Jeff wrote:

Just a quick nit...Infiniti is Nissan, not Mazda. And over here I suspect a lot of the Play gear showing up at heavy discounts on eBay relates to a lot of former B&O shop owners who are now closed trying to recoup some of their losses.

Eunos did not survive! Infiniti had Simon Cox as Design Chief for a year or two and he was the guy who turned Cadillac round. Now he's been replaced by Matt Weaver who did the Nissan Juke and is a very talented designer. You can't make a luxury brand overnight. I bumped into an ex-colleague who works at Infinity when he'd just explained this to his Japanese bosses by taking them round Mercedes Benz world.

back to Beoplay , I like the idea of plug and play products as I really don't even understand Masterlink. Linking Beoplay products to Apple AirPlay and other transient media has hardly been ideal and the loss of Danish provenence haven't been easy to get around. By the time I got round to buying the A3 it was totally obsolete, out of the control of the company. It was originally not cheap, the price of a product that would be seen previously as an investment. 

Well, in my field there is an example worth mentioning:

The Gold Standard of great pianos big and small is Steinway, the piano manufacturer with factories in New York and Hamburg (and it is an open secret that the pianos manufactured in Hamburg are the "real" deal and better than most New York Steinways).

Anyway, Steinway also sells - through their dealerships in the same showrooms - "Steinway-designed" Boston Pianos. "Long unrivaled in its class and unmatched in value" is marketing speech for terrible quality but quite cheap... For no single professional musician is Boston pianos an alternative to a real Steinway, never ever. It is an option however for those people who are considering buying a keyboard for their kids instead of a real piano.

However, B&O has not enough of distinction between their two brands - and I do not mean that the quality of the Beoplay brand should be lower, but on the contrary: the stagnation of new achievements regarding the TV business and the way-too-many quality issues (software!!!) of really expensive stuff of the B&O brand hurt them more than any sale of Beoplay equipment way lower than what one paid a few months earlier. Apparently, even the software of the Beolabs 90 was not fully developed before delivery of the first pairs (according to an article in the German FAZ newspaper a few weeks ago).

When I buy a Steinway, even though crazy expensive, I know I have the best of the best for a very long time, and I can trust the brand to deliver the best quality possible. 

That's where B&O lost my loyalty.

jarnim wrote:

However, B&O has not enough of distinction between their two brands -.

And this is what confuses me.  What decides if a product gets the Bang & Olufsen or B&O Play brand?  BeoSound 8 started as Bang & Olufsen and moved over to B&O Play after an upgrade. Same with the Form 2 headphones.  Are B&O Play products thought not to be good enough or expensive enough for the Bang & Olufsen brand?

Mark-N wrote:

jarnim wrote:

However, B&O has not enough of distinction between their two brands -.

 

And this is what confuses me.  What decides if a product gets the Bang & Olufsen or B&O Play brand?  BeoSound 8 started as Bang & Olufsen and moved over to B&O Play after an upgrade. Same with the Form 2 headphones.  Are B&O Play products thought not to be good enough or expensive enough for the Bang & Olufsen brand?

 

 

Legacy B&O products can become Beoplay if they are plug and play things that don't require installation and hence suit on-line sales. That's where the V1 was the odd one out.

When you say installation, you mean plugging it into something besides power?  BeoSound 35 doesn't require installation... does it?

Mark-N wrote:

When you say installation, you mean plugging it into something besides power?  BeoSound 35 doesn't require installation... does it?

 

 

 

If you want a table stand rather than a wall bracket and concealed cables. A Beosound 35 could be part of fitting out an apartment including A TV etc. Some people may not want to do this themselves.

Mark-N wrote:

When you say installation, you mean plugging it into something besides power?  BeoSound 35 doesn't require installation... does it?

 

 

 

If you want a table stand rather than a wall bracket and concealed cables. A Beosound 35 could be part of fitting out an apartment including A TV etc. Some people may not want to do this themselves.

Simonbeo wrote:

If you want a table stand rather than a wall bracket and concealed cables. A Beosound 35 could be part of fitting out an apartment including A TV etc. Some people may not want to do this themselves.

But this isn't unique to the BeoSound 35. The BeoPlay A6 and A9 also have an optional wall bracket.  I don't think that "installation required" is the deciding criteria between the two brands.  I certainly don't consider plugging my BeoLab 17's into the Essence an installation, but that may be a fine line.  I think that B&O Play is not meant to have the "prestige" as Bang & Olufsen.  Is it to keep the brand Bang & Olufsen elite?

Mark-N wrote:

Simonbeo wrote:

If you want a table stand rather than a wall bracket and concealed cables. A Beosound 35 could be part of fitting out an apartment including A TV etc. Some people may not want to do this themselves.

But this isn't unique to the BeoSound 35. The BeoPlay A6 and A9 also have an optional wall bracket.  I don't think that "installation required" is the deciding criteria between the two brands.  I certainly don't consider plugging my BeoLab 17's into the Essence an installation, but that may be a fine line.  I think that B&O Play is not meant to have the "prestige" as Bang & Olufsen.  Is it to keep the brand Bang & Olufsen elite?

 

B&O describe Beoplay products as "stunning one-piece..." products and fit the A6 and the A9 each with a handle. The 35 is made from a beautiful metal  extrusion rather than plastic moulded casing because it's premium and not carried around as a plug and PLAY sound source. The higher price will obviously keep the Bang and Olufsen more prestigious and precious , which is not the intention with Beoplay

B&O dealers are faced with two issues over the current Play distribution and pricing structure.

As already mentioned, we see prospects coming to the store to try out products but not purchasing knowing full well they can get it cheaper at Costco or online.

We also get the disgruntled customers who bought via Amazon and then bring the products in store asking us to resolve service issues. In many cases, the reported "faults" are actually user error.

It's a fine line between providing excellent customer service for loyal patrons and those who only buy from QVC. There have been many threads discussing customer service and how good, bad, indifferent it is today compared to times gone by. The bottom line is that I'm paid by my boss to sell. 15 minutes on the phone explaining how a product works or how to connect to a network doesn't contribute to our bottom line.

The success of our dealership can only be sustained if we make a profit. A few people who frequent this forum and know me personally will testify how much I love the brand and how far I will go to try and help clients. BUT the increasing number of calls and visits from people who have bought elsewhere at a price we can't even buy from B&O makes it very frustrating. Is it right that they should expect top dollar service for rock bottom prices?

Thank you, I'll get of my soapbox now.

Opman