Audio that’s pleasing to the eye and ear

Home speakers used to be big and blocky, more or less an eyesore. Hanging on the wall or sitting in the corner of a room, they were accompanied by a tethered music player and a hodgepodge of vinyl, cassettes, CDs and even eight-tracks.

Over the past few decades, music formats have got smaller. The days of having a large CD collection or an iPod with 10,000 MP3s are just about history thanks to streaming services, which allow access to more than 30 million songs on your phone or tablet instantly.

The latest home speakers — by brands such as Sony, Bose, Master & Dynamic, Samsung, Bang & Olufsen, and Libratone — have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities built in, plus smartphone apps that control music from anywhere in the house.

“People are listening to more music, more often and in more rooms in the house than ever before,” said Mike Culver, president of audio company Libratone, based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

It wasn’t until streaming became king that audio brands switched their attention from wired models to wireless speakers for the home. Home speakers have been redesigned inside and out; they’re more polished, compact and featurerich, many at accessible prices. Samsung’s Radiant360 collection doesn’t skimp on powerful features that used to be seen only on larger, more expensive speakers.

Audio brands have looked to the architecture and design world for inspiration. For example, architect David Adjaye crafted Master & Dynamic’s new wireless speaker from sculptural concrete. Bang & Olufsen collaborated with Danish textile company Kvadrat to design its speaker’s swappable fabric covers that are meant to match the mood of a room.

At home, a Wi-Fi network lets you connect your smartphone, streaming app and voice-controlled assistant to your speaker. Once you’re

connected, your smartphone can control the speaker.

Some speakers can even be paired and played together over the network. Bose’s SoundTouch 10 wireless speakers let you stream the same music in different rooms or create zones to play whatever you want wherever you choose.

If Wi-Fi isn’t around, some speakers provide bluetooth connections to a Bluetooth-enabled speaker.

But Bluetooth doesn’t have the same sound quality or range as with Wi-Fi.