Barry Santini wrote:

B&O has moved on. Perhaps so should we.

This remark toubled me, honestly. It troubles me mainly because you’re most probably right, but I do not know if we draw the same conclusions as a consequence. I bought two BeoLab 5 new from a B&O dealer nearly ten years ago and I certainly would do the same again now as I just do not see any challenging new speaker from any company or from B&O themselves.

And exactly this is the troubling part. If B&O would be unknown to me and just recently came into my attention I think without any doubt that the BeoLab 5 would still be their best speaker for my needs. I absolutely cannot imagine any investement in any wireless technology besides Wi-Fi as Bluetooth already is from its range point of wiew some sort of bag of hurt. The transmission wavelengths in question are extremely overpopulated by endless sorts of devices and protocols mainly in big cities and every new standard equals new kinds of troubles. I never used anything else than cables for non moving items and just do not see the necessity of a wireless transmission protocol for objects being heavier than 60 kilograms. They still need cables for electricity, so what?

And while the BeoLab 90 might be an impressive sounding speaker it follows quite the opposite concept of the BeoLab 5. Those two speakers just cannot target the same buyers. The BeoLab 5 is using a symbiotic design approach to amalgamate with its impressive sound capacities while the BeoLab 90 is mainly disguising its functionality with tissue and plywood. It is completely out of question for my aesthetic criteria to invest in such a concept, which is incredibly different to what B&O did during the past couple of decades. This might be interesting for new buyers coming from different backgrounds but it might alienize those who loved B&O for their design concept until the David Lewis era. One could also say that the BeoLab 90 delivers the best available design for High End fanatics while the BeoLab 5 delivers the best available sound for design fanatics.

Whatever the BeoLab 90 might influence is most certainly not anylonger made for me. They indeed moved on but some of us might not follow them anymore.

I remember the BL5's upsetting an awful lot of people on the forum because of its form. It is/was a non-column sculpture that produces a very exquisite sound and when placed either side of a modern 55 or 75inch TV screen - actually looks demur and compact despite being OTT in terms of built-in specification.

The BL90 is by any measure a large loudspeaker and has a significant set of OTT acoustical features - again just like the ground-breaking BL5's. I am sure that B&O have/will be moving away from the ALT technology with their next generation of loudspeakers simply because they have honed the BL90 technology be able to do "more" than the ALT technology. They will be able to appeal to those who want either/or/ both active and passive listening (having previously excluded that Active listening "Billy-no-mates" on all previous models).

As well as the Play range, I think B&O knows that part of its survival also lies in moving more towards the acoustic "upmarket" or audiophile market so the BL90 technology could offer flexibility to both the audiophile as well as the traditional B&O customer. It knows that today - although many of its products retain an innate design elegance above and beyond the mainstream competitors, it cannot keep pumping-out more of the same as the cut-price competition will finally kill it with good looks, good sound and being half the price. It has to start making remarkable sound that will turn those who have previously refused to accept it.

In terms of the looks of the BL90 or any future off-spring/derivative, I'm sure that 10 years from now, we will all be revering its shape and function - just like we are doing right now with the BL5.

David Andel wrote:

This remark toubled me, honestly. It troubles me mainly because you’re most probably right, but I do not know if we draw the same conclusions as a consequence. I bought two BeoLab 5 new from a B&O dealer nearly ten years ago and I certainly would do the same again now as I just do not see any challenging new speaker from any company or from B&O themselves.

And exactly this is the troubling part. If B&O would be unknown to me and just recently came into my attention I think without any doubt that the BeoLab 5 would still be their best speaker for my needs. I absolutely cannot imagine any investement in any wireless technology besides Wi-Fi as Bluetooth already is from its range point of wiew some sort of bag of hurt. The transmission wavelengths in question are extremely overpopulated by endless sorts of devices and protocols mainly in big cities and every new standard equals new kinds of troubles. I never used anything else than cables for non moving items and just do not see the necessity of a wireless transmission protocol for objects being heavier than 60 kilograms. They still need cables for electricity, so what?

And while the BeoLab 90 might be an impressive sounding speaker it follows quite the opposite concept of the BeoLab 5. Those two speakers just cannot target the same buyers. The BeoLab 5 is using a symbiotic design approach to amalgamate with its impressive sound capacities while the BeoLab 90 is mainly disguising its functionality with tissue and plywood. It is completely out of question for my aesthetic criteria to invest in such a concept, which is incredibly different to what B&O did during the past couple of decades. This might be interesting for new buyers coming from different backgrounds but it might alienize those who loved B&O for their design concept until the David Lewis era. One could also say that the BeoLab 90 delivers the best available design for High End fanatics while the BeoLab 5 delivers the best available sound for design fanatics.

Whatever the BeoLab 90 might influence is most certainly not anylonger made for me. They indeed moved on but some of us might not follow them anymore.

David Andel wrote:

...

And while the BeoLab 90 might be an impressive sounding speaker it follows quite the opposite concept of the BeoLab 5. Those two speakers just cannot target the same buyers. The BeoLab 5 is using a symbiotic design approach to amalgamate with its impressive sound capacities while the BeoLab 90 is mainly disguising its functionality with tissue and plywood. It is completely out of question for my aesthetic criteria to invest in such a concept, which is incredibly different to what B&O did during the past couple of decades. This might be interesting for new buyers coming from different backgrounds but it might alienize those who loved B&O for their design concept until the David Lewis era. One could also say that the BeoLab 90 delivers the best available design for High End fanatics while the BeoLab 5 delivers the best available sound for design fanatics.

...

I also agree. This was a very well thought out, interesting and well presented post. Thanks and please keep posting as I am considering a BL5 purchase to replace my BL9s as fronts. I would not buy new, but I am happy to buy second hand at the right price and age would not be a consideration unless forum users suggested something significant for me to consider that might affect my purchase decision? I am drawn to them for looks more than sound. Sound wise the BL9s are more than good enough for me. The question would be what other speakers to buy along with the BL5s to provide an all round good 7.1 experience when watching movies?

I was also going to replace my BV9 but only with an OLED screen and now that we know its 2017 for B&O I'll be putting off until then.

Simon.

I'm on board with most of the comments in this thread. If I had the space, I'd wouldn't hesitate to purchase a 2nd life / demo pair of BL5. Though, I'd prefer to buy used through a dealer for warranty purposes anyway, so that cranks up the 2nd hand price quite a bit. 

I am going to go to a demonstration of the Beolab 90 soon.  I know I  probably won't buy Beolab 90 due to the price and simply because it is too big for my condo, However I am hoping for Bang and Olufsen to introduce new speakers that have some of the same technology in the Beolab 90s but on a smaller scale.

B&O is essentially becoming a loudspeaker company especially after the outsourcing of TVs to LG electronics.  There will probably be a greater range of products in the Beoplay line.  We will see what happens but change is coming.

The BeoLab5's are one of the few loudspeakers I have had the priviledge to hear that really made the music come alive and sound so natural.

The first thing I ever heard on the 5's was;

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/mahler-symphony-no-2-25

God love B&O, it took my breath away!

The only thing that would put me off buying BeoLab5 today is that they are surely nearing end of production and as such they may suffer the same fate as the BeoLab1s, in that some spare parts are no longer available. Unfortunately, that may render a broken Blab5 useless unless you happen to know an electronic repair guru (unfortunately now very rare).

StUrrock wrote:

The only thing that would put me off buying BeoLab5 today is that they are surely nearing end of production and as such they may suffer the same fate as the BeoLab1s, in that some spare parts are no longer available. Unfortunately, that may render a broken Blab5 useless unless you happen to know an electronic repair guru (unfortunately now very rare).