If you’ve ever watched The Holiday (I suggest you clear your schedule and prepare the popcorn if you haven’t), you may recall the scene where Iris (Kate Winslet) stays in a gorgeous Mediterranean-inspired mansion. Hands down, the automatic remote controlled window blinds were the most memorable and coveted feature. Ah, the simple luxury of technology, only attainable by the successful likes of Cameron Diaz, right? Wrong.
Thanks to Luxaflex Window Fashions, even those of us who aren’t successful Hollywood producers will be able to enjoy the next generation of wireless technology blinds.
An intelligent operating system, PowerView allows homeowners to control their blinds throughout the day with the simple press of a button, tap of an app or by scheduling personalised settings that will activate automatically.
The ergonomically designed Pebble Remote is available in seven colours, including Black Matte, Clear Frost, Citron, Cobalt, Pewter Frost, Poppy and White.
With no cords, PowerView blinds create the perfect combination of light, privacy and warmth in your modern home. California luxury here I come!
As with all things audio, we hand over to our resident former consumer technology journalist Damian Francis, otherwise known as Mr Interiors Addict…
Let’s play a straight card on this one. The Beoplay Beolit 15 by Bang & Olufsen needs to be bloody good. Really, really, bloody good. That may sound a bit harsh to just lay down the law like you would to a young child who has just thrown his Messina ice cream all over the pavement, but it is important that boundaries are laid down early.
Why? Because the Beolit 15 is a portable bluetooth speaker… that costs $699! It costs $699 because it is made by Bang & Olufsen. And while it falls under the lighthearted entry level Beoplay brand, it still has to be held up to the same standards that all Bang & Olufsen products should be held to. It’s Bang & Olufsen after all — you don’t buy and Mercedes-Benz A-class or a BMW 1 series and walk away with a smile on your face if it drives like a Toyota Yaris.
B&O’s Beolit15 in Shaded Rosa
So, the question is, can a portable bluetooth speaker justify a $699 price tag? Here are some of the key takeaways from a week using the Beolit 15… and an answer to the question of value.
The look. I’m going to defer to Jen on this. She thinks it’s better looking than me. And I have it on good authority that I’m pretty good looking. Ahem. There are three colour options (natural champagne, polar blue and shaded rosa), all in muted pastels that tend to soak into the background rather than draw attention. Jen loves the gold (natural champagne) version (and all gold accessories judging by our living room). Away from design aesthetics, this is good. A speaker is meant to sound good first and foremost. If it looks good too, that’s a bonus. The full grain leather strap is a bit take it or leave it in my opinion, but lovers of accessories will likely adore the touch (as Jen does).
Set up is a breeze. The hardest thing is taking it out of the box. Once you have, plug the power cord into the neatly hidden compartment at the back and you’re in business. This will charge the battery at the same time. Connecting it to your bluetooth device is just as easy. Press the bluetooth logo button on the top and hold it down. It beeps. Then search on your device for Beolit 15 and connect. Simple. There are a number of bluetooth products I have tested in my time that can’t get this step correct. Connecting becomes a laborious, time-consuming, rage-filled activity. Not the Beolit 15. It will take a couple of minutes from opening the box to playing music.
The sound. I’ll be upfront – I don’t like wireless sound, especially over bluetooth. It can be patchy, highs are often lost and bass is overcompensated in the hope that the young types will think the quality is brilliant because the speaker is vibrating. Dr Dre has a lot to answer for. Wireless over a network is better but wired is where it is at. As far as bluetooth sound goes, this is really good. Really, really good. Good to the extent that my credit card has stopped trying to cut itself in half having heard the $699 price tag and is asking to hear just one more track. The bass is good, not overpowering. Treble is balanced well. While there is certainly a little murkiness at the very top end, it takes a while to get there and is certainly not a deal breaker. In fact, for a bluetooth speaker of this size I have never heard treble balanced so well before. It dances brilliantly with lower notes, with the Beolit 15 producing a very well balanced sound. In layman’s terms — classical music sounds classical on a Beolit 15 — you won’t feel like you’re missing anything.
And the X-factor? One could argue that the $699 price tag is the X-factor! Thankfully it’s not. There is a little X in the design, a lot in the sound quality, but the real X-factor is in the versatility. It has a built-in battery that lasts up to 24 hours from full charge. You can take this virtually anywhere. But when plugged in at home, you can add another Beolit 15 to create a (extremely expensive) stereo system with proper left and right speakers. While we haven’t tried that, it is likely to be pretty good. The bluetooth technology will also allow you to connect two devices at a time for dual control and it will remember up to eight individual devices without having to connect again.
The specs. So you want to know what you are really dealing with here (if you don’t like tech specs, skip to the next paragraph)? The Beolit 15 has 240 watts of peak power thanks to four active drivers and two passive bass radiators, driven by dual Class D amplifiers. There is more, but this probably isn’t the audience for it! I’m barely the audience for that. As far as I’m concerned, tech specs mean nothing if you don’t personally enjoy the product.
So, $699 for a bluetooth speaker. Justifiable? Yes, after a little while. But when you really give it time to listen properly, the Beolit 15 will grow on you big time and won’t look bad at all in your lounge or bedroom. I’ll take two, thanks.
Disclosure: We were gifted the Beolit 15 with no guarantee of a review, let alone a positive one. But we were so excited about its good looks and sound, we had to share!
Former consumer technology journalist for the likes of T3, GQ and Men’s Health and Jen’s husband, Damian Francis, reviews the Sonos Wireless Speaker System.
One of the biggest challenges for the home owner today is concealing wires. What a fantastically interesting topic! But the reality is, today’s modern homes are small technology hubs — connected environments that are meant to make life easier and more entertaining. With technology comes wires. How many are sprouting from your TV right now? Mine looks like Medusa’s head on steroids. I’ve done a bang up job hiding those wires behind an entertainment unit the size of the QM2. Strangely Jen doesn’t seem to be too thrilled with this solution.
So how do you overcome it? The truth is, it’s tricky. Cull the wires and you often cull the quality, keep the quality and you add serious expense. How many times has Kevin McCloud waxed lyrical about a great built-in system that had to be heavily researched and then installed in a house at build-stage? When it comes to sound systems though, it is now a hell of a lot easier with Sonos.
Why Sonos?
Sonos was one of the first brands to produce a wireless solution for sound systems that didn’t sound like a spluttering 1970 VW Beetle, didn’t have the price tag of a Porsche and actually looked like something you would want to put in your home. I was a technology journalist when the brand first made waves — it caught the attention of a number of my colleagues, which is no mean feat.
Let’s cut to the chase. You want a Sonos because you’re tired of wires cluttering your home, you want versatility in your system to play music in a single room or throughout your house, you want a system that blends in with modern decor and you don’t want to have to remortgage your house or cut into walls to get any of the above.
Out of the box
Interiors Addict had a set of two Play:1 speakers ($329 each) and a Connect ($599) to test. Installation is as simple as taking the speaker out of the box, plugging it into the powerpoint and following the simple and quick step-by-step instructions to get the first speaker working. Adding more is even easier, with the process taking no more than a couple of minutes. And trust me, if you want to make the most of Sonos, you want more than a single Play:1 unit.
The Sonos Connect
There are a range of sizes and accessories to suit most needs — such as Play:1 small speakers for smaller rooms like I have in our house or the Connect which connects to wired stereo systems. But you can also get larger Play:3 and Play:5 systems as well as a Soundbar and Subwoofer. All are set up in a similar fashion and all can be used solo or grouped together.
Playing music is a fairly simple process. You download the Sonos controller on your laptop, tablet or mobile device and you can then play music from that device or use a range of popular services like Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn Radio and much more to play music. The Sonos controller also allows you to name your speakers, join them together to form a stereo sound system, play music in more than one room at the same time, change your speakers’ settings and more. Start using your smartphone and then move to using your iPad, for example, and you will pick up where you left off with your playlist rather than having to start from scratch.
The quirks
While it is relatively simple to use, it still has some quirks which can become a little annoying. It’s not always as simple as finding what you want and pressing play. While that’s not a big deal, it can grate a bit. In some cases it would be much better to be able to use the standard app, such as Spotify, rather than having to use the Sonos controller app to control your Spotify account with your speakers.
The real world test was getting Jen to use the app on her smartphone. She got it, but it took a little while and there were some really good questions as to why certain aspects weren’t simpler.
Also, bear in mind that Sonos is not a bluetooth speaker. You may use it with your computer or smartphone, but it is different to a bluetooth setup and therefore can’t be used like a bluetooth speaker. Big deal? Not at all – but if you’re after a bluetooth speaker, buy one.
Being that the Sonos system is meant to be a home music solution, sound quality is of greater importance than most speakers you would associate with control via your laptop or mobile device. Thankfully it’s good. But let’s qualify that. My Honda CR-V is good — plenty of space, cheap to run, good looking. But I’ll still get smashed off the lights by a Porsche Cayenne. The story is similar for the Sonos Play:1, which I tested at home, and other systems which I have tested previously, such as the Play:3 and Play:5.
Sonos offers great bang for buck. The sound is loud and travels further through your house than you would imagine. But it’s bass heavy, and treble can become murky, making certain genres of music more enjoyable to listen to on the Sonos than others. Adding speakers together, such as two Play:1s for a left and right channel system, helps but it doesn’t completely solve the problem. Despite this, the music is still enjoyable to listen to and I would argue that if you wanted better clarity through your highs, you should spend more money on a higher end system.
The result
When it comes to the crunch, the Sonos products are well priced and well designed, with adequate sound quality. They are well thought out and relatively easy to use. If you want a wireless solution that won’t require remodelling of your home or your bank account, it is hard to go wrong with a Sonos system. Play:1 will suit apartments or small rooms, Play:3 will suit lounge rooms and medium-sized areas, but for open plan areas, go for a Play:5… or two.
The ergonomically designed Pebble Remote is available in seven colours, including Black Matte, Clear Frost, Citron, Cobalt, Pewter Frost, Poppy and White.
