The Beovisions where always high-end in terms of specs and craftmanship, the last being Beovision 11 and the first 4K Avant and beautiful, more beautiful than any other TV on the market.

The audiosystems (except the ultra ugly Moment) where timeless pieces of art, too!
But as much as I love e.g. Beosound 3000 and Beocenter 9000 - they wheren't high-end, not technically and their built quality neither. They where great design and multi-room functionality. Companies like Sony can and have build much higher built quality. Devices that are built like a tank and work for decades. Just check out things like an old Sony CDP-XA50 CD-Player... it's build quality is 20 times higher than a Beosound 3000. Or check out some high end brands like Accuphase or T+A etc. and touch and test these devices and you know what exceptional quality feels and sounds like.I don't know if B&O did those things but they should have went shopping, buy a few of those great competitor devices, dismantle them and learn from them, too. This is e.g. very common in the automobile industry. The Beosound 3000 stood out in design terms and that's what we love B&O for! Oh, and the kids love a Beosound 3000 much more than standard hifi components. On the third birthday of my daughter all the kids stood in a crowd in front of my Beosound 3000 and waved their hand in front of it to open the doors at least 60 times more than B&Os quality testing facility in struer does. 😁


Let's hope B&O wakes up, fires his top management, invests in and hires more great people like Geoff to get the company back on track.

Learn from Lee and other successful people here on the forum how to run a business the right way.

Duels wrote:

Whilst I agree the TVs are very expensive (for me at least) and the software issues have been horrendous, TVs still represent around 30% of B&Os sales. So there must be a market there. Speakers on the other hand represent 13%. (For completeness,Play is more than 40%)

Just to add my best wishes in as well - I actually think it a great idea. It will be good to have a retailer where there is a choice between handpicked products. I deviated from B&O to a very slight extent by replacing a beolab passive with a Linn power amp - difference is huge and it drives my M100's fantastically - but, I couldn't hear it or compare it anywhere - so a choice would be most welcome - hoping that you stock second life products from Linn, Quad, Naim etc. etc. high end but affordable.

elephant wrote:

And if this article is a predictor then the 30% may be under threat... or maybe (hopefully) that demographic will be dropping cheap TVs for no TVs leaving only the high ground to be battled for ?

And this article highlights another problem with B&O making television the centrepiece of their strategy

Duels wrote:

Fair point. But it leaves Loewe in an even worse position as TVs are pretty much all of their business.

To be fair, the TV market is nothing like it was, simply as people do not need to upgrade so frequently. There were huge panel updates, even in the space of a few months, a few years ago.I remember how much of a difference there was between a BV7-40 MK2 and MK3 and then the MKIV was a big step up again etc etc. Those days have gone. Not many people really *need* 4K. I can watch a Blu-ray movie and still wowed by the video/audio experience. I can watch football in HD and I don't sit there thinking "this would be so much better in 4K".

Sure, OLED is a jump up from LCD, but for most people, their current TV is superb. My BV12-65 still looks fantastic and it's years old now. I'm in less of a rush to 'upgrade' than I've been in the past. OLED is still a luxury purchase, even for Samsung TV purchasers.

9 LEE wrote:

AdamS wrote:

As to Loewe, I always viewed them as purveyors of cut-price B&O copies. Looks like I might have had things the wrong way round! 😕

I can't see that happening.

What B&O do is pure craftsmanship when it comes to construction of their products.  Ultra-premium everything.  This costs a lot of money - not to buy, but to produce.  The intricate details B&O pursue to make their products so special are incredible. Not as if their marketing departments say anything.. it's some kind of secret, I assume.

I don't think Loewe are even interested in this. They're looking for the middle ground, where it's better made and much nicer looking than mass-market - at a price most people can afford.  Back to my BMW 7-Series vs Rolls Royce Phantom analogy.

I think there's a gaping hole in the market for somewhere between Ultra-Premium and Mass-Market - but that's just my opinion.

Lee

Hi Lee,

An interesting read. 

As you will (hopefully!) recall, in my real life guise as David from King Street (2000 onwards) I was around with B&O in various roles from the early 90's until 2010.  

The decision not to go with your approved pre-owned scheme was an error, imo.

B&O HQ has always been an odd mix of excellent and very insular - do you recall the Beoworld event at King Street (one of the earliest prize draws was done 'live' on the night)...   This was the cause of endless 'discussion' afterwards.  As was the fact we didn't hide our association with you ( and A.N. Other reseller !!) when considering the second hand market.   The jaded comparison to car dealers is valid - they pragmatically embrace the used market.  B&O UK simply never did.

I also fully agree with your description of the quality of design/build behind the products - even the cheaper ones.  Astonishing and yet oddly underplayed in the PR that I see (what little of it there is to see).   

I can fully understand your decision - and I agree with your analysis of B&O as a UK distribution company - and your admiration of Steve Dev, one of the all-time good guys as far as I am concerned.  That said, my old stomping ground at King Street seems to be doing well and I notice they just had a major refit ( Ian is a genuinely nice person and will go the extra mile for every customer, so I'm not surprised).

I don't read these pages as much as I used to - sometimes skimming through without logging in, for old times sake really - and I only logged in today to get an idea about fixing a 'farty' Beolab 6000, but having read your initial post, maybe a decent S/H pair is the answer, rather than an £80 drive unit.

I hope the change works out for you.  

All the best, DJ.