Raising the bar
Sennheiser’s all-in-one speaker – its first-ever soundbar – is a device that makes staying at home sound a whole lot better
The Covid-19 pandemic has reportedly forced over a third of the world’s population into some form of home quarantine ranging from a 24-hour mandatory curfew in a few major cities to a partial lockdown in others.
Regardless, it means that almost all of us are now spending far greater amounts of time indoors and this has inadvertently resulted in a renewed focus on home entertainment options.
In a stroke of good fortune, German audio major Sennheiser – a 75-year-old audio company – launched its first-ever soundbar, the Ambeo Soundbar, in the months leading up to the time when stay-home orders began to kick in around the world.
While other audio manufacturers raced to release soundbars over the last few years, Sennheiser bided its time and worked at remedying some major drawbacks among existing soundbars.
The Ambeo is a comprehensive unit with no separate subwoofers as part of the package. To compensate, it has installed 13 drivers which are larger than those found in regular soundbars and consequently can cover a wider frequency range.
“We are thrilled to be introducing the Ambeo Soundbar as Sennheiser’s first foray into the home entertainment speaker category. We have developed it with the ambition to create one of the best soundbars on the market – an elegant all-in-one solution for all those seeking an immersive 3D, audiophile-grade home entertainment experience,” said Stephane Hareau, global head of products – consumer at Sennheiser.
That 3D sound is in no small part due to those large drivers which include six woofers, five tweeters and two upward-angled drivers that together produce the wholerange home-theatre experience from a single-device soundbar.
“It delivers the spatial ‘as if there’ experience of a 5.1.4 sound system and powerful bass, but without the need for additional speakers or an external subwoofer,” added product manager Maximilian Voigt.
The device is compatible with Dolby Atmos, MPEG-H and DTS:X sound outputs covering a broad range of audio content, which is a boon considering that Netflix and Amazon Prime have a selection of Dolby Atmos-supported content that can make optimal use of this technology.
There are plenty of connectivity options provided including Google Chromecast, Bluetooth and HDMI eARC/CEC, besides three HDMI inputs, an optical audio port, and an AUX (RCA) input too.
One of the niftiest features of this device though is the ease with which it can selfcalibrate and adjust the audio settings to precisely adapt to the room’s acoustics.
Calibrating the device is as simple as plugging in a mic that comes bundled with it. It fires out a range of sounds across the room that determines the position of the soundbar relative to the listener and also accounts for the audio qualities of the room affected by its insulation and furniture.
You can always further customise the sound output using Sennheiser’s Smart Control App and even choose between three Ambeo modes including Light, Standard and Boost.
Priced at Dhs9,999 it is among the more expensive soundbars in the market at the moment. But if it does an effective job of shaking off cabin fever, that trade-off might be well worth it.
James Bond carries a suitcase brimming with gold coins in the film From Russia with Love. In the 1991 Gulf War, SAS pilots were given twenty each to stitch into their clothing, to be used for negotiation should they be taken hostage.
From sovereign coins to bars, gold has been used as the ultimate get-out clause throughout history. Now, at a time when stagnating economies have been stretched to the brink and 90 countries have applied to the IMF for emergency financing, cash, straight
founder of the coin auction house Numismatica Genevensis, gold will always remain a secure option in periods of uncertainty.
“In phases of extraordinary optimism on the stock exchange, the interest in gold is limited, because people want a quick profit and do not think of protecting their assets,” he says.
“As soon as a downturn in the economy happens, interest in physical gold increases substantially.”
Though gold has seen wild swings in recent weeks – from $1,600 an ounce to $1,450 and then back up to $1,689 in the last week of April, “when the crash happened, gold was one of the only tangible assets that could be liquidated to cover the losses in the share markets, and pay for the margin calls,” comments Baron. “This explains why the first move of gold was down, but followed very quickly by a sharp move back up.”
“Everyone is expecting to see gold around $2,000 and I share that vision, because the instability of the global economy is not going to be solved in the next two to three months.”
From exchange-traded funds to bars or certificates, there are a variety of ways to invest in the asset. Baron’s expertise