Steinway Lyngdorf has launched the new Steinway & Sons Model O loudspeaker, the entry model in Steinway & Sons’ floor-standing speaker range.
The Model O takes up minimal floor space yet has been optimised to deliver the full-bodied, detailed and clear sound every Steinway & Sons loudspeaker is known for. Its 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 closest to the room wall behind the speaker, where it benefits from the room acoustics rather than working against it. 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 clarity and detail, reproducing the music’s finest nuances.
The Steinway & Sons Model D, C and B loudspeakers follow the open-dipole principle to deliver a listening experience when positioned away from room walls. With the Model O, the speaker that takes acoustic advantage of its wall proximity and incorporates a passive rear woofer to deliver 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.
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.
The gold-coated tweeter eye with a matte or polished surface and the high-quality lacquer underline the Steinway & Sons heritage, while 26 black strings on the front resemble musical instruments and are carefully aligned by hand.
New customisation options include gold-coated rings around the two front-mounted midrange drivers. Every Model O loudspeaker is assembled and finished by hand in Skive, Denmark and can be further customised with individual lacquers and select wood veneers.
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, work together as one.
Steinway Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfectTM technology calibrates the Model O speakers to the room acoustics, ensuring the very best sound experience for every customer, in any room and every desired listening position.
“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?” says Roland Hoffmann, Product Marketing Director at Steinway Lyngdorf.
“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.”
“The Model O is a very important part of the Steinway lineup,” adds Peter Keller-Larsen, CCO at Steinway Lyngdorf. “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 looks that good?”
“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,” concludes Thomas Birkelund, CTO and CEO at Steinway Lyngdorf. “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 customise, there are more possibilities on the Model O than before.”
The new Steinway & Sons Model O will be available from the end of November 2026. System prices in each country depend on the choice of Steinway & Sons stereo or surround processor and Steinway & Sons amplifiers.