I received a questionnaire directly from B&O the other day asking me which Bang & Olufsen speakers I own. Interestingly the list only included speakers from their current product range. The email didn’t tell me why they wanted to know but I would guess it would either be to help with future marketing or new product development. 

Feels to me like the company might be missing something. I had a chat with one of the senior designers at Linn a few months ago. He told me that they have clients for new products and then they have the nearly new buyers. Linn recognises the importance of the nearly new buyers in that they help to prop up the price of the new products. 

A current owner of a pair of 18’s is much more likely to upgrade to 50’s if he can get a good price for his Lab 18’s. Its also easier to decide to buy a product if you don’t think its value is likely to drop like a stone the moment you purchase it.  

I like so many others on this site have many different Beovox & Beolab speakers. I’m sure I will buy more as it has become a bit of an obsession. I was ok with the more recent production models until I met Tim Jarman who introduced me to the amazing equipment built in the 70’s.  

I guess what I would say to the researchers at B&O is a client buying a second hand pair of Lab 6000’s today could be a buyer of 90’s tomorrow. If B&O would just spend a little more time reflecting on where they came from and how they got to here then they might have a better idea of what the future might hold.