2 and 3

Interesting question ... I am lucky to live in a city where there are 3 B&O stores, although at times there have been 4 maybe 5.

They have always been part of the same franchise, or now under B&O control.

So while I am sure the various store staff are "competing" for the same consumer dollar I have always felt comfortable visiting the various "branches".

However the skills and approaches do vary between the "branches".

However to answer the question -- I tend to go to the city story during the week or when I have small purchases, and I go to the suburban store with easier parking over the weekend when I have bigger purchases -- perhaps a bit unfair on the individual sales people.

As noted below I have slowed down my "big" (not big enough says the sales person!) purchases while I have waited for the ML/NL strategy to settle down -- so yes, I am in a bit of a holding pattern right now.  But luckily I do have the main rooms covered -- and to move beyond that needs a break of one fashion or another with the ML past. 

So in the future I would like to buy:

• some lighting controls -- but MLGW is an overkill
• something like an Encore
• something like an Oppo or NAS with strong B&O integration
• maybe a BL14
• some outdoor capability (but for now I will open the french windows and turn up the volume)
• some BL9s or BL5s (I can dream)

But to answer your options:

1) You're happy to do your research online and buy direct from B&O <== not available in Australia

2) The shop assistants are too pushy <== in my experience (now close to 30 years) those who are tend not to last

3) The shop assistants actually know LESS about the product than you do <== clearly true for vintage, and often true for exotic options

4) The stores are all out of date and not attractive enough to tempt you in <== I actually prefer the layout of the older store -- and think the recent addition of concrete BeoPlay plinths is ridiculous

5) You don't buy new any more, it's just not good enough value for money to you <== clearly not true, I think value for money is improving -- but there has been somewhat of an hiatus

6) You'd like to see B&O in a multibrand setting. Less pressure and better comparison with brand X/Y/Z <== the multi-brand stores are useful for visual comparison of TV PQ -- but I have always found their staff less knowledgeable (this is a comment about a Sydney store years ago, Harrods, and Selfridges)

7) You don't actually like your local store! <== I actually like the people ! but I will still say the Newcastle-upon-Tyne store is the best (and that includes comparison with stores in Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Sydney)

Only number 6 strikes a chord with me,there is something a little unsettling about B&O stores that you can’t just have a look around feeling relaxed, not necessarily that the assistants are pushy more the general atmosphere . A bit like the feeling of walking into an exclusive designer clothes store in an exclusive part of town dressed in some old shorts and a t-shirt.

In the U.S. there simply are not enough stores and you can't buy online here. The move away from multi-brand stores was a mistake in my opinion since it took them out of most major markets in this part of the world. I can think of 3 or 4 products off the top of my head that despite me traditionally NOT buying "new" I would likely have purchased on impulse while visiting a B&O store or authorized reseller. Stands, boxes, Beo 6, Playmaker and probably trade-in equipment for the dealers that support it.

In this country, it's actually easier to buy used and buy online than it is to buy new unless you are in one of the few markets they serve. However I was fortunate enough to call a dealer in a city about 400 miles away who actually travels to my area on a regular basis and considers my city his territory. This kind of service could sway me toward more new purchases in the future.

Of course, if B&O makes new products I have no interest in, it doesn't much matter either way.

As an interesting sidenote... Bang and Olufsen is one of the few products I've ever used or followed where the U.S. participation and market actually feels like an afterthought and U.S. members of this site are a minority.

Hi Lee, 

thanks for asking, Here are my 2 cents ;-)

1) You're happy to do your research online and buy direct from B&O

I love to have the store experience but hej I am at beoworld and assume the dealer is barely able to provide me with additional information;-)

2) The shop assistants are too pushy

In Munich they are not, in Nuremberg I have the feeling, therefore I am going to Munic.

3) The shop assistants actually know LESS about the product than you do

Jeah! I am a beoworlder ;-)

4) The stores are all out of date and not attractive enough to tempt you in

No

5) You don't buy new any more, it's just not good enough value for money to you

Well I have moved recently and budget is allocated somewhere else.

6) You'd like to see B&O in a multibrand setting. Less pressure and better comparison with brand X/Y/Z

No need for that, but some dealers seem not be willing to integrate non-Beo into BEO installation. 

7) You don't actually like your local store!

I prefer the "old" local one in Munich above the new local one in Nuremberg 

Well for me the main reason to stop buying is the lack of products that appeal to me rather than any of the points you raised. I started off with Beosound 9000 - the first moment i saw that I was totally hooked on its looks and function. A deeply impressive product in the 1990s that made me drool and made want to empty my bank balance for it. I had a Bs5 for 2 years but I found the wheel irksome and not at all intuitive so i sold it and when that happened it was a domino effect - I then sold my Beolab 5 & 3 speakers as there was no good having speakers but no audio product. The lack of an audio product that appeals to me (i know some love the Bs5) has now made slowly sell off all of my gear. There is little to nothing now that excites me in the current line-up but I know it's a tough time for all including B&0 trying to navigate the digital music era - how do you combine streaming and fantastic design...? I have also been a little frustrated with how slow B&O have been in developing software for their products. All my WMA lossless files that play on my Bs5 couldn't be played on my ipod to work and back everyday (i commute for 3 hours per day) and vice versa. I think B&O are not completely to blame - my BL5 when pushed sounded tinny and the treble could be quite acute and I still felt they sounded too digital with insufficient detail. I recently auditioned a Naim NDS and the clarity and detail into an average pair of B&W loudspeakers overtook the Bs5+BL5 setup by a big margin. The lack of DAC development in the BL5, the lack of DAC being able to handle new 24 bit, 192 KHz high res files, the irksome wheel and the lack of apple lossless incompatibility was the nail in the coffin. I still love B&O, want them to do well and am slowly saving so may be B&O will deliver that killer audio product soon. The dealers were mostly good over the years but in the last 2 years even in them i detected some frustration about the product line up; when dealers start losing faith in their products it's easily apparent.

9 LEE wrote:

5) You don't buy new any more, it's just not good enough value for money to you

This pretty much sums up my buying. I've rarely bought anything 'new', apart from BeoPlay products, for a few years now. I tend to purchase nearly-new, pre-loved and so on. Mostly these items are dealer ex-demo stock and in very good condition, if not mint.

Also, don't forget that B&O kit was designed to last years. That's always been their sales policy. Buy quality, keep quality. Few people need to keep upgrading their speakers, thus most existing B&O customers don't need to buy new kit as often as they might have done in the past. We also know they are struggling to attract brand new customers, which means fewer sales.

My dealer is fine. Although I think it could do with a visual update, the guys are fine, products are fine. No real complaints about the dealership.

9 LEE wrote:

However, the one thing which I find a bit odd (and they find annoying) is the stream of customers coming in on the final days to either buy products in the closing down sale

Sadly that's not odd, it's life. When Comet closed down, I saw threads galore, all over the internet, asking what 'bargains' can be found in their closing down sale. People love to think they've got a bargain, whatever the source of the bargain.

Funny thing is, lots of these threads had complaints - yes complaints - from people saying that the bargains weren't good enough in the Comet sale and people expected better! No discussion on the fact Comet was closing for good, just that they were disappointed they'd gone all the way to their store, to find, perhaps, 20% off.