Although it will not matter a lot for most people, single-point and mono do actually mean different things.

Single-point in this context refers to the physical configuration of the sound system: it is a single device that makes sound. Not all of the single-point Bang & Olufsen systems are mono.

The A9, for example, has dedicated midranges and tweeters for both left and right channels. BeoSound 35 has clear separation between left and right channels as well. These are the most like "true stereo" of the examples here.

There are some that are in between: they're not exactly stereo, but not fully mono either. BeoSound 2 has two midranges that play different signals to open up the sound stage (there was a thread where Geoff Martin himself explained this, I can try to dig it up if interested). The M5 uses its two drivers at the back to similar effect (correction: the back drivers are driven by the same amplifier, so that would make this a mono system).

Then the mono: BeoSound 1 or the M3, for example, have only two drivers, one taking care of bass and the other of higher frequencies, and thus is incapable of stereo playback even if it wanted to.

The now-discontinued A2 played in stereo, one channel from each side, and I'm suspecting its successor, the P6, does the same. It may be the closest thing in the current product line to how the Edge will treat its channels.

The difference is the processing of the sound signal.

A mono speaker does a downmix of the (usually) stereo/2 channel source - an example is the BeoPlay S3.

The BS1/2 has a lot of DSP processing going on in order to provide a uniform experienced 360 degree sound.

The BS2 has two midrange speakers - both have the acoustic lens technology forcthe tweeters.

Similar thing are going on in the small BT speakers.

The A6/A9 are stereo systems, although there is a lot of sound processing going on there too. 

The BS Shape is a stereo system with - dependent on the configuration - a lot of processing going on.

The BS Edge again, is different (more like the Shape) - you can use either side or you can combine both to a uniform ‘all a’round’ sound experience.

I hope that we at some point will learn more about how this is done there - at least, when the guide and the app arrives, we may be wiser.

A subwoofer is a single point speaker as well - usually feed with a mono signal.

Thanks Tuomas 🙂

You beat me!

MM

Thank you both for informative replies - I've just learned a bit about B&O speaker (systems) that I don't own. 

By Tuomas' definition, then, the Beoplay A8 that I do own (hanging on my wall) is a single point system (it's one unit, like the 35), but definitely is stereo.  Granted the sound stage is quite small, given the physical proximity of the drivers.  The two S3 that I own are also single point, though now configured as discrete mono speakers in a stereo system.  (Phew - this is getting complicated.)

Re: the Edge, I'm sure, as MM states, that the Edge is doing some magical DSP work on the incoming stream to (re)produce some kind of sound stage, a la the Shape.  I'd love to hear them both someday.

Also re: the Edge.  It has 6 amplifiers.  Does it have six drivers?  I thought the 'front' and the 'back' were mirrored, except that one side only has the woofer and smart port.  That's only 5 drivers....

If I could edit my oost (which I can’t because I am on an iPad),

I should have written: a subwoofer is a mono speaker as well - due to the nature of low frequency signals it act more 360 degreeish.

Talking of B&O speakers/speaker systems you could say that the difference is the digital sound processing.

Very shortened down - the mono speaker has no (or little) processing - the single point has more or much processing going on....

....dependend on how it was intended to react in a room.

MM

@BeoFrederic

I would not call the A6 or rhe BS35 single point speakers, those a stereo systems.

Granted the two channels a not far apart. 

But the layout is stereo.

However, DSProcessing can do magic in ‘widening’ the soundfield.

The S3 however, is (like all single speakers = one BL 6000, BL18 etc etc) a mono speaker.

Stereo is when you feed two of them with seperate signals (L/R) and sit in the sweetspot........and you have a decent room for the playback.

MM

BeoFrederic wrote:

By Tuomas' definition, then, the Beoplay A8 that I do own (hanging on my wall) is a single point system (it's one unit, like the 35), but definitely is stereo.  Granted the sound stage is quite small, given the physical proximity of the drivers.  The two S3 that I own are also single point, though now configured as discrete mono speakers in a stereo system.  (Phew - this is getting complicated.)

That's indeed how I would classify the A8.

I don't think there's a need to complicate the case of the S3: since you are using them as a stereo pair, one of them is the left and the other the right channel – neither of them are mono any longer. One S3, used alone, is mono 🙂

BeoFrederic wrote:

Also re: the Edge.  It has 6 amplifiers.  Does it have six drivers?  I thought the 'front' and the 'back' were mirrored, except that one side only has the woofer and smart port.  That's only 5 drivers....

Millemissen wrote:

I would not call the A6 or rhe BS35 single point speakers, those a stereo systems.

The A9 is as much stereo as the A6 (which by the way the product menu calls "one-point music system"), having dedicated drivers for left and right channels, positioned as such. From UX point of view, I would argue that all of them are single-point systems: they whole system is contained in a single unit and can't be separated.

Would it be better to refer to them as all-in-one systems? The term appears on Bang & Olufsen website describing BeoSound 35, for example.

BeoFrederic wrote:

Granted the sound stage is quite small, given the physical proximity of the drivers.  The two S3 that I own are also single point, though now configured as discrete mono speakers in a stereo system.  (Phew - this is getting complicated.)