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
An interesting news article here
"Bang & Olufsen plans to launch two more speaker models within two to three years, each model featuring key technologies from BeoLab 90."
Whilst it is obvious this would be the intention it's the first time I've seen any indication of timescales...
Martin.
Thanks for posting this article -- B&O retail isn't failing everywhere -- good for them!
Now, It would be interesting to speculate on what the prices would be for these baby 90s...
Generally speaking, B&O's relative price points to the high end speakers have been about 50% of the cost of the top model, Lab5 vs Lab 9, when the Lab 9's were 2nd from the top, and now, Lab5 vs Beolab 20 for example. If we use this logic, one could speculate (yes, I know I have ZERO evidence apart from historical prices of the range) that the BL90 / XX / YY would be $80,000 / $40,000 / $20,000??? Maybe I should start saving now.
I especially liked this:
'To survive in the competitive landscape, Mantoni said his company sought to differentiate itself using the motto “Sound is half the picture.”
“When it comes to television, there’s no one who makes the same products as ours in terms of sound and design,” Mantoni said.'
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
When I was having my BL5's serviced a few weeks ago and having the Tweeters replaced, I ask the Service Engineer if this was a common problem. His response was no because B&O have actually not sold that many 5's and there is no known connected history of tweeter failures.
His response seem to suggest that these loudspeakers - now at £15,000 per pair have never really flown off the shelf. Therefore, my view would be that for the BL90 alone - it is a undoubtedly special halo product (and probably custom ordered) and that any trickle-down product would have to sell at lower cost than the BL5 to sell well.
I note that there is still a lack of formal Rag/Press reviews from the industries "golden ears" on these speakers with the customary "4-stars for sound, but would have been 5-stars if value for money was a little better" footnote.
My 2 cents.