negative!!!

The competition is intense.

New Play products are available at discounts everywhere: Costco have a big range with special discounts on many items. Why would a regular dealer logically stock Play products? 

I think B&O are going to continue to shrink in size, including specialist stores. They once had  the USP of beautiful design in a world of rectangular boxes, even if the acoustic performance was often less than that of some high -end competitors. Now the competition has improved designs whilst B&O has moved to the likes of the Moment.

Graham

Struggling to think of the last thing they released that I lusted after!

Also, given the rate at which the low end Beoplay stuff is released and then forgotten I suspect there is very little B&O engineering input and the lack of a Beoplay "design language" or compatibility of features means that it doesn't even encourage a user to expand a system beyond a single purchase whereas there are certainly single purchases that would prevent a user buying more!

Fantastic post Puncher, I'm not a native speaker so I can't be that eloquent. :)

But I'll summarize my feedback on B&O by using a quote from AbFab: "I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things"

Nicer = finished, technologically uptodate, a bit visionary. Current TV lineup certainly fails to tick these boxes. On the other hand, Beosound Shape might be a very positive example (I hope).

Puncher wrote:

Struggling to think of the last thing they released that I lusted after!

Agree 100%

Puncher wrote:

Struggling to think of the last thing they released that I lusted after!

Also, given the rate at which the low end Beoplay stuff is released and then forgotten I suspect there is very little B&O engineering input and the lack of a Beoplay "design language" or compatibility of features means that it doesn't even encourage a user to expand a system beyond a single purchase whereas there are certainly single purchases that would prevent a user buying more!

Same here. Last product I truly lusted after were the BL5s. Come to think of it, the last product I truly said "I have to own that!" I bought, the BS9000.

Saying "retail stores are dying" is whistling past the graveyard IMO. For products like B&O, high end audio/video items, no one buys that either sight/sound unseen via the web, and most people won't feel comfortable with someone hauling in a product to their home for various reasons (might damage your home, don't want to feel obligated to buy). B&O used to do pretty well with having their gear sold by other dealers in addition to their usual lines, but look around. How many higher end audio/video dealers are there? And even then it was hit and miss, when I got my BS9000/BL8000 setup the big audio/video retailer did a horrible job. I complained to B&O several times, wound up with some swag from them, and right after the went with B&O only stores. Seems the B&O only stores don't work, and selling in other AV stores doesn't either. They face quite a marketing dilemma.

As for s/w based products, B&O has a litany of some pretty serious product failures recently. Play products and others with network issues that just are inexcusable, bad s/w, TVs that don't live up to full 4K HDR standards, losing apps like Netflix and Spotify. I can understand how they got in this position, I believe many of the products were rushed out the door long before they were ready, as in order to try and sell the company or appeal to investors they had to show a refreshing of the product line. While it appears to have done the trick, at least in the short term, for investment attractiveness, it has paid poor dividends with the buying public and their reputation for a quality product. If I'd just bought a brand spanking new BV14 to enjoy 4k and then was told, well, no Netflix app, here's a free Apple TV which, by the way, won't stream 4K, I'd be pretty angry.

Given B&Os history with s/w development, them bringing it back "in house" doesn't exactly fill me with confidence I'm afraid.

So, I voted negative, as much as it pains me to do so. I love the history of B&O, the fact so many of their items are in MOMA and such, the focus on good sound AND good design, but lately I'm not encouraged by what I see. I would like for them to succeed, but have my doubts.

I agree that most of the newer products from B&O/BeoPlay are compromised, cloth-clad, wireless devices intended for mobile millennials. Gone is the era of ultra-modern slim designs in polished aluminum and glass. That all seemed to die with David Lewis, who I believe was the heart and soul of Bang & Olufsen as we knew it. Like one of the other members who posted here indicated, the BeoLab 5 speakers were among the last of these iconic products. I just purchased a pair, believing that they will become highly collectible and difficult to find at reasonable prices. Now if I can find a nice BeoLab 11 and a BeoVision 7-40 Mk 6, my B&O collecting days will come to an end. Ah, the good 'ole days!