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
Well, we left the hotel at 8:15am this morning by coach as shown and departed for "the Farm" which means B&O factory. We were met by the lovely Jette Nygaard who gave use an overview of the day which including pointing out that photos could only be taken in certain areas, which of course we were happy to agree too.
Regards Keith....
We started by meeting Business consultant Iza Mikkelsen, Product Manager Heidi Hausted Fredberg and Product Manager Poul Nikolajsen.
We went into the Beoliving demonstration room and the B&O Shop used to setup the different shop layouts provided to the dealers.
An interesting discussion taking place here
The B&O shop where layouts and designs are decided.
These are polished speaker panels used in the Audi
This is the back of a BeoPlay V1 on a wall mounted bracket.
Here is a new product which you may not have seen. It is an Ipad dock with speakers which can be used in many positions.
This picture is of the Manor House where B&O started on 17th November 1925 and is now the home of three generations of Olufsen's.
We meet with Peter Skak Olufsen and his wife Susanne Olufsen. Peter is the nephew of one of the founders and is on the board of directors.
One of the many rooms inside Peter & Susanne's home
Group photo of everyone attending the trip (except me) with Peter and Susanne
In the morning we also visited the anodising plant, but no photos could be taken.
The afternoon included visits to the Media room, Listening room and the totture chamber
We also saw how B&O tests the sound, picture and mechanical parts of their products.
Keith Saunders: Here is a new product which you may not have seen. It is an Ipad dock with speakers which can be used in many positions.
I must say the design of this is brilliant. I had thought it had three positions - lying flat, standing in portrait mode, and standing in landscape mode -- but it seems to have more than that -- AND the speakers (treble and bass) switch around depending upon the orientation just like the screen orientation rotates.
So I would almost say for an iPad user this is a "must have".
It also has a battery so can operate standalone, and when connected powers up the B&O battery as well as the iPad.
Very nice sound too .... but no remote control, just buttons on the side.
Although they did say it was controllable via an iPod -- but I don't quite see how . . . . .
BeoNut since '75
Sadly enough.. another member is missing.....he does not show on the picture... how sad. Now, let me put it back with us all.
Regards to all of you from the new kid on the block.. the mad and only
me...
I love this thread, but who is who (except for Bernie?)
Brengen & Ophalen
Keith Saunders: Group photo of everyone attending the trip (except me) with Peter and Susanne
I would fit right in there, in the middle of the first row, together with, non mentioned, non forgotten, (but Martin, Leslie, Rich, Evan, Søren Hammer, just to mention a few.), Keep it up Keith
Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.
There is probably some net-etiquette here about letting people name themselves !
(I will see if I can find a smarter way to do this)
Well, Ed has started the process off by naming himself and his wife. I have added numbers to allow the others to discuss themselves
yeah. I iam number 10.. but halas, it s not on Downing street...
elephant: I must say the design of this is brilliant. I had thought it had three positions - lying flat, standing in portrait mode, and standing in landscape mode -- but it seems to have more than that -- AND the speakers (treble and bass) switch around depending upon the orientation just like the screen orientation rotates. So I would almost say for an iPad user this is a "must have".
This Ipad dock is called the BeoPlay A3 and the spec is
MATERIAL(S) Painted plastic, aluminium COLOUR(S) Black POWER CONSUMPTION Typical (Play + charging): 35 Wcharging with iPad: 32 Wcharging without iPad: 18 Wstandby: <0.5 W POWER SUPPLY 100-240 V +10/-15 %, 50-60 Hz BATTERY Built-in, rechargeable. With built-in heat protection circuitUp to 7 hours playback CHARGING TIME Max. 6 hours (with iPad)Max. 5 hours (without iPad) OPERATING CONDITIONS Temperature: 10-40° CHumidity: 20-80% LOUDSPEAKER(S) - CABINET PRINCIPLE Sealed box - EFFECTIVE FREQUENCY RANGE* 60 – 17,000 Hz - POWER AMPLIFIER(S) 1 x Bass: 25 W / 4 Ohm Class D2 x Midrange/treble: 25 W / 4 Ohm Class D - DRIVER(S) 1 x 2" Woofer3 x ½" Tweeter CONNECTIONS 1 x power connector1 x Apple iPad connector FEATURES Adaptive Stereo OrientationOn/Off buttonVolume up/down buttonSW upgradeable online (via App) ACCESSORIES Covers for iPad and iPad 2
I am number 15 Ron McMorran (langleyav)
This has been the trip of a lifetime, many thanks to all at B&O especially Jette Nygaard, and also to Lee Marriot for organising this truly memorable visit!!
Today, the group started by meeting Tue Mantoni (CEO) where he gave a short presentation and answered many questions raised by members.
The reduced size group picture of the group including me was taken by Lise Birkkjær Nielsen and a full size version is available for download HERE
A presentation was also made by Tue to one of our members who's B&O dealer had sent over a cover. More on this later with a photo.
Keith Saunders:the group including me was taken by Lise Birkkjær Nielsen
finally we have Keith in the frame !
thanks Keith for taking all the other pictures - great job done well
After meeting with Tue Mantoni we headed over to Factory 4 (Product Assembly) and for the rest of the morning no photos could or were taken, so I can only give a written update until our after lunch session at Struer Museum.
So, in the product assembly we saw all the current video products being assembled including the BeoPlay V1 32 & 40 inch and we were shown the testing which each product goes through before it leaves the factory.
To remind you of key points of the product spec are:-
DESIGNER Anders Hermansen DIMENSIONS (W x H x D)/WEIGHT 76.6 x 56.8 x 5.5 cm 30.2" x 22.4" x 2.2" for 32 inch unitCOLOUR(S) Cabinet: Black, white Front cloth: Dark grey, green, red, silver, yellow POWER CONSUMPTION 79W/Standby: 0.4W CHASSIS uses the new Video Engine 1.0 THEFT PROTECTION FEATURE PIN code PICTURE FORMATS Format 1: Auto, Format 2: Auto Wide, Format 3: Source Format HDMI INPUT FORMATS 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND MODULE Standard built-in SOUND INPUT FORMATS PCM, multichannel PCM DIGITAL SOUND DECODING CAPABILITIES Dolby Digital 5.1 DTS 2.0 SCREEN TYPE 32" 16:9 TFT LCD BACKLIGHT TYPE Edge-type LED RESOLUTION 1920 x 1080 pixels (full HD) REFRESH RATE 100Hz/120Hz
LUMINANCE OF WHITE (CENTRE OF SCREEN) Typical 400 cd/m2 CONTRAST RATIO (CENTRE OF SCREEN) Typical 4000:1 RESPONSE TIME (GREY TO GREY) Typical 8 msec PICTURE OPTIMISATION VisionClear ROOM ADAPTATION Automatic picture control COLOUR CALIBRATION 10-point display calibration CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT Adaptive contrast algorithmMOTION PICTURE IMPROVEMENT Adaptive film judder compensation ANALOGUE TUNER, VIDEO TYPE/FORMAT According to type and setup: B/G/L/L'/I/D/K/M, FREQUENCY RANGE 45-863 MHz ANALOGUE STEREO DECODING CAPABILITIES A2 + Nicam AERIAL INPUT CONNECTION(S) 1 x F-connector for analogue and T21 x F-connector for S2 (optional) DIGITAL TUNER T2/C/S2 Optional VIDEO TYPE / FORMAT DVB-T/T2, DVB-C, MPEG2/4 HDActive antenna supply 5V@50mA1 x F-connector DVB-S2 (optional) COFDM (ORTOGONAL FREQ. DIVISION MODLATION) SPECTRUM 2K & 8K, hierarchical and non-hierarchical MODULATION DVB-T2:QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAMDVB-C:QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAMDVB-S2:8PSK, QPSK CODE RATE DVB-T2: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 3/5, 4/5 GUARD INTERVAL DVB-T2: 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/128, 19/256, 19/128 SYMBOL RATE DVB-T2: 2-45 msymb/secDVB-C: 4-7 msymb/secDVB-S2: 1-45 msymb/sec ODU CONTROL DiSEqC level 1.1 (digital satellite equipment control)DC for switching between H/V polarizations:13.5 V +/- 5% max 450 mA18.5 V +/- 5% max 450 mATone Control for low or high band selection:22 KHz/0.65 Vpp +/- 0.25 V duty cycle 50%+/- 10%Cable length compensation selectable +1 V LNB supply boost COMMON INTERFACE AND SMART CARD SLOTS Common interface according to EN50221CI and CI+2 x PCMCIA (common interface only)All CA systems available as common interface are supportedCA power supply: Max 5V/500mA SOUND LOUDSPEAKER Integrated stereo speaker(centre speaker if surround sound setup) POWER PER AMPLIFIER 2 x 32 W EFFECTIVE FREQUENCY RANGE 85 Hz to 20.000 Hz CABINET PRINCIPLE Closed box MIDRANGE 50 mm/2" full range type CABINET VOLUME 2 x 0.15 litre BASS EQUALISER Adaptive Bass Linearization (ABL) PERIPHERAL UNIT CONTROLLER Integrated Peripheral Unit Controller (PUC) for controlling a set-top boxControlling 4 units SPLIT SCREEN Picture and PictureSPEAKER MODES 9 User-configurable Speaker Groups9 Editable Sound Modes WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/n/b/g, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz
Jan Boisen (Technical Project Manager) and Grethe Krabbe (Production Worker) split us into two groups for the tour around the assembly plant. The first thing which was pointed out to us was that everyone in the plant knew we were coming because there was a TV screen at the main entry door announcing the fact.
As we when round we noted that some production workers had connected to the Beoworld web site to apparently find out more about us. We know this because the web site had been left on one of the screens. I think we were all very impressed with their new assembly area which was very automated.
Subsequently, we all walked over to Factory 2 (Systems Integration) and were given a presentation by Jens Harder (Project Manager) and Brian Bjorn Hansen (Senior R&D Manager) in a room which we apparently should never have been brought into. Most of the products in the room were covered and we were told by Jens that he would have to shot us if we tried to have a look!!!
They have created an "Ideas Manual" which Jens has agreed to send to me to be made public on Beoworld
We then met with Jorgen Daucke (Concept Developer) who showed us many product ideas and concepts some of which made it to a finished product, but most stayed as ideas.
One of our members got a really big surprise from his dealer in the UK. A presentation was made to him and I am going to leave it to him to fill you all in of the background.
Thanks a lot Keith!
Exactly the number I like most. Number one is me ;-)
BS9000, BC6, BC2, BL3, BL11, BL3500, BL2000, BeoTime, Beo EarSet2 3i, Beo, BEO DropStop, BEO Bottle Opener, BeoCom5 including Table Stand, ATV
Christmas Prize Draw 1st Winner 2010 - THANKS A LOT!!!
Struer Trip 2012 - THANKS A LOT!!!
I am nr. 20 Thanks Keith for uploading and posting everything, and yes I am still flabbergasted that you manage to do that on your mini mini computer / phone.
Keep te pictures coming I will post a few after the weekend myself.
In the picture outside the old farm, I'm nr 11.
Too long to list....
I am the lucky, happy and grateful no. 14, called iPoditiv or (after changing the nick) Peter the biker who arrived in Struer after a week's bicycle ride.
First facit:
-- amazing job done by Lee and Keith in organizing the trip
-- people at B&O not only giving us a deep insight but each one two open ears
-- hospitality at the finest level
Peter the biker aka iPoditiv
Great guys, finally seeing all the faces now behind those nicknames. Must be an exciting experience being there!!!!
I'm really jealous guys. I'm sure that you had great time there... Wish you all safe trip back.
Beovision Avant 55 / BV 11-40 / BV7-40 / Beovision Avant / Beosound 9000 / Beosound 5 Encore / Beosystem 4500 / Beosystem 6500 / Beocenter 9000 / Beolab 5000 / Beolab 18 / Beolab 19 / Beolab 11 / Beolab 17 / 3 sets of Beolab 4000 / Beovox Red Line 60.2
Keith Saunders:Most of the products in the room were covered and we were told by Jens that he would have to shot us if we tried to have a look!!!
Small or big ones? Can we from the size of these hidden products expect a new BeoVision or new BeoLab´s in near future?
Keith Saunders: They have created an "Ideas Manual" which Jens has agreed to send to me to be made public on Beoworld
Looking forward to that!
Keep the updates coming folks :) Looks like everyone is having a great time however I am very jealous!
Olly
Oh probably a bit late for this, but while you're there, it would be lovely if you could get some info out the archives. Would love to know about / see photos of 70's 80's production techniques etc... And a diagram for the Beolink 7000 would be way cool!
It was indeed a fantastic trip, thanks to Lee, Jette and the rest of B&O for that!
I was so fortunate to talk quite a lot with Geoff, and I got some really interesting information out of all the talks. When I get back home I will make a longer post, and I think (hope) that Steve will add some additional information.
He did talk with Geoff about something which I really did not understand :-)
Oh, I am number 18 in the group picture.....
This trip looks AMAZING!
Very sad I couldn't be there, but I had to pull out. Those who had to scramble to arrange their trip at the last moment can blame me, I waited until it was very late - I apologize.
Can't wait to see the trip progress and see the many dedicated faces of BeoWorld and of Bang & Olufsen.
At any rate, it looks like you guys are having a blast, tell Tue & the crew I said Hi!
Beo4 'til I die!
... and I am number 13.
Had a fantastic time. It was great to see so many dedicated and enthusiastic people working at B&O and getting to talk to them. From Tue Mantoni to Factory workers. Nice to see there is still a big drive after all B&O has gone through in the last years. Tue has also promised plenty of new B&O products for the year to come which is exciting.
I briefly talked about LinkPlayer to the guy who developed the Beoport and he knew about it, so I had a warm and fuzzy feeling ;-) It is a shame they don't help me a bit more with it!!
A friendly Beoword bunch of people, nice weather, fresh air, nice relaxing region, great Danish hospitality has only helped make this a memorable trip.
Beoworld app with direct photo upload and emoticons.