High performance audio is a must have in order to enjoy the diverse media of the today. Everything from video gaming systems, home theater systems, as well as stand alone stereo systems require the absolute best audio possible in order to reap the benefits of their technology. At the heart of your audio system is the speaker. For those of you who are searching for a solid, high quality speaker for your desk, office or living area, it's important to get a well rounded, full and robust sound as possible. That's just where Bang and Olufsen come in. Their range of audio products reflect precision sound engineering, research and development to bring you the best audio for your price point whether you choose to listen to an opera, stream videos or listen to a simple audio book.
The newest addition to their extensive line up, the Beoplay M3 is a top of the line, entry level speaker that utilizes advanced digital processing. The Beoplay M3 is what one would call a 'multi-room' speaker. This means that if you so choose, you can run these speakers in multiple living areas to create an immersive audio experience, or operate them as a standalone speaker for your desk, bedroom or any small to mid-sized room. If you currently own other speakers in the B&O PLAY family, be aware that the M3 is fully capable of connecting to their A6, A9 or M5 models as well.
Overview
In order to create this minimalist powerhouse speaker, B&O PLAY decided to seek out a professional designer known for their innovative creations and thought provoking designs. Award winning Danish artist, Cecilie Manz was commissioned by Bang and Olufsen to deliver a speaker with a seamless, modern design, flawless in its ability to blend in with any decor as well as assist in accentuating the audio. Cecilie's vision was to design a minimalist speaker which was "tight, compact and powerful".
The end result was a masterpiece of acoustical genius. The Beoplay M3 Wireless Speakers exhibit a stylish, contemporary design with clean lines. Composed of only premium grade materials, the M3 sits solidly upon a soft, polymer base which ensures that the speaker will remain stable and stationary without scooting across the surface, no matter how powerful the bass throbs.
Simply choose between the matte black model with the pearl blasted, anodized aluminum grill cover sporting the familiar B&O PLAY hole pattern, or the minimalist neutral gray model. The neutral gray speaker comes with a wool fabric cover designed by the famous Danish textile company, Kvadrat. It should be noted that these grill covers are interchangeable, popping off easily, to ensure they match your decor as much as possible.
Design & Build
The construction of any speaker is not simply for the sake of appearances, but is an integral part of the overall acoustical performance of the speaker. This WiFi, multi-room speaker, is built from premium, durable materials. The cylindrical, oval closed cabinet design of the Beoplay M3 is constructed of a durable, rigid polymer material, weighs in at a light 3.2 pounds, and measures 4.41 x 5.95 x 5.51 inches. The result is a compact speaker which is the perfect choice for individuals who wish to transport the speaker from desk to different rooms at home or office. Installation of the M3 is rather straightforward. Either place it on a flat surface, such as your desk or dining table, or if your prefer, hang it from your wall as per manufacturers instructions.
Connectivity
Looking at the Beoplay M3, you'll see that it appears quite simple to use. There exists no complex control panel to navigate. On the contrary, the most you'll see are the power and volume controls located on the back of the speaker, along with convenient indicator lights which alert you to the power mode, network mode and Bluethooth mode statuses.
In order to maintain the minimalist design, they decided to hide the additional controls at the bottom of the M3. To gain access to the set up mode and other features, simply flip the bottom lid open. There you'll find a standby button which puts your M3 in standby mode, a reset button, line in for a mini jack, and a power button.
In this day and age of diverse media devices, connectivity is absolutely necessary, and the Beoplay M3 has no shortage of connectivity options. For instance, you have 1 3.5 mm line in, a 1 micro USB port, 1 mains connection. Wireless 2.4 and 5GHz, Bluetooth 4.2, Apple AirPlay, and Chromecast built in. However, if you are in need of a speakerphone feature, you won't find it on this model.
If you own a portable music player and would like to connect your M3, you can do so using the line-in socket, which you'll find at the bottom of the M3. However, you'll need to purchase the necessary cable separately. After which, just run the cable from the headphone socket of your portable music player to the line-in socket of your M3, and you should be good to go.
Sound Quality
Don't let it's small size and price point fool you as this compact dynamo has no problem comfortably blasting out a healthy 80 watts of power all on its own, with an effective frequency range of 65 to 22,000 Hz. According to B&O PLAY CEO John Mollanger, "Our home wireless speakers are designed around the idea that sound should have a prominent place at home...The Beoplay M3 delivers perfectly on this vision..." Indeed, this sleek Beoplay M3 comes with the same, high quality Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound that you've come to know, respect and love. It's hard to find a speaker of this size that can create a nice, rich, wide wall of sound as the Beoplay M3 can.
Internally, it has a front firing 3.75 inch woofer with an acoustical reflector that handles the bass to upper mid-range, a .75 inch soft dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet system for the treble, and two 40 watt Class D amplifiers. The careful positioning of the woofer and specially sculpted disperser are what give the M3 the ability to evenly spread your favorite audio throughout the room.
Engineers at B&O PLAY used advanced digital sound processing, or DSP,and adaptive bass linearization technologies seen in other Bang and Olufsen speakers as well to help give you this textured, layered and relatively distortion free audio. If you are concerned about burning out your speakers, don't be, as the M3 has been designed with protections against both heat and mechanical overloads. Another consideration, is that this is a mono speaker, with no option for stereo pairing as of yet.
This is enough technology to feed and fill a standard sized room with immersive, smooth and warm sound. Remember, to find the best sound quality for you, it's important to experiment with the placement of the Beoplay M3 and the app. It's also good to note that some listeners may find the bass a bit too much for them. However, this is quite easy to remedy with a bit of tweaking via the Beoplay app.
Beoplay App
Once you get your hands on the Beoplay M3, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to operate. The designers at B&O PLAY were concerned with how to create a small, powerful yet user friendly speaker, one that could handle all the media you could toss at it. This speaker is wireless and operation occurs via the Bang and Olufsen app. Lovers of the acoustic will enjoy exploring every nook and cranny of sound via this intuitive, easy to use app until they get the best possible sound for their situation.
The app allows you to indulge yourself as you enjoy listening to your favorite streaming music via Bluetooth, and Apple Airplay. However, please be aware before you purchase, that the M3 does not support Spotify Connect, which means you will not have access to your Spotify streams. They also integrated the popular Google Chromecast, which gives you access to stream your audio from preferred sources. Other internet streaming services also include such fan favorites as Google Cast, Tunein, QPlay 2.0 and Deezer. In 2018, Beoplay M3 will also support Apple AirPlay 2. Finally, never miss an update as your B&O PLAY Play app will alert you to any new updates.
An equalizer is a common feature found in stereo systems, and it functions to help you personalize your listening experience. What's nice about the M3 app, is that the B&O PLAY ToneTouch technology rids you of the old-fashioned EQ controls seen with most other sound enhancing products. Instead, the ToneTouch EQ or Equalizer feature allows you to customize the audio to your liking by altering the highs and lows with the touch of your fingertips. ToneTouch is designed to be easy to use and intuitive, which means in order to tune the audio just the way you like, you simply move the dot towards one of 4 corners: Excited, Relaxed, Warm and Bright. ToneTouch also has presets if you prefer such as party, lounge, clear and podcast.
If you'd like to experience your favorite music throughout your home, the designers at Bang and Olufsen have created Beolink Multi-room Technology just for that purpose. Feel free to hook up your Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay via Beolink Multi-room Technology, as well as any other compatible device or B&O PLAY Play speakers to experience your favorite sounds throughout your living area.
The sound for this speaker is directional, so physical placement will greatly effect the quality of the audio. It may be a good idea to secure placement first, then utilize the app to further tweak the sound quality, as this app also allows you to configure the Beoplay M3 to best suit the room. For instance, if you choose to place the speaker on a desk, hang from a wall, or place in a corner, you can use the app to ensure you get the best output possible from that area. Just open your app, and choose between Wall, Free, or Corner placement options and the sound signature is immediately personalized to play music geared for that placement.
Conclusion
This is a fabulous wireless speaker by B&O and is truly well worth the price due to its design, sound quality and customization ability. Use the Beoplay M3 as a standalone to fill a small or medium sized room, or create a wall of immersive audio by using its Beolink Multi-room Technology feature. Indeed, by using the app, you'll find that the M3 is one of the best wireless speakers on the market designed to suit your particular needs. Built for small to medium sized living areas or office space, it provides substantial, powerful and full sound quality at all times, though some may find it a bit too expensive for their liking. Those of you who own and operate small businesses may appreciate the ease with which you can now add relaxing music to your establishment without resorting to purchasing expensive commercial sound systems and messy installations. Whether for home or office, the Beoplay M3 from Bang and Olufsen is a beautifully designed, compact easy to use speaker suitable for most needs.