A horrible nasty question?....

As unpleasant as it is I have to ask if anyone knows?.... with the likes of BL90 and BL50 getting to a few years old now there will inevitably be failures, presumably of the ICE amps/drivers. How would I know that a driver has failed? Is there anything within the app to tell me or would it just be down to my ear to hear a failed unit? Additionally on a personal note I ran from BL5's to 50's because of the many stories of chaisis failures. Are there any such stories with 50's or 90's yet?

Doesn't the price of the BL90 come with concierge service whereby Geoff Martin personally comes to your home to inspect the drivers?

Beofile7:

Additionally on a personal note I ran from BL5's to 50's because of the many stories of chaisis failures. Are there any such stories with 50's or 90's yet?

No-one produces flawless history-beating electronics. Ultimately everything will fail. And people who have failures will complain, much like TrustPilot mostly has people who have something to moan about (as people who are happy don't need to complain). 

I had my BL5s for years without any issue whatsoever, but if you're going to use them most days, the chassis will one day fail. That's why cars go in for a service. People somehow believe their electronics are somehow failure-proof as they've spent decent money, but a chassis is a chassis. It's no different from a chassis in, say, a MacBook Pro. Ultimately, if used frequently, these all have finite lifespan's.

Actually, no clue why I'm even replying to this as it's beyond basic comprehension why anyone thinks any electronics are somehow long-term future proof, simply as they spend reasonable money. They two don't go hand-in-hand.

Hi Moxxey,

Not the first time you make that point and one more time I disagree.

Believing anything will last forever is indeed a non-sense: sonner or later they will need servicing, repair, or just to be trashed.
But worrying if an item, and sometimes an expensive one will last as long as it is useful (for you not as long as the sellers decide it is) is a real concern.

Some things fail because of misuse or bad luck but more and more devices fail because of bad engineering or wrong conception.
Mac book pros you mention are constantly plaggued with bad design issues that often end up in court.
B&O has a lot of devices who are know for issues that will surely appear one day or the other.
And it is true for alot of brands.

Meanwhile I had a fridge that i did trash after 30 years of use without any problem. I still have a lot of old Macs that are perfectly working the same way they used to back in times.

So the idea that electonics are almost born to die and promote the idea that is normal is not a good thing.
Moreover, investigating about reliability of object is not so uncommon.

Sometimes having something falling is bad luck.
Sometimes having something not failing is only good luck.

 

My father threw out the Electrolux fridge last year. It was bought when I was born. In 1984.....

The reason he threw it out?

The f-in door fell of because the hinge was worn out.

From what I have asked and from what I have been told......

The BL90 is fairly bullet-proof with the Dealer unaware of any issues on the electronics side.

That said,

1. B&O do a limited extended warranty for the BL90s. It is prohibitively expensive. (like 7-9% of value per year)

2. Electronics can and will fail.

3. Cones can and will fail.

 

The real question is to what extent will B&O support a flagship product? One would (my view) expect at the level of this speaker compared to its passive equivalents we should expect a 15-20 year lifecycle. I would expect 20 years support.

Whether B&O gives a hoot or not, still exists at that time or is able to source compatible components at practical prices....who knows.

 

A bit like an expensive supercar. Its gonna cost ya either in the short or long term. Walking into that ownership fully aware is the key.

Another analogy is "you always think you have enough insurance right up to the point you actually need it"

 

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As to "how do you tell?", I don't know if it's the same on the BL50s but, on the 90s, when you run the room calibration, it sends a sweep tone through each drive unit in turn. Therefore I imagine it would be easy enough to hear if one is not working, or distorting.

 

I guess the really interesting thing about the BL90 is how much redundancy can be in a pair, and can it be utilised?

Say for instance, one blows a tweeter or an ICE amp/card in a critical area (forward firing), could one of the rear/side units be used and recalibrated as a stop-gap until a replacement can be sourced?

Ditto the Mids. 5 of 6 produces adequate sound at 50% volume? How far could the degradation go while still offering reasonable functionality?