Steinway Lyngdorf launches the new Steinway & Sons Model O loudspeaker

Skive, Denmark – October 26, 2006 – Steinway Lyngdorf is proud to announce the launch of the new Steinway & Sons Model O loudspeaker.

The Model O is the entry model in Steinway & Sons’ floor-standing speaker range, yet provides an extremely high surprise factor: How is this room-filling sound and musical presence possible from such a slender two-way loudspeaker? The answer lies in the sound technologies of the Model O as well as in the Integrated System Approach, featuring the company’s unique digital amplifiers and RoomPerfectTM calibration. New customization options embody the craftsmanship and heritage of Steinway & Sons and give the Model O its unmistakable presence in the room.

Full-bodied sound from the smallest floor space

The Model O takes up minimal floor space yet delivers the full-bodied, detailed, and clear sound every Steinway & Sons loudspeaker is renowned for. Its remarkable bass performance is achieved through a concealed passive bass unit on the back that takes advantage of the boundary woofer concept. This sound-engineered design allows the Model O to be placed discreetly and elegantly close to the room wall behind the speaker, where it benefits from the room acoustics rather than working against them. The Model O was specifically designed and tuned for such a wall placement. In the higher frequencies, the company’s acclaimed Air Motion Transformer tweeter ensures exceptional clarity and detail, reproducing the music’s finest nuances.

The story of the Model O

The iconic Steinway & Sons Model D, C and B loudspeakers follow the extraordinary, uncompromising open-dipole principle to deliver an exceptional listening experience when positioned away from room walls. With the Model O, the engineers took a different approach: How could we bring the same dedication to musical performance into a much more space-conscious design? The answer is a speaker that takes acoustic advantage of its wall proximity and incorporates a passive rear woofer to deliver remarkable bass from such a slender design. The philosophy behind the Model O speaker also has a close connection to its namesake, the Steinway & Sons Model O piano. Introduced more than 120 years ago as “The Living Room Grand Piano”, the original Model O was designed to bring the musical experience of a Steinway concert grand piano into the living room.

A new generation of the Model O loudspeaker

The original Model O loudspeaker was introduced in 2018 as the entry model in Steinway & Sons’ floor-standing speaker range. The new Model O introduces two instead of one front-mounted midrange-bass drivers, an enlarged cabinet with 80% greater internal volume, and a 50% larger passive bass radiator. Together, these improvements provide improved bass performance, more dynamic range and a more room-filling sound.

Highest level of craftsmanship and gold detailing

The new Model O reflects the distinctive design language and craftsmanship of Steinway & Sons. The gold-coated tweeter eye with a matte or polished surface and the high-quality lacquer underline the Steinway & Sons heritage and give the Model O its unmistakable visual presence. Twenty-six black strings on the front resemble musical instruments and are carefully aligned by hand, so they don’t interfere with the sound nor resonate on their own. New customization options include gold-coated rings around the two front-mounted midrange drivers, further emphasizing the loudspeaker’s distinctive design and heritage. Every Model O loudspeaker is assembled and finished by hand in Skive, Denmark, and can be further customized with individual lacquers and select wood veneers.

Ideal amplifier match and perfect room calibration

Like every Steinway & Sons loudspeaker, the Model O is part of the company’s Integrated System Approach, ensuring each part of the system, from the speaker itself to the external Steinway & Sons stereo or surround processors and powerful digital amplifiers, works perfectly together as one. Steinway Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfect™ technology is the finishing touch for each system. RoomPerfect™ acoustically calibrates the Model O speakers to the room acoustics, always ensuring the very best sound experience for every customer, in any room and every desired listening position.

Statements from the team

The Steinway & Sons Model O marks more than the entry model in our floor-standing speaker range; it also provides an extremely high surprise factor: How is such a room-filling sound possible from such a slender two-way loudspeaker? The answer lies both in the ingenious boundary speaker principle, which acoustically takes advantage of the wall rather than seeing it as a limiting factor, and in RoomPerfect, which makes the Model O very special in the world of high-end audio: a loudspeaker which ensures an extraordinary listening experience even in the most challenging rooms.

— Roland Hoffmann, Product Marketing Director at Steinway Lyngdorf

The Model O is a very important part of the Steinway lineup. If we begin with the Ds and the Bs, they have a rather large footprint. And that's not for everybody. That's why we have Model O: you can actually get the magic Steinway sound, even in smaller rooms. It's conveniently placed against the wall and yet still delivers surprisingly amazing sound. And that's something that impresses people when they hear it. WOW. Can you get that kind of sound from a speaker that size and looking that good?

— Peter Keller-Larsen, CCO at Steinway Lyngdorf

The original task of Henry Ziegler, former chief designer of Steinway & Sons pianos, was basically to make a small baby grand piano that fits in your home. And if we then go to our speakers, that is basically the same task. We are trying to have the same experience as we have with the bigger speakers, but in a smaller room. The original task of Henry Ziegler was to overcome the laws of physics with the Model O. And in the same sense, we have tried that with our new speaker. The new thing is also that you can now have even more trims on the side and around the drivers as well. For those who really like to customize, there are more possibilities on the Model O than before.

— Thomas Birkelund, CTO and CEO at Steinway Lyngdorf