I know it's apples to oranges but for that frankly crazy high price you pay for the Core you could get a full blown receiver that does all that plus more with full surround sound and 8k video. I know there is a B&O tax and that's fine but it just amazes me how poor the feature set is for that price.

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I have a non-B&O TV and wish to improve the TV sound and listen to streaming services and a turntable.

I think the core Improving" the sound of TV will be debatable. I can't be the only one that watching TV with external speakers in stereo is the weirdest possible way to watch tv.

@severed_hand

The Marantz can't multi-room with my Beosound in the adjoining bathroom.  It also doesn't work just like all the other beosounds with which my wife has finally become comfortable.

I listened to TV through stereo speakers for many years.  I don't understand the pushback.  I'm not doing critical listening.  It's mostly background noise, but with better bass, treble and midrange than the weak built in speakers.   If stereo is so odd, why do most tvs have 2 speakers?

@Stan

I'm agreeing 100% with everything you're saying. I've come to accept the premium price we pay for B&O. It's crazy for us to expect the same features in the new Core that we would have paid for in a BeoSystem 1, BeoSystem 3, BeoSystem 4, or BeoSound Theatre. It's just a nice added feature in the Core for the most basic needs of a TV.

@MM

I understand the difference between home cinema and stereo, and I agree that they're not really comparable.  I have an Eclipse after all.  My point in asking why so many TVs have 2 speakers was to point out that maybe listening to stereo TV was NOT the "weirded possible way".  Also, if it's solely about cost, why not just have 1 speaker and eliminate that weird stereo TV watching experience?  It would be cheaper still.

This will be a music first system so TV audio is secondary (or perhaps even tertiary, with looks/usability being secondary). Having said all this, my wife is not excited about the return of the "all those speaker cables" (i.e. one thin PL running from source to daisy chained speakers) so the Stage is back in the running... or I need to do better cable management.

I agree that given B&O's history of outstanding home cinema audio it's a bit odd for B&O to be pushing this stereo TV concept, but then you have to sell what you have.  Marketers will do their marketing.  Or maybe this is a case of "the customer is always right" (used as that phrase was originally intended, not the more recent "Karen" interpretation).  That is, perhaps there was enough feedback saying this is desirable so they built it, even though it runs counter to ~30 years of B&O's home cinema audio history.

 

I don’t find anything objectionable about listening to a TV in stereo after all it’s true that most TVs have stereo speakers built in, plenty of TV programmes are still only recorded and/or broadcast in stereo and many people may not be inclined to have more than 2 or 2.1 speakers for a variety of reasons. All with the caveat that the further apart those stereo speakers are, the more compromised the location of voices to the screen will be for anyone sitting off-axis.

My problem is that it’s simply an odd choice to make a product of this nature and charge so much for it and to make it only stereo. And only one input (going out of their way to combine analogue and digital into one so you can’t use both) . And no WiSA. And only a proprietary digital output and very limited use digital input (that can’t be used at the same time). They’ve just omitted several really obvious and useful features and every feature they have included they’ve compromised or limited in some way. I just find it baffling and very frustrating.

However no doubt for some people it will fit their desired use case and good for them!

 

So this is basically a Hall Audio WiFi Streamer for £216 except that Hall Audio doesn’t show up in the B&O app and can’t be controlled via a BeoRemote One. But, for people who look to connect B&O speakers to a tv with HDMI ARC and to play music from a connected analogue source like a record player with RIAA or stream music via airplay or Spotify connect it actually does the same job.
I am not affiliated with Hall Audio in anyway. I merely have their product and it works a charm.

For a true sustainable system, it should have the option to add Beo4 infrared control, too. Like on the Essence MK2 and Core.

But all in all I like the new Beoconnect Core! With this aluminium design there's no more need to hide it away. Looks nice and the AUX-Input can easily be fed by a preamp for multiple other audio sources, too.