In recent years, there’s been a trend for high-end audio brands to link up with deluxe car marques to produce collections of special editions. We’ve already seen French speaker manufacturer Focal tie up with Bentley. Meanwhile, speaker maker Klipsch has worked with F1 brand McLaren for a few years.

The latest audio company to join the drive to this audio-motoring synergy is Denmark’s Bang & Olufsen. The cool Danish audio company is joining forces with Italian supercar marque Ferrari to produce a range of products bearing both brands’ logos. At first sight, the low-key and understated Bang & Olufsen doesn’t appear to be a natural bedfellow for the bright red and up-front Ferrari image, but there’s no doubting the high performance of both company’s products.

The new Bang & Olufsen Ferrari Collection draws on B&O’s excellence in handling aluminum and celebrates the shared passion of both brands for poise, power and precision. To start the collaboration, B&O has reimagined four of its headphones and speakers: the Beosound 2 home speaker, Beoplay H95 headphones, Beoplay EX earbuds and the Beosound Explore portable speaker. All four products have a striking shade of Ferrari red, creating a clear connection with the supercar’s brand signature.

“We are very excited about this collaboration. There was a strong sense of history in the making as we came together to create it,” says Bang & Olufsen CEO Kristian Teär in a press release issued to mark the launch. “It goes all the way back to the start for B&O and Ferrari. The founders, Enzo Ferrari, Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, were visionaries, who redefined their industries by challenging the status quo. Their legacies ring down through the decades to push both brands to new heights to this day.”

Teär continues: “The combination of best-in-class performance, graceful aesthetics and meticulous craftsmanship brought B&O and Ferrari together to create the collection. This is elevated by the unrivaled heritage of both brands, making this collaboration one to remember.”

There is no doubt that both brands are pioneers when it comes to innovation. Bang & Olufsen has been leading the way in bringing sound and design together in some truly stunning designs for more than half a century. The company was founded in 1925 in Struer, Denmark. Meanwhile, Ferrari has been stirring up the automotive industry since 1947 from its HQ in Maranello, Italy. That amounts to an impressive 150 years of invention by both companies.

The B&O Ferrari collection marks a departure from Bang & Olufsen’s more traditional and staid approach. Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at Bang & Olufsen, Christoffer Poulsen, explains: “Our classic speakers are meant to naturally blend in with people’s homes while also standing out for their beautiful design. This collection is different. They’re statement pieces. Much like supercars, they make themselves seen and heard everywhere they go.”

The Beosound 2 delivers a 360-degree sound in the home and its flexible design means it can be placed on a floor, table or shelf. It can easily be moved from room to room and Active RoomSense and built-in proximity sensors bring smart technology to the mix. The Beosound 2 has a high-grade aluminum cone that houses its speaker.

The Ferrari Collection Beosound 2 is anodized at Bang & Olufsen’s Factory 5, in Struer, reimagining the speaker’s design in Ferrari’s signature red. The aluminum body is polished to provide a high sheen, burnishing the iconic shade of red while the Ferrari emblem sits below the grille.

The Beoplay H95 are Bang & Olufsen’s flagship wireless headphones. Thanks to custom titanium drivers, the headphones deliver a punchy sound and have adaptive active noise cancellation that the wearer can adjust simply by rotating an aluminum ring. The H95 are finished with soft lambskin leather and provide up to 38 hours of continuous listening.

For the collection version, the H95 incorporate Ferrari’s jet-black shade and are laser-etched with the B&O logo and Ferrari’s Prancing Horse. Under the earcups, the titanium speaker grilles have been anodized in red, specifically selected for this collaboration.

The Beosound Explore is a portable speaker designed for life outdoors. With an IP67 rating, the speaker is completely dust and waterproof; it can be taken anywhere and has Bluetooth and Fast Pairing plus up to 27 hours of playtime from its rechargeable battery.

The Ferrari Collection version of the Beosound Explore features a laser-etched Prancing Horse and a black carabiner for attaching the speaker to a backpack. The Beosound Explore has a two-layer body that’s anodized in red and black, so the grille stands out against the darker interior.

Finally, the Beoplay EX are Bang & Olufsen’s flagship true wireless earbuds. They include active noise cancellation and come complete with a wireless charging case that provides up to 20 hours of playtime. Six beam-forming microphones enable the earbuds to be used for taking phone calls or joining video meetings.

For the Ferrari Collection version of the Beoplay EX, the right earbud has a black foiled logo of the Ferrari emblem under glass poured in iconic red, polished to provide a mirror-like shine.

B&O has done an excellent job of blending the spirit of the two iconic brands and the four products will find favor with the legions of Ferrari fans who follow the company’s F1 team around the world. Although the collaboration may seem counterintuitive at first sight, the finished products for the collection tell a different story.

Availability: The Ferrari Collection will be available online at www.bang-olufsen.com and from selected Bang & Olufsen and Ferrari stores. The collection can also be bought online at www.store-ferrari.com from August 29, 2023.

Pricing:

• Beosound 2: $4,999 / £4,449 / €4,999.
• Beoplay H95: $1,299 / £1,149 / €1,299.
• Beoplay EX: $499 / £449 / €499.
• Beosound Explore: $249 / £219 / €249.

More info: www.bang-olufsen.com