The form of the BL5s was dictated by the sound reproduction goals and requirements, from top to bottom.
Traditional "monkey coffin" loudspeakers have made us expect that form/function when judging new speakers. But throughout the years, many have experimented with alternative dispersion patterns and driver placements. Sonab, a Swedish company, had quite a lot of success with their, precisely because the sound appeared truer than with traditional designs.
What R&D at B&O have done now, is to take the concept to its absolute utmost, given our ability now to measure and model in a lot more advanced way than before, while DSP and on-board dedicated amplifiers also provide leeway unknown before the advent of BL5s (and other dsp-driven designs outside B&O).
The shape and driver configuration follows from the goals. So it's basically a question of whether one is willing to be uncompromising in achieving the reproduction aimed for, or whether you want to struggle with the limitations of the more acceptable monkey coffin design that we judge speakers through when faced with new configurations.
Sonab speaker: [View:http://old.carlssonplanet.com/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=medium&image_id=729:800:0]