My dealer has had these in the showroom for quite some time. Not keen myself - there are a few designs quite similar.

Me thinks there are one or two people here who are just a teeny weeny too far up their own bottoms?!

Yup, I've seen them too. I first saw them just after Apple's own "HiFi" boom box came out, but they seem to still be selling those Genevas around here.

Anyway, just because there's something is much worse out there, doesn't make the BS8 suddenly become excellent design. In other words, just because McDonald's is worse junk food than Burger King's, doesn't mean that Burger King then deserves a mention in the Michelin guide.

I rest my case, m'lud;)

He he, I can't help but think of a prosecutor going to court, extending his finger, pointing to the accused, then pronounce:

Henry wrote:

I rest my case, m'lud;)

Not much of a case was made, was there.

It does seem though, that there is a general agreement that maybe B&O should have thought beyond the 'dock' because, as has been noted by several people -

do you really want to leave your iPhone ringing away up there, or you desperately need to see if you've received any texts and, of course, all those thousands of aps just sitting there waiting to be used?

B&O just missed the opportunity to be ahead of the game with this 'dock'. Instead they are going to have to catch up quick which means the Beosound 8 will be obsolete if it isn't already.

As I said before, if it's purely to play music then it should have come equipped with a few gigs of memory into which you could load all you music and then go play with your iThingy.

But it's the look of the Beosound 8 that first caught my attention. It does not make my jaw drop. And from the B&O stable, it should.

I didn't know B&O did 'entry level' stuff. That's a bit patronising, isn't it? If you want to experience B&O without the huge outlay buy a used system. I've had quite a few from the Teena and Beolit 702, to the Beocentre 5000 with Beovox S80s. I've owned them so I could have them to hold and handle and gaze upon and to listen to as well. Beautiful designs need to be handled in my opinion.

Despite a few bumps in the road, I like where the discussion is going.

Tomaz, I saw that you added some details to your design in a previous post, specifically that the design maximizes the distance between the two speakers. Taking that a step further I have to wonder whether a "high-end mini-system" isn't a contradiction in terms. 

While there are some great sounding small systems out there, you do seem to pass a threshold beyond which the mere ability to move and separate the speakers allows for a significant improvement. I'd say that this is the case for the BeoSound 8, whose speakers, if detachable, could "stretch their legs" so to speak. 

So, if you're a designer charged with putting together a small system, be it iPod/AirPlay/or whatever-driven, can you really make a single chassis design after a certain investment in the quality of the internal parts without pulling the quality back down? It seems to me that docks and small systems in the cheaper range (say under $500us to be somewhat arbitrary) can sound fine, but as you move toward the $1k mark I find myself wondering how it would sound if I could snap it apart and separate the speakers.

Thoughts?

(I apologize for any straw-men or herrings of any color inadvertently peppered into this post😕)

ojibway wrote:

 

I didn't know B&O did 'entry level' stuff. That's a bit patronising, isn't it? If you want to experience B&O without the huge outlay buy a used system. I've had quite a few from the Teena and Beolit 702, to the Beocentre 5000 with Beovox S80s. I've owned them so I could have them to hold and handle and gaze upon and to listen to as well. Beautiful designs need to be handled in my opinion.

 

B&O have done many systems that could be described as entry level - I certainly don't mean to be patronising though. Some people do not want the power or expense of the top specified system. I, for one, am not likely to invest in Beolab 5s. I like them but I simply would not be able to justify them for the use they would get. I am also unlikely to get a huge TV - 42" is quite enough. After that I would get a projector.

The BV8 could be regarded as an entry level TV, but it still has many of the qualities of the larger sets.

I agree about buying vintage equipment - I have owned a fair amount in my time, though most has been redistributed now! I agree about the handling though. The Beocenter 9500 in particular is not seen at its best till actually touched.