If B&O didn't exist....

Another musing...

If B&O didn't exist, what would you buy as a "high end" Audio Visual treat to yourself?

Would you give up on premium AV altogether? Would you forget multiroom? Would you look for smaller, more portable music devices and take them from room to room?  Would you still buy a premium television? If so, which brand?

A lot of people on the forum are "B&O or nothing" - but if you really, really had to buy non-B&O... what would you buy?

Lee

 

Mark levinson for audio and panasonic for television

Having just started getting into B&O after many years of high-end audio ownership, that's a difficult question seeing as I'd got really fed up of expensive esoteric hi-fi...

I think I'd probably go for Harbeth speakers again which I'd enjoyed in the past.  Not exactly design icons but incredibly good sound especially vocals and acoustic instruments.

As for source and amps, I'd probably just get something that did the job without costing a fortune and just hide it all in a cupboard!

Deffiently i'd go for Sonos to get multiroom for audio with some decent speakers. For a TV I would probaly end up with a Samsung TV, a Nad surround processor and probably some decent inwall speakers.

I would miss B&O for sure.....

 

br

Thomas

For Audio electronic; the new french Devialet or Revox swiss.For Louspeakers: Kef or B&W.  For TV; Sony or Samsung.

But I prefer Bang & Olufsen.

9 LEE:

Another musing...

If B&O didn't exist, what would you buy as a "high end" Audio Visual treat to yourself?

Would you give up on premium AV altogether? Would you forget multiroom? Would you look for smaller, more portable music devices and take them from room to room?  Would you still buy a premium television? If so, which brand?

A lot of people on the forum are "B&O or nothing" - but if you really, really had to buy non-B&O... what would you buy?

Lee

 

 

If B&O didn't exist, you wouldn't have asked this question. 

Martin

I would use control 4 with b and w speakers.

My Music room is all B and W running via a 9300 with a switched amp hidden underneath.

i would love to install control 4 but cannot stand dealer maintained systems and the MLGW interface is the expensive hurdle to get over

 

Who knows?

I got into B&O by accident. We got no use for the recordplayer you can have it if you want. I got the Beogram 1202 for my then stereo system. Later I saw an ad for a Beogram 2000 and since it was local I decided to have a look and bought it as it was cheap enough for my budget.

Then looking for a stereo for my parents got me a Beocord 9000 and a Beosystem 2000 it actually also led to a Beomaster 2000 and Beocord 2000. I brought the BM and BC to service the next day. Then I started to look for something to put the units on. 3 weeks later I had a full working Beosystem 2000 ('80s). I kept that for 3 years. Then it really got crazy.

Any stereo were used back in the '90s for me. B&O seemed to last and I always liked the design even as young boy it got my interest at my grandparents.

If it was not B&O then maybe some other brand might have been the one to be loyal to. I tried Sony and JVC for a while and Panasonic. Did not do it for me in the long run. The only reason for having Sony is that B&O did no do minidisc or DAT.

- Accuphase (Amp, CD)
- Lowther (speakers)
- Sony (SACD, CD)
- ROTEL
- Panasonic (TV)
- T+A
- B&W
- Wilson
- Cabasse
- ... 
There are sooooo many brands that really built some high end stuff to dream about with your ears.

And for listening to e.g. rock concerts with the original volume level (of the concert!) there is nothing that can roughly beat a Klipsch horn! This speaker destroys the house with a small 50W amplifier - unbelievable. If you EVER have the chance to listen to an original Klipsch horn: DO IT!

in our last house we had B&O multiroom, literally every room was B&O, the hallway had a masterlink junction box to all the rooms, it was pretty expensive to do this back in 1998, but having six Beo4 remotes to use around the house was a joy 😃

as you opened the front door the Ouverture greeted you, and we had really good FM radio reception once we put a dedicated FM aerial on the roof, but sometimes a few audio cassette tapes, or CD's made there way into the Ouverture, when we had parties it was pretty cool to have it on !

as the kids grew up, they ignored the multiroom concept, they all wanted to listen to different radio stations (and CD's) , so we sold off all the Beolab 3500 speakers

slowly the Avant TV's got replaced with flat screens, and multiroom was no longer

now in the new house Multiroom is not needed, nor Sonos or the like, but all the kids still love their macbooks, iPads and iPhones, and happily using headphones thank goodness :-)

we don't allow them to have TV's in their bedrooms, it's bad enough they have laptops to watch youtube, BBC iPlayer and the like

the lounge has a big new 58 inch Panasonic Plasma, the picture from our Virgin Tivo box via HDMI, the sound via Optical to the Yamaha AV amp and speakers is simply top notch, and even though I really wanted B&O for the lounge, and had the money to burn, it simply did not make sense to blow over 15 grand

incidentally we just sold the Ouverture and Beolab 4000 speakers yesterday on ebay for only £460 quid, they are 15 years old now, so I hope the new owner enjoys them as much as we used to

and sadly, the only B&O thing left is a ten year old BeoCenter 1 (£3 grand back in 2002), connected up to an old Beocord 8000 VHS player, and a Humax PVR-9200T

so for me the Panasonic and Yamaha are all I need for quality family room entertainment 😍

plus my iPod Touch and AKG headphones !

I really don't know what I would have bought, if there was no B&O...

I would probably never have had a record player.
I started buying B&O when I was a teenager. I think I was 13 when I bought a Beogram 1203 and shortly after a BM 901.
I remember most of my friends back then only had cassette decks. And I would probably also have bought a cassette deck instead of a turntable, as I thought (and still think) that almost all other turntables were/are so damn ugly...
So I would have started with some stereo system with a cassette deck -and would later have bought a CD player, when that came around.

-and then I would probably have thrown it all away today and only use Logitech Duet with some hifi-system -or a Sonos system - with my phone/tablet today.

But - luckily we have B&O. So I have B&O all over the house -and still enjoy to play CD's, records and even a cassette now and then -along with wifi music from my phone or NAS - or streaming content from Spotify etc. - over my B&O systems...

@ouverture - 

So, the kids destroyed your B&O-life

MM

I would probably buy speakers from B&W, amplifier and DAC from Mcintosh, and I currently do not own a TV but if someone produces a no nonsense 4K TV which I can connect to my Mac and it is at least 55", looks good and costs less than 4000€ I don´t really care who makes it, but today no such TV exists. By no nonsense I mean smart TV, built in speakers (B&O has pretty good built in speakers but most other manufactures don´t)... Actually my dream TV would be a 60" version of the apple 30" cinema display with 4k res, no other features, just a simple monitor.

Millemissen:

@ouverture - So, the kids destroyed your B&O-life

pretty much yeah pretty much, but weirdly saved me loads of cash, which is rare for kids these days

If B&O didn't exist I'd be a heck of a lot richer than i am now that's for sure, but all I'd have to encourage my kids to buy what is just a lot of cheap looking uninpsprational tat.

 

 

Thankfully I'm poorer and we are all richer in the knowledge at least one manufacturer still can make magical products that stand out from the crowd, and they don't accept normal or average.

Tonker:

If B&O didn't exist I'd be a heck of a lot richer than i am now that's for sure, but all I'd have to encourage my kids to buy is a lot of cheap looking uninpsprational tat.

Thankfully I'm poorer and we are all richer in the knowledge at least one manufacturer still can make magical products that stand out from the crowd, and don't accept normal or average. Beovision 11-46, Beovision 8-26, Beovision 3-32, Avant RF 28, Beosound 8, Beolit 12, Beocom 2, Beotime, H6 and Form 2, Beo 4's and a 6.

Hear hear well said

I have been exploring the darkside for several years now (from 'window-shopping' perspective that is, not actually buying). The exciting part is that I really don't have any biases or special connections with the luxury audio brands. 

So far I have gravitated to say most of what I would pursue is listed in previous posts.

As far as systems go, I would ultimately end up with vintage Altec Lansing as speakers if I stayed vintage.

The new HARMAN luxury group certainly has my attention still. The JBL Everest D66000 would be my speaker of choice and a pair of Levinson No. 53 monoblocks with a stack of Levinson in the middle as well.

McIntosh comes in at a close second. Seriously sinister looks there - very cool.

Quad makes the top three. I would equally love to stare at the scientific accomplishment that is the ESL - 29xx and a shelf full of that brilliant, caged QUAD tubey goodness. The Quad classic line is truly drool worthy.

Fourth place is Boulder Amp company. Simply for the jewelry-like billet aluminum casework. Outstanding. 

If Yamaha still made their pro-PA amps in solid state class-A, this would be a very different lineup. I've never seen so much billet alu glory in an attainable amp before.

As far as video goes. Nothing GRABS me the way the BeoVision 9 does. And I mean nothing. The BeoVision 9 may be the only TV I ever purchase. EVAR. I'll never watch it, except for the odd DVD/Bluray concert, live recording etc. TV does not have the appeal to me as it used to. I have better uses of my time.

ATC

http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/

 

Would probably use a Revox B-series system in place of my Beolab 8000 set. A Pioneer SX-1080,Technics SL-1600 mk II, Nakamichi RX-505 and some big ass JBL speakers otherwise...

If B&O didn't exist....

....we would have to start a company like B&O.

MM

I think most people have replied from the perspective of convenience (multi-room, and Beo4 "and one to rule them all") or music power/authenticity.

But for me design was always a factor - and part of the problem with modern world where everything is just ... bits !

If you have ever handled an MCP 5000 you will know what I mean:

- solid

- tilted at just the right angle

- feedback simple comprehensive and easily understood

- exposed controls logical and sequenced from left to right

- once touch to a source and the active source is quiesced while the other awakes

- then flip down the shield to the hidden panel - satisfyingly solid simple elegant

- hidden controls logical sequenced and so powerful

To me the whole 5000 suite was magical and from a design perspective there has not been anything so unified nor so elegant nor etcetera since

Sure the 9000 as a unit but it is not a system

Ditto the BC2

So if there was not any B&O I would be a much poorer person ... and I would settle for headphones and a blindfold

indeed you make a very good point about the 5000 separates system

I have just packed up and ready to go, an MCP 5000, a BM5000 and a BG CD50 for a buyer in Victoria, he already has the BC5000 and BG5000

in the right setting, stacked one upon another with subtle lighting, this Beosystem oozes class !