Five gadgets for the connected home

Some speakers sit on shelves, others are pole-mounted or recessed into the ceiling, but Bang & Olufsen’s Beosound A9, now in its fifth generation, is literally part of the furniture. Its exterior can be customized to your decor, while its electronics provide a solid bridge for your WiFi network. Yes, you can use it via Bluetooth if you really need to, but given its high-spec connectivity (branded as “Mozart” by Bang & Olufsen), it would be like playing chopsticks on a Bösendorfer grand piano. WiFi (or wired Ethernet if you prefer) gets you Airplay 2, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, B&O’s own software and, if you’re lucky enough to have two A9s in a single space, native stereo pairing.

Anyone (like me) who sweats profusely assembling flat-pack furniture will appreciate the ease of installation; You screw in all three legs while it’s still upside down in the box, and when you lift it up by the handle, it naturally rocks back to a standing position. Plug it in, detect via the B&O app and it will quickly perform a tonal sweep of the room to establish frequency peaks and troughs, adjusting your EQ accordingly.

The Beosound is literally part of the furniture.

If you look behind the removable (and machine-washable) cover, you can see what’s going on in the speakers, with a stereo pair positioned on the left and right edges of the convex puck, angled slightly from each other. At the back is an 8-inch woofer and another pair of full-range speakers, delivering exceptional, room-filling sound. You can adjust the balance of that sound via the app, but the initial tonal sweep does an excellent job and doesn’t really need adjustment. Obviously, the volume can be increased remotely, but also by sliding your finger across the top of the drive. (Three hits are needed to reach maximum volume, thus eliminating the possibility of accidentally disturbing the neighbours.)

You’ll find all sorts of custom covers online, but if you want your A9 to have true artistic pedigree, a collaboration with Ssense produced a beautifully conceived combination of polished aluminum and Danish Kvadrat wool. That is concrete music. Bang & Olufsen Beosound A9, £3,199

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Everything, everywhere…

Until relatively recently, bringing Wi-Fi to every corner of your house—or even your apartment—was plagued by torturously complex network setups and dropped signals as you moved from room to room. The Orbi provides the best mesh network for home and garden, covering up to 7,000 square feet for up to 200 smart devices, which is, of course, a lot. In my own home, an Orbi router and its two satellites handled a job normally done by five relay units scattered around the property, and they also come with some cool features: app notifications when a new device joins the network, Wi-Fi for separately configurable guests and a built-in VPN for the privacy conscious. net gear Orbi 960 series, £1,699.99

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Keep clean

Air purifiers typically use HEPA filters, a fiber mesh that captures any small particles that dare to float past. The Aaira combines one of these with a carbon filter (to neutralize noxious odors) and a HOCI generator, which uses a tablespoon of table salt dissolved in tap water to produce a weak acid (think along the lines of lemon juice ), which in turn kills a variety of bacteria and viruses that might be lingering. This top-of-the-line model sits waist high, yet quietly handles rooms up to 43m2. It’s Wi-Fi enabled, so you can ask Alexa or the Google Assistant to turn it on and off, or turn it up and down, while a dedicated app gives you control over timers, schedules, and more wherever you are. this. DH Life Laboratories Aaira+ HEPA, £799.99

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read the room

Most central heating radiators have thermostatic valves, but as a nation we often set them to ‘max’ and let the temperature in each room be dictated by a single thermostat. Tado considers this a waste; Él’s product range includes this smart thermostat along with a boiler controller and smart radiator valves, which connect to Él’s network to control your heating hour by hour, room by room. So a single radiator can call on the boiler for more heat if it senses that the room is cold, but if it isn’t, it won’t. With an optional subscription, the app monitors energy usage, and the business of decarbonizing the home becomes a bit addictive. tado Smart thermostat with cable V3+, from €179.99

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Open Sesame

People are squeamish about smart locks on their property for one main reason; they fear that outsourcing work to a smartphone will mean being locked out when the batteries die. The collaboration between Ultion and Nuki immediately allays those concerns by providing a manual override, allowing us to focus on the good points: remote locking and unlocking, automatic unlocking when you approach, electronic guest keys and check-ins on your application. It can be adapted to pretty much any front door (front appearance unchanged) and every time I thought “But wait, what about X?” Ultion and Nuki had already thought of that. They are security companies, after all. Ultion Nuki Plus, £545

@rodri