Bang & Olufsen’s BeoLab 50 speakers

Haven't heard it, but Stereophile reviewed another model in the line:  https://www.stereophile.com/content/bang-olufsen-beolab-90-loudspeaker

I was also reading about the Kii speaker which is compared to the Beolab-90. The Kii looks quite interesting as does the Beolab-50.

Seen 'em amd heard 'em.

in short: look nice but they don't float my boat

in detail:

Its an active speaker (with its own internal amps) marketed to the edgy style conscious consumer looking for avant-garde styling and the premise  that no external preamp/power amp or integrated amps are required. Ditto for no cables

OK - they are indeed stylish conversation starters that impress the newbies or non-audiophiles 

BUT

their audio performance left my wanting. My opinion: Meh?" And given their lofty price-point: Nope ..... poor choice in comparson the vast arena of other pricepoint contenders andvpretenders .

This active soeakervconcept is nothing new- I attended a LINN palooza pushing their latest and greatest active speakers line as the gottschave ' em latest and greatest .

In that direct A-B bakeoff against their own older passive top-end line, my amigo and I both assessed the actives again also as "Meh?" And we both chose the passive speakers with proper high-end electronics array 

Some audio fans in the demo attendance liked them for sure, but a full 50% plus gave them the thumbs down , especially as a choice in their price-point strata. 

Takeaway: Actives are not for everyone .... caveat emptor. I would surely never buy any if them without an extensive in-home onsite lengthy audition and test-drive first. The intuitive problem is that they are big, bulky and expensive and most dealers simolyb don't have a spare demo pair to loan out... just the one set to audition in store,