Despite having been out for quite some time now, AirPlay still isn’t in as many sound systems as I’d hoped. So it’s encouraging to see such a beautiful piece of audio gear. And dispiriting to see the price tag.
The Libratone Live is, functionally, a fairly standard speaker bar. Belting out 150 watts of sound through five drivers (one 50W bass, two 25W tweeters, and two 25W midranges), the Live aims to be an “all-in-one”, “plop-it-down-and-go” replacement for a real speaker system. Which, with AirPlay, is a great thing to have these days – and it looks fantastic. Maybe that’s the problem.
It’s covered in cashmere, first of all. The handle is made out of chrome. It comes from Scandinavia. Add this all up, and – yup – the Libratone Live is expensive as hell, costing almost $US2000. That’s a lot for a sound bar, especially when something like the terrific AirPlay-enabled Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin can be had for a quarter of that.
So we appreciate the design and AirPlay action, but it’d be nice to have some higher-end options that aren’t coated in an extremely expensive luxury fabric. [Libratone via Ubergizmo]