ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi Beoworlders,
I started wondering which B&O music system is the best long-term buy in 2021? Here are my suggestions for six B&O systems that can "future-proof" your music - what do you think? https://youtu.be/6MpEnieWEtU
Kind regards, Steve.
Steve.
www.soundsheavenly.com
Founder of Sounds Heavenly Cables and Brand Ambassador for Bang & Olufsen
Sounds Heavenly are proud to sponsor BeoWorld!
Please check out my YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/soundsheavenlycables
I have a BeoCenter 9500, and OK the CD is now kaput and it needs a service (so anyone near Cambridge who can recommend as Service Centre that can sort it, I'd be grateful), but that aside, love the way I saw the cable video from Steve, which I then bought and I now can play audio tapes through to my Avant 55 and now I can have that round the rest of the NetworkLink house.
I also love the under dog and have a BeoSound Moment that has kept me entertained while working from Home during lockdown, and a BeoSound 3200 still functional for the guest bedroom.
Thanks for the video. It is very insightful. I am still passionate about my 7000 system I have had from new, but the reality is that it is rarely getting any use. I find myself using Sonos almost 100% of the time for convenience, but the longevity is not there. Last year Sonos announced several of their products would not receive updates and eventually turn into bricks. That was when I realized Sonos is a technology product and B&O is an Audio/Video product.
So what is the right solution? Eventually replace Sonos with next gen to continue with the convenience of a multiroom streaming solution that needs to be replaced in less than 10 Years? Rebuild around a B&O system and just replace the streaming capabilities when obsolete and sacrifice some of the convenience that was one of the original selling points?
Has the constant change in streaming and multiroom rechnology made it impossible to have the convenience of a wireless Sonos system with the visual pleasing aspects of a B&O system and its longevity?
CheapB: I find myself using Sonos almost 100% of the time for convenience, but the longevity is not there. Last year Sonos announced several of their products would not receive updates and eventually turn into bricks. That was when I realized Sonos is a technology product and B&O is an Audio/Video product.
I find myself using Sonos almost 100% of the time for convenience, but the longevity is not there. Last year Sonos announced several of their products would not receive updates and eventually turn into bricks. That was when I realized Sonos is a technology product and B&O is an Audio/Video product.
Amazing! So, you can build a house using Sonos speakers turned into bricks! Sonos is more than a technology company: they are also a spying company!
https://blog.gingerlime.com/2020/sonos-is-spying-on-me-and-you/
A company where the business model is based on planned obsolescence and disrespect to the privacy of its customers simply doesn't deserve to be encouraged.
Switching to B&O is a very good thing, congratulations!
Regards,
Jean
jvezina: A company where the business model is based on planned obsolescence and disrespect to the privacy of its customers simply doesn't deserve to be encouraged. Switching to B&O is a very good thing, congratulations!
Where is the different to Bang&Olufsen?
1) When you use NL Multiroom products from B&O you only can use it, if you register an account at B&O. I am 100% sure, that B&O is using my data, as Sonos does. The advantage of Sonos is, that they are able to turn the collected data / knowledge into enjoyable apps and software. B&O does not!
2) Just look at the Beosound Moment, there is no different to Sonos. Bang & Olufsen is even worse! B&O turned the Beosound Moment into a brick, even before they managed to get it work as promised.
HH1971: B&O turned the Beosound Moment into a brick,
Steve at Sounds Heavenly:which B&O music system is the best long-term buy in 2021
CheapB: Thanks for the video. It is very insightful. I am still passionate about my 7000 system I have had from new, but the reality is that it is rarely getting any use. I find myself using Sonos almost 100% of the time for convenience, but the longevity is not there. Last year Sonos announced several of their products would not receive updates and eventually turn into bricks. That was when I realized Sonos is a technology product and B&O is an Audio/Video product. So what is the right solution? Eventually replace Sonos with next gen to continue with the convenience of a multiroom streaming solution that needs to be replaced in less than 10 Years? Rebuild around a B&O system and just replace the streaming capabilities when obsolete and sacrifice some of the convenience that was one of the original selling points? Has the constant change in streaming and multiroom rechnology made it impossible to have the convenience of a wireless Sonos system with the visual pleasing aspects of a B&O system and its longevity?
.....my 7000 system I have had from new, but the reality is that it is rarely getting any use.
.....Last year Sonos announced several of their products would not receive updates and eventually turn into bricks.
So what is the real difference there - your 7000 system seems to have become four bricks too, since you hardly make use of it.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Agree 100%. That was the point I was trying to get across.
I rebuild a masterlink system just because of it.I use either my apple tv's or Alexa units for the streaming. Works surprisingly well for me.
cooldude: I rebuild a masterlink system just because of it.I use either my apple tv's or Alexa units for the streaming. Works surprisingly well for me.
I tend to agree with this. I still have a Beovision 7-40, Beosound/Master 5 and a master link system at home. For listening to radio or a mix of my favorite albums the Beomaster 5 is great, and I can also choose a specific album if I want to listen to it. The system also turns on nearly immediately, which I think is important. If I want to stream music, I have the Apple TV, but I rarely use it for streaming music to be honest.
For me it's the Beomaster 7000 and 5500.
Still use them quite a lot :)
They're flexible with many different inputs. It's not a big deal to use a Wifi connector with the Beomasters.
So, why should I cange?
I also still use my BeoMaster 6500 everyday in a MasterLink setup. And think of the time-span of audio technology a BeoSystem 5000-7000 covers: AM radio, FM radio, vinyl records, cassette tapes, compact discs - a wide span!
But the future is not so bright - though I also connected a streaming input to the BM6500, I am not happy that my providers stops completely with analog radio now :-(. I already found a bit of an option by connecting an old Mac mini to the PHONO input, playing one internet radio station 24/7. So no option to switch stations with the Beo4.
What I would need is a device that assigns 20 internet radio stations to FM frequencies, puts those frequencies onto a coax cable, so i can tune to them in the BeoMaster. I don't think anything like that exists?
So I am very curious too for a futureproof B&O music system!
It seems to me that in order to be futureproof a system needs to have 3 attributes:
1) It should be analogue based - no built-in digital jiggery pokery.
2) Have auxiliary inputs.
3) Have a power amp to work with modern passive loudspeakers as well as active/powered speakers.
As to which is the best, that then comes down to 'soft' features: appearance, basic sound quality, serviceability.
In general that seems to rule out anything made after the Beocenter 9500 - apart from the Beosound 9000. The later Beocenters were compromised such that, buying today, the 9500 would be the viable unit.
The Beosound 9000 is limited to active speakers or a separate amp so I don't think it a good choice - unless one is pervy for CDs then a modern active speaker will likely have a built-in streamer/dac and aux inputs. So, that makes the 9000 irrelevant today.
If matching the prerequisites I mentioned then the Beocenter 9000 might be the peak - later models were inferior in one or more ways.
Any of the systems from before the Beocenter 9000 would work, but I'd exclude anything that did not work with the Beolink 1000 remote control - I can't imagine a modern buyer wanting to forego that convenience and who needs the huge earlier remote commander units?
Sadly, as the owner of a mint Beocenter 9000, as soon as I added a Cambridge Audio CXN V2, the 9000 fell out of daily use. My Beogram turntable plays through the CXN V2 as does my Akai reel to reel machine and the CXN V2 acts as preamp to my Beolab 8000s. I am sure that no matter which B&O system I might have owned the same fate would have befallen it as soon as the Cambridge entered my living room.
So, the most futureproof system is the Beocenter 9000 - but with limitations.
NB. The turntable and tape machine both function through analogue to digital converters to give compatibility with the digital based Cambridge Audio unit.