rgbyhkr:

10%,

It's great that you like the BS5/BM5.  However, anyone perusing this thread looking for potential alternatives might come away with incorrect assumptions after reading your post.  In the interests of giving more details on pricing and features for each of those, I wanted to expand on your statements.  Also, I have some thoughts about the other comments you had as well.   I'm not trying to be argumentative here, just making sure that people who may want to comparison shop have more information:

http://www.sooloos.com/www/downloads/Sooloos-iPod-iPhone-Setup-Guide.pdf) for no additional cost.  That route gives you a handheld remote control for a system with multi-zone output for less than $4500.  The Sooloos system is modular, so you can mix and match the source, storage and control elements as you like.

http://www.olive.us/products/opus4_connectivity.html).

http://www.cepro.com/article/qsonix_adds_iphone_interface_to_control_music_systems/K316).  It also has a built-in CD drive, onboard 4-zone audio output, Tapestry playlist creator, MusicGiants store integration for lossless music downloading, etc.  The hardware isn't nearly as elegant looking as the BS5, but the UI is easy to use on the 15" touchscreen (17" version also available).

Mr10Percent:

Escient             $  6,000 on the box plus touchscreen (add ~$1200)

The FireBall line ranges in price from $2000 - $6000 based on HDD size (160GB - 750GB), how many external DVD changers it can control, number of supported simultaneous video outputs, etc (http://www.escient.com/products/CompareDirect.pdf).  They can be controlled via an on-screen display with IR remote, web interface and the touchscreen you mentioned.  I haven't seen an iPhone optimized web UI from them.  Note that teh Fireball line's ability to control external DVD servers makes them movie capable, albeit in a clunky way (it gives you an interface to browse your DVD library and control playback - cover art, actor credits, plot summary, ratings, etc are downloaded from the web).  Their new vision line though directly competes with Kaleidescape and does movies (including DVD ripping), music and photos as well. 

http://www.avalonhouston.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XI2L1YeZ580%3D&tabid=354&mid=944.  The touchpanels are $1500 and $2500 but again, web interfaces are available with handheld optimized versions as well.

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/thread/160661.aspx).

Mr10Percent:

All these have approx 250Gb to 1Tb storage but seem to average around the 500Gb mark for the price indicated.

No real comment here other than to point out that B&O is the only one that doesn't offer a choice (as of now).  Soundproof said in another thread that he was told last year that the BM5 storage could be augmented via NAS, but there's no verification of that yet.  I think that would be a smart move, so let's see if it materializes.

Mr10Percent:

The touchscreens in all these models - and we all have to agree, really suck!

Raising my hand to disagree.  Having used the touchscreens on many of these myself,  I think they are pretty good.  Some are better than others but it's not like the ones at the bottom are unusable or anything.  Personally, I'll take a touchscreen over a hard buttoned control because the former can be tweaked and upgraded with much more flexibility via software upgrades over time.  I haven't played with the BS5 yet, but it does indeed look slick.  That being said, given my experience with the solutions above, I have a hard time believing that the BS5 will be worlds better than these.  I will definitely try it once the demo untis hit US stores to see for myself.

Mr10Percent:

I don't think technology is yet good enough for B&O to do this well. i.e. through glass and not leave fingerprints everywhere. Therefore the BS5 really does standout in terms of engineering quality, practicality and simplicity.

Most of the touchscreens I have seen use a matte display which is much less of a fingerprint magnet than glossy displays.  Still though, none have the same "showpiece" design aesthetic that B&O puts so much emphasis on.  Personally though, when I look at the 10.4" screen on the BS5, I would prefer that it be touchscreen.  A dedicated display like that just begs for that kind of interaction capability, IMO.  That is purely subjective though and will certainly vary by user.

Mr10Percent:

In conclusion, the cost of these products would seem initially exponential to the cost of the components. Then, the larger systems become more expensive probably because they do have bigger screens, bigger storage etc...

Like everything else, more features means more cost and better build quality pushes the cost further up the price ladder.  Request's line is a good representation of that.  Their S series is impressive when you look at the parts used, but you certainly do pay for it.  Of course, the mark-up in any system on things like HDD size is very high when compared to the price difference of the parts themselves (I'm used to reading DIYers in other forums constantly make cost comparisons between their rigs and pre-built systems like these).  Of course though, getting a single solution from one company with one source for support issues and a lot of effort put into the overall integration and implementation is going to cost you. 

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/thread/160661.aspx) and when you look at the design of the products above, you can see where my questioning of missing basic elements came from.  

Overall, I think the BS5 is very slick and will certainly appeal to some customers.  I just think that if B&O had or does address a few issues, the product will have far greater appeal.   Let's hope they do offer solutions.

Jeff

woops wrong post