Thank you for sharing your experience and your impressions. Very interesting to learn.

I do not understand B&O’s «obsession» with this Gold Tone. Yes, it is a warm tone but it is not as bullett-proof as the natural aluminium that is more neutral and that therefore blends more easily in different environments - in my view. With the Level it is slightly more flexible but I still feel it becomes slightly odd if you get the natural aluminium version with the black backside panel but also want the oak. I’d prefer a Bronze, Anthracite frame with the Smoked Oak and Walnut covers for the future.

In any case, it is interesting how you’ve shifted your use case :). I’m sure the A9 still gives a stellar performance while you can also enjoy a second stage. You still have the Beolink multiroom feature available.

I am a little bit surprised that your dealer was so surprised about the availability of the Balance in the Bespoke program. I am equally surprised that this is not mentioned on the Bespoke page on the B&O website, for that matter. When I enquired about the Balance through my dealer, the Bespoke page was not yet online actually, so I simply started a conversation with my dealer. As he wasn’t aware, he had no more effort to make than send an email to B&O Denmark Sales, referring to my email which also contained Bespoke-related questions regarding the H95 and Beosound Level. In their response Denmark explained that:

- doing a one-off H95 would cost too much so they could not accept my concept

- the Level was in high demand for standard options too, which had a bigger priority, and for that reason they had to put this on ice but they offered to communicate this to their design team and consider including the Level for later

- the Balance was feasible based on my preferences, slthough with two minor adjustments

So that’s how I have also learned that the Balance was included. I suppose it really comes down to feasibility in terms of parts, design choices, production timeline and priorities, etc.

The A9 has a bass capability of 95 dB compared to the 88 dB of a single Balance. So even a single A9 should match a pair of Balance when it comes to bass reproduction. 

The Balance will go louder than the A9, but the bass capability is less. 

As a pair of Balances and a single A9 is closely matched when it comes to bass, I would suspect than room acoustics will play a significant role, unless you test with the Balances placed right next to each other (and that is not a very likely use case). 

I haven't heard back from my dealer as to whether or not Balance Bespoke is available in the US. I'll drop him a line and see what he found out. 

Csaba wrote:

I do not understand B&O’s «obsession» with this Gold Tone.

I think this right here is my biggest problem with not just the Balance right now, but the direction B&O seem to be moving. Everything is gold. Maybe it's incredibly popular, but I hate it. I definitely would still have my Balances if they were available in Bronze, which I love. 

I wonder - was the Bronze tone not a big enough success? Because I think almost everything they offer in Bronze looks fantastic. 

BeoCom 1401 wrote:

I had a very strange and unexpected weekend, and it all started with a little curiosity about the Bespoke program. 

That's way too much to read! 😁

All I'll say is, I miss my A9. Stupidly sold it a few years ago when moving house and it's the best standalone B&O speaker I've owned and quite a few people have commented the same. It just has complete audio balance and power. My BeoSound 2, Balance, Edge nor Level get close in so many ways.

Obviously the big downside of the A9 is the size. You need a bit of space to use it properly, where as a Balance will sit happily on a chest of drawers or similar.

I really liked the Contrast version of the A9. Wish it were a standard option. Or if they brought it back with a little tweak. I do agree regarding the size though. I think that for the space it occupies the Balance delivers quite a lot.

BeoCom 1401 wrote:

Csaba wrote:

I do not understand B&O’s «obsession» with this Gold Tone.

 

I think this right here is my biggest problem with not just the Balance right now, but the direction B&O seem to be moving. Everything is gold. Maybe it's incredibly popular, but I hate it. I definitely would still have my Balances if they were available in Bronze, which I love. 

I wonder - was the Bronze tone not a big enough success? Because I think almost everything they offer in Bronze looks fantastic. 

Yes, it is a bit of a mystery to me, the Gold Tone strategy. Almost like making the Brass finish the number one standard finish. I do hope the Balance, Level and Emerge will also come in Bronze and Anthracite with walnut some day.

I do not think the Gold Tone is too harsh or vivid in general, but it is simply not the tone I would go for. In fact, I would go for Black, Dark Gray/Anthracite, Silver and Bronze (of the already known options) before I would even consider Gold or Brass. I understand that some prefer the latter but I cannot see how they are in the majority.

The problem becomes perhaps that since B&O doesn't offer nicer options yet (speaking of Balance, Level and Emerge mainly), and while customers are buying Gold Tone like crazy compared to "black" because they are limited to those two standard options, B&O cannot know how much better non-existing options would sell.

But about your point, I do agree some more Bronze would be fantastic! It would be fantastic if B&O also offered some other new colours that are not gold. What I am also kind of missing more of in the line-up is different types of blue. Light blue, cloud, air or sapphire or whatever they want to call it. Or blacks with different surface treatment. Matte or high-gloss like piano black or brushed. I suppose that's the point where they start evaluating how limited a colour should be. As far as I know they always put a lot of effort into identifying colours that work. But based on what criteria really, I do not know.

I agree with the weak color options on the Balance right now. 

I've been considering buying a pair (or at least starting with one, to eventually grow into a pair).  I think if they were offered in a color scheme I love, I'd have already clicked the "buy" button.  I pretty much agree with BeoCom's review of the colors.  Then again, there's still units available in the US at the old price so I'm wavering.  Do I buy the boring black at the old price and save some money, or do I wait and see if there's any new color schemes released that I prefer (and pay the new price + whatever extra they decide to charge for the special color)?  I do wonder if the black design was an attempt to attract traditional speaker buyers since black grills with black simulated wood is pretty popular among the monkey coffins.   

Not sure if I'm willing to do a bespoke - these will be in my office so design is important, but not *that* important.  If I was putting them in a main living area, I might step up to that.  I'd really like to see a smoked oak version like the stage.  Then again, if they charge $500 more for it, maybe not.  I hate compromising on significant purchases because somewhere down the line I find myself questioning the compromise because it's costly to undo (sell your speakers at a decent loss so you can re-buy them in the color you really want? - better to have just waited... but what if they never release the color you want?).  Oh decisions, decisions... 

My dealer got back to me that Balance isn’t available for Bespoke in the US. Strange, to say the least.