jahur wrote:

is there any other products out there, that even come close to bang and olufsen in sound and vision. design i know is a big no no. they are in a leauge of their own.

This is such a subjective matter, particularly as far as design is concerned.  However, here's a view.

If we are looking at a company that manufactures whole sound systems rather than just one individual element in the chain -  in other words like B&O - then I would have to put a word in for Meridian Audio.  

Still run by the original founders of the company, again, like B&O two passionate individuals who came together to create something special, I think it comes closest to matching B&O in being design-led, whilst offering, across the product range, at least excellent and often exceptional sound quality.  Their CD players are outstanding sources, the Sooloos digital musical storage is arguably more capable than the Beosound/Beomaster 5 and the bigger DSP speakers especially the 8000s give the Beolab 5  real competition in the top-end active loudspeaker stakes.  Indeed, like B&O they have been exclusively committed to active loudspeakers for many years. 

Here's s link

some real pukka replies on this thread! but £25k kin' ell, thats some cost and that must take some beating! im really b&o ingrained since the 80's. the beocentre 2002 inspired me i would love to own another along with the beovox sx25's, what a system!!!

i have to agree the mc'intosh did look very awesome and powerful in the "departed". i have this weird obsession looking out for a b&o system in all films/programs i watch. am i alone???????????

Just for S&G, I'll throw my bit in.  If B&O did not exist, this is what I would be looking for:

A Nakamichi BX-300 cassette deck

Any Linn turntable with any tonearm and cartridge

A PS Audio 4.6 preamp

A Phase Linear 400 power amplifier

A decent analog tuner from anyone - who cares, I rarely listen to the radio, but sometimes that's the only way to get a sporting event

And the topper:  Dahlquist DQ-10 loudspeakers

B&O are a lifestyle brand with continuity. I have owned the products for 40 years and continue to upadate regularly. They have helped define my lifestyle and delivered products that live up to very high expectations. I have found no other provider that has the same full-line offerings, superior design, and superb integration and functionality.

@ evan- 50k?????/ yowzer! superb replies on here! its really good you see you mixing it and tweaking, what really is bizarre i would feel if i was to change my system i would be letting bang and olufsen down and would feel a traitor! i couldnt see myself owning anything else. would be like driving a bentley and having to drive an old jalopy! it just isnt cricket my friends!

Not only is it mono, but if buy such a setup, you're pretty much tied into old-school passive speaker design. Something that is inferior to properly designed active setups.

I wouldn't touch a passive setup with a ten feet pole, anymore than I would buy a reel-to-reel or turntable for it's audio quality (well, I actually do have a Tivoli Radio, but that's another matter).

The problem I see, is that you'd be hard pressed to find active speakers as wife friendly and good sounding as the BL9s and BL5s. Even if price were no object.  I simply can't find it anywhere. To me, there's the choice of B&O audio monitors or professional audio monitors. The latters aren't really wife friendly (nor friendly to my own eyes).

But this where you want to spend the big bucks: Active speakers. Not passive setups, not "powered" (i.e. passive design with an inbuilt amplifier) speaker. It's been more than three decades since passive speakers was considered a valid alternative in the quest for high fidelity.

Mackintosh is really not the place to invest your money. It's as ridiculous as paying thousands for signal and speaker cables. It just doesn't make any sense.

Source-wise, well, that's more or less up to you and how you (want to) go about it.

Edit:

Here are some classic looking two-way active speakers. I have the former model and use them as near field monitors. They're good and cheap (relatively speaking to BL9s). They're just over £1100 including shipping, and you can choose to have them in walnut, cherry, rosewood, black piano lacquer, or white piano lacquer :

Evan wrote:

A passive setup is a perfectly respectable way to listen.

 

 

I agree with you, active is superior but it is not necessary to plainly discount the passive method.

+1

Of the high-end systems I've listened to which have really blown me away, most of them have actually been passive. Active as a principle is better, but passive systems are still capable of amazing results.

Most mastering studios still seem to use passive setups...