speaker with a more compact design than its older sibling the Beoplay M5.
Created under the company’s B&O Play lifestyle division, the Beoplay M3 sports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for streaming music around a house from a range of sources, including B&O’s Beolink Multiroom system, Apple AirPlay and Google’s Chromecast.
Music is fired out of a 3.75-inch woofer to take care of mid and bass notes, while a 0.75-inch soft dome tweeter handles higher tones. Each speaker has its own 40 Watt Class D amplifier, which should give them the sonic grunt to fill a room with music.
The speakers only fire forwards, so unless other B&O speakers are used with the Beoplay M3 there’s no option for 360 degree sound, which you can get with the M5.
But other features such as adaptive bass linearisation and digital signal processing are on offer to ensure music and other audio playback is made to sound its best.
Control for the speaker comes courtesy of the Beoplay app, which allows for its placement in a room to be configured and sound to be tweaked to get the most out of the M3.
In terms of design, the Beoplay M3 has a more oval shape compared to the cylindrical M5, and its speaker panel is interchangeable, allowing users to opt for fabric or anodised aluminium covers. Colours for the speaker itself are minimal, offering only black and light-grey ‘Natural’ colour options.
Priced at £279, the Beoplay is quite a bit cheaper than its £529 M5 sibling, and while it lacks the touch control and 360 degree sound of its bigger brother, the Beoplay M3 should still offer a good audio punch for its price.
Related: B&O BeoSound 1 review
Do you have a multi-room audio setup? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
