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 All,
Bang & Olufsen have literally just launched their 'new-look' website and are interested to hear our views, feedback and criticisms. I've just had an email from the Sales and Marketing Department who would appreciate what we have to say - good or bad...
Here's the LINK. It's going live as I type this - so it may take a little while longer for all the servers to update, so please be patient if you don't see the new site immediately..
Fire away!
Lee
It's much better. More modern. Looks more like their catalogue, which is a good thing. It's not a massive departure from the previous site though.
I was only thinking the other day that the B&O website has had the same design for years. I'm glad they've given it a makeover.
As for feedback, it's very slow at the moment, so I've only seen the frontpage (and now it's almost unusable).
The page is down now but I had a look at the front page before it went down. I think it is a bit to big on the screen. I have a 24" screen at work and it feels tight even there.
I also don't like the three product boxes, it feels a bit cheap but perhaps it is a good thing anyway.
Don't like the categories, just three? And why is Car audio one of them? Don't make sense but it probably looks better when it works like it should :) Also the font is too big.
I hope they discarded all flash-media, on the old page all products with the light coming down from above was flash-based.
All in all it looks very good, but as always a few problems in the beginning. Car audio is one of them. Even if that is a big deal for B&O I honestly think that Car audio should be under audio or something like that.
I look forward to look at the product pages but I am a bit scared that they have worked on using the whole screen as many other pages. It looks very nice but makes it harder for the viewer to concentrate and take in all the information.
Very happy that B&O are working hard with their website and I trust that the page will be very good and I really just want to congratulate them, even if I am picky :)
Beolab 50, Beolab 8000 x 2, Beolab 4000 x 2, BeoSound Core, BeoSound 9000, BeoSound Century, BeoLit 15, BeoPlay A1, BeoPlay P2, BeoPlay H9 3rd Gen, BeoPlay H6, EarSet 3i, BeoVision Eclipse Gen 2 55", BeoPlay V1-40, BeoCom 6000 and so much else :)
Michael: The page is down now but I had a look at the front page before it went down. I think it is a bit to big on the screen. I have a 24" screen at work and it feels tight even there.
Yes, it's 1180px wide, which is about 180px than we'd recommend (1000px max).
Site is back up. I'm liking it. People don't generally like change too much, so most first reactions are nearly always negative. But my first reaction is that it's better, which is good. Cleaner.
It is up again and looking on the pages I just have one thing to say: WOW.
It is so great! but some pages have the wrong font, as on Beovision 7 some text is georgia or something like that.
I still think Car audio is very miss-placed. Car audio IS sound.
It seems to be down again. I wonder what CMS they are using. Looks like WordPress :)
moxxey: Yes, it's 1180px wide, which is about 180px than we'd recommend (1000px max). Site is back up. I'm liking it. People don't generally like change too much, so most first reactions are nearly always negative. But my first reaction is that it's better, which is good. Cleaner.
It was up :) and will probably be back soon again. I agree with you and most reactions in the beginning is, as you say, negative.
One thing I notice is all the white color which makes my eyes hurt since it takes up a lot of screen.
White on a paper is not a problem since it doesnt throw light at you, but on a screen you have a big lamp pushing white at you :)
The old black page was easier on the eyes in that way.
Well, the site isn't up for me to look at yet completely, I did see some basic structure a moment ago.
In the meantime, I'll jump into the car audio discussion. Regarding its prominent place on the home page, I am torn on my stance. While it is a large part of their business and income, it is very different than their residential product lines. The car audio section would be more at home in a 'business-to-business' section of the website for manufacturers and the like to browse through. This could be combined with their automotive aluminum manufacturing operations. However, you can see other companies doing this the same way - Dynaudio, for example.
The tinkering motor-head side of me wishes that B&O would sell separates and components for generic automotive applications!
Beo4 'til I die!
Evan:In the meantime, I'll jump into the car audio discussion. Regarding its prominent place on the home page, I am torn on my stance. While it is a large part of their business and income, it is very different than their residential product lines. The car audio section would be more at home in a 'business-to-business' section of the website for manufacturers and the like to browse through. This could be combined with their automotive aluminum manufacturing operations. However, you can see other companies doing this the same way - Dynaudio, for example.
I agree strongly with you. And I don't think we should look at other companies. It takes focus from what B&O does, to promote something else.
Just as you say it would work on a business-to-business page. I think it is the car manufacturer who should be pushing the B&O audio marketing harder not the other way around. It is a luxury accessory to a car, not something you can buy on your own from B&O.
And by the way, why "CAR" audio? Boats, planes, busses, limousines, cars and many other vehicles could benefit from B&O customized speakers, multimedia systems and screens. Remove the Car audio and put some notice about B&O tailored solutions under the audio category or something.
I think they should stick to car audio. B&O themselves have realized that their customers don't spend as much time listening to their music at home as they do in their car these days. People don't really listen to music while on a boat, limo, bus. People are far too distracted in these environments for proper listening.
That isn't to say people aren't distracted when driving themselves around town or cross country but significantly less so than in those other scenarios. People are alone in their cars 99% of the time anyway and that time they spend on their way to work or errands is likely the best listening time they will get all day.
Evan: I think they should stick to car audio. B&O themselves have realized that their customers don't spend as much time listening to their music at home as they do in their car these days. People don't really listen to music while on a boat, limo, bus. People are far too distracted in these environments for proper listening.
You are probably right. We consume music differently now than before. But car audio is not more special than headphones or home audio for me. Car audio could be under Sound at least.
I like the stylish design...reminds me a little bit of the flipboard app on the iPhone.
Nice.
But no more Beocom's available?
Nice, a lot more modern, friendly, fresh, young. Surprised to see Serif fonts. A first for B&O I think.
Beoport, Phones are gone?
A lot more is explained on the specific qualities of their products, but with only little emphasis on home automation. But I think they've clearly identified the essential.
Beoworld app with direct photo upload and emoticons.
PhilLondon: Beoport, Phones are gone?
Interesting. Perhaps they had so many issues with the Beocom 5, their latest phone, that they decided enough was enough. Plus, how many future customers will buy expensive landlines? It's rare for anyone under 35 these days to mention a landline number. If they do have one, for broadband, they often do not have a phone connected at all!
Would be a shame if the cancelled them completely though. We bought a few for the office, with the option to buy more at a later date. That might prove difficult if they have been discontinued.
I love beocom 6000 and have two of them. But I think most people are mostly using their mobile phones instead these days.
And for beoport I think Masterlink is being phased out in favour of modern IP-based solutions instead. The BeoPort was a tricky product.
The serif fonts are not good at all, even if they by them selves look good they dont look like B&O. B&O have always been sans-serif and I love that. Please remove the serif-font B&O :)
By the way. They took _a lot_ of design ques from Apple. I love Apple and their design and it looks good on B&O also but perhaps not very much their own design.
Do B&O have their own internal marketing department who makes this or is it made by an outside company? By the design I would say definitely outside company.
The seriffes are growing on me and it looks ok, but I still think it is a rather drastic step for them to take. It gives a feeling of a clothing-brand more than electronics.
Also like that pictures are so big, they expand when I expand my window and I can't get a border even if I try. Will have to try at home with my 27" screen later.
Michael: Evan: I think they should stick to car audio. B&O themselves have realized that their customers don't spend as much time listening to their music at home as they do in their car these days. People don't really listen to music while on a boat, limo, bus. People are far too distracted in these environments for proper listening. You are probably right. We consume music differently now than before. But car audio is not more special than headphones or home audio for me. Car audio could be under Sound at least.
The problem here is that car audio is totally different from the more conventional B&O market segments. You can't buy any of that separately. So it needs to be sold to car manufacturers, not end users. The whole reason we see it on this web site at all is probably that somebody (considering) buying a new car will see "Bang & Olufsen Audio System" as an option, and might want to know more about what that is (or what B&O in general is, for that matter). There's little reason to push it to existing B&O customers, they know already if they want to have it.
I'll comment on the new web site if I ever manage to load it even once.
--mika
I really like the design! It kind of reminds me of the new FaceBook layout! Fresh, younger feel and still elegant & classy!
I TOTALLY AGREE with Evan! Most of my listening nowadays is either in my car driving to exciting places on a Friday night escape or running to the gym / travelling to work on the trains with my iPhone & BEATS headphones. That's why I always go for the upgraded sound system & iPhone connection in my cars! Liking BANG&OLUFSEN in the AUDI's. I wonder if we will see B&O PLAY in the funky cars like Audi A1 and MINI etc?
I really, really, really wish that they would remove the PLAY name though, B&O just sounds far better! I don't get the word PLAY, it's just not needed!
One criticism is the typeface that crops up every now and again - it looks like Times Roman or simular - it's very very dated and horribly boring and not very in keeping with this modern look.
Just had a quick look at the site... First impressions are good.
Vähintään yhdeksänkymmentä prosenttia suomalainen!
Good lord , they're not treating us macusers with a disposable income like the antichrist , that makes a change. ?
What a shame soundproof doesn't post here much any more , he'd be the perfect candidate to espouse a valuable opinion
Right now the website is up again but quit slow.
Anyway right now I have only had a quick glance around. Architecture wise I like it a lot but will have a more detailed look tomorrow.
Currently I have already found one typo. ;-)
The two ICEpower amplifiers in each BeoLab 3 produce very little excess heat, so there is no need for the cooling space often necessary with traditional active loudspeaker construction. A conventional speaker would have to be about ten times the size of BeoLab 3 to deliver a comparable sound. The speakers have three pre-set bass settings for placement in corners, against walls, or freestanding in a room. This is made possible through Adaptive Bass Control echnology.
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!!!
Have to have a peek at it, nice of them to hear our opinion.
Too long to list....
I also like the new layout clean and slick in it's presentation.
Beoplay A2
Love it
Quick look and found a 2nd typo! On the V1 page and don't think they will sell many V1's with a
(Possibility to connect extra speakers up to a dull 5.1 surround sound setup)
lol...we know they don't sound like that
I like it it's nice and I like the way everything has been grouped.
Looks like there are a few spelling mistakes.
I have noticed the MLGW is missing.
Best bit for me the image on the BV10 screen
Eclipse 65V1-32Beosound M5Essence MK2BLI
On the V1 page: "You might wanna know".
A lot too familiar for a brand like B&O, even for the PLAY range.
Some "bugs":
Why is the B&O logo larger that the upper banner?
Why is the BeoLab 2 mentioned in the part of the BeoLab 5? It seems that if you want to add bass to a BL5 you might want to add a BL2..
Found a typo on first product page I read! Beoplay A8
'With Adaptive Bass Linearisation you can feel safe. At extreme peeks in the music, BeoPlay A8 will automatically turn down the bass and make sure you always get a great musical experience.'
I take it they mean peaks, as in the summit as opposed to a quick glimpse. I think we have a copy reader in Beoworld! Maybe a new job beckons. I expect mistakes like this in cheap products, not B&O.
Interestingly, they quote peaks on the Beosound 8.
Peter
LOL !!
I've never met such an eagle eyed bunch of people either...
If there's one thing you can say about BeoWorld - absolutely nothing gets past the members. Ever.
moxxey: Michael: The page is down now but I had a look at the front page before it went down. I think it is a bit to big on the screen. I have a 24" screen at work and it feels tight even there. Yes, it's 1180px wide, which is about 180px than we'd recommend (1000px max). Site is back up. I'm liking it. People don't generally like change too much, so most first reactions are nearly always negative. But my first reaction is that it's better, which is good. Cleaner.
Recommending a 1000 px width (max) is dated these days. Over 80 percent of displays in use today have a resolution that is higher than the once-web-design-standard 1024x768, which kept website design 980 - 1000 px wide for years.
A lot of websites are moving towards having the 1280 px (width) resolution as the basis for optimization of website width. The width of 1180 px (?) of bang-olufsen.com fits there nicely.
There are lots of statistics about the current common display resolutions, here's one:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp
It's also a delight to see that the new B&O website works perfectly on the new iPad, scaling to the display beautifully, and the UI is a joy to use even on the tablet.
Great work. Love the new-fashioned design of the site!
KMA
B&O product history since 1991: Ridiculously long to list in a signature.
I like the layout - I agree about the Beolab 2 being on the BL5 page is illogical. I think on the whole that it is much improved though - modern and clean.
A few other observations:
Why list the Beogram 7000 in the Product Support Overview with no manuals available?
And the Beocenter 9000/9500/9300 are really a bit different - one manual doesn't really cover them all.
Only list what you actually have on otherwise you raise expectations only to dash them.
I couldn´t reach the website via the given link/directly. But receiving the newsletter from my dealer I found another link in it to the B&O website, and I came easily through. It worked very well with a quick response/loading time.
What I like: Simplicity, ease of use, very good functionality, one section for each product with a lot of pictures (e. g. BV 10), emotional approach, still elegant and premium look, clearly designed.
What should be improved: Map material for dealer location (I wouldn´t find my hometown dealer using the map in the locator ........); although almost everything was done to distinguish the website from the B&O Play website, the structure of both is a bit close (meaning mainly the informations within a page build one below the other) considering a two brand approach.
What could (may)be added: A link to Beoworld; some products mentioned in this thread before (if still available); a separate section with best practice examples from customers, dealers or demos, e. g. use cases how to link products in homes (with recommendations for variances), use of product functions, etc. (put them in an archive).
Overall a well done approach.
Regards,
Rolf
And http://www.beolounge.com/ has disappeared as well!
I notice on the BeoLab 6002 page with the BV7, they are showing a white BeoLab 8002!!!
PhilLondon: And http://www.beolounge.com/ has disappeared as well!
Without reading what others think - I will probably write the same things as alot of others..
I like the fresh new design - looks more like their catalogue. Looks fresh and stylish. Looks like it sells quality but not too expensive - good!
Easy to find my way around the site, easy to navigate.
I find it more easy to navigate around than the old site.
My favorite - BC2 is gone :( but that has nothing to do with the site..
One bad thing is that it feels abit like an Apple site - the font and the style is abit like apples site, I like apple products (Im a mac user), but I really dont think they belong in the same league.. B&O should really look into this, after the latest news about Apple going into TVs people might think that they want to buy B&O...
It is more easy to find the right user manual than the previous site!
Besides the apple lookalike - I like it! Alot!
The navigation concept is not consistent: when opening technical specification on BeoPlay V1 a new window is opened, when clicking on "learn more" you leave the main site without new window.
In the support area I miss BeoSystem 2.
For BeoSound 2 the support page misses the BeoSound2 Software, only the Firmware is ready for download.
The Product-Archive has disappeared.