How Bang & Olufsen Made, Literally, the Ferrari of Speakers (EXCLUSIVE)
If Bang & Olufsen is the Ferrari of electronics companies, that makes Ferrari the Bang & Olufsen of the automotive world. Certainly, the pair deserve each other — that their distinct perspectives so neatly overlap has to count for something!
And so Bang & Olufsen and Ferrari are back together a year or so after their debut partnership, devising the ultimate home theater system.
Yes, home theater, Ferrari-style. That means a pair of B&O's Beolab 50 speakers ($95,000), a Beovision television set ($25,000), and Beosound soundbar ($18,000). No compromises, no shortcuts. But speakers and screens? How does that connect the pair?
"It goes all the way back to the start for Bang & Olufsen and Ferrari with the founders: Peter Bang, Svend Olufsen, and Enzo Ferrari," Tiina Karjalainen Kierysch, director and head of design at Bang & Olufsen, tells Highsnobiety. "Both Bang & Olufsen and Ferrari share a profound heritage in high-performance engineering, a passion for craftsmanship and designs that evoke emotion."
That means exquisite audiovisual goods reflective of the Ferrari design language, shaped by B&O's peerless craft. Or, as Kierysch describes it, "Danish soundcraft meeting Italian flair."
Whereas the first B&O x Ferrari offering was unmistakably cast in Ferrari red, the pair elected for a more subtle shade as part of their second go-round.
"We have worked with the red colour as a discreet accent, so that it can fit into modern homes yet add a dash of energy," Kierysch explains. "We were also very keen to employ designs with both an outside-in and inside-out approach. We achieved this by creating hidden red details 'under the hood' of our products.
"[Meanwhile,] the monolithic use of one material in a consistent matte finish makes the designs easy to blend into a home environment, but are also statement pieces much like supercars."
And, like supercars, B&O's Ferrari collection wears stylized lamellas (thin plates) that reflect the vents utilized on Ferrari's cars.
The renewed approach to subtle signifiers manifests even in the make of the ultrafine B&O x Ferrari line, all available on Bang & Olufsen's website. Aluminum is at the core of it all.
"Ferrari uses the material for its car chassis and at Bang & Olufsen, we use aluminium across our product portfolio," notes Kierysch. "We decided to work with pearl-blasted and brushed surfaces anodized in Ferrari’s charcoal 'Grigio Corsa.' Together with our aluminum experts at Factory 5 in Struer, we developed a matte finish, emphasizing the fluidity of the surfaces and sculptural form."
You can practically hear the speed.
But it's not at all about driving quickly, really. B&O's Ferrari team-up brings out the Italian sports giant's most elegant cues. Both companies have honed their respective design ethos over nearly a century apiece — B&O turns 100 in 2025 — and that refined attitude is reflected in the nuanced product.
Kierysch makes it even simpler. She posits that, together, Ferrari and B&O represent "Power, poise and precision."
