Fantastic article; expresses very well why alot of people love B&O and at the same time have concerns if B&O can make it in this digital age.

The idea behind the design process is very interesting. I am managing a project from product design up to industrialization and this involves alot of balancing between design and technical possibilities/costs. B&O is very clear in this; the balance is owned by the designer!

Bieele 

It's sad to read that David Lewis is not designing more ahead of their time icons such as the BS9000.

Ah the Beosound 2 is such a dud. I'm looking forward to the Serenata to replace it.

I really hope B&O can resolve these problems with design in the new world of technology, and get back up to what they have done a lot of in the past - creating uncanny originality and beauty.

David:

I really hope B&O can resolve these problems with design in the new world of technology, and get back up to what they have done a lot of in the past - creating uncanny originality and beauty.

It's become a lot tougher. Previously, you would have to engineer analog solutions to audio/video challenges. Creating a good, broadcast quality camera, or a mixing console for recording music, was a serious engineering task and it required significant resources in know-how, engineering skills and manufacture.
Once you had your product up it was very difficult to copy by anyone not possessing similar skills and proprietary knowledge.

This meant that the manufacturer enjoyed a period in which they could dominate the market with the excellence of their product. And it meant that the users of the product could enjoy a similar dominance, either as suppliers of a service to customers, or as lovers of high quality audio who wanted the best in their homes.

Today, a lot of functions have "disappeared" into often "off the shelf" solid-state printed cards and circuits and chips, you need a  software package and you're off and running. Instead of a studio filled with a large mixing console, you have two screens with a virtual mixer. You can upgrade easily, with new software and updates -- and being at the edge of the technology requires a completely different skill set.

For Apple, which came from creating computers, making the transition to digital audio and video was a matter of course, having the company  actually lead the transition.

To B&O, coming from an analog approach to the task, relinquishing all that had been achieved in that area was clearly tough going. Little doubt that this is precisely what's required, though. I'd love to have an all-in-one B&O solution that provided me with the best possible digital interaction with my a/v hardware. Until that's available, I'm going to be creating hybrids of B&O, Apple and other equipment -- and I'm willing to sacrifice some ease of use in order to have the best possible performance.

Still, I do hope B&O gets it all together in a neat package. Yesterday I hooked up my Beosystem 6500 with my BeoVision 8, through MasterLink. There's a whole jumble of cables running out of the BeoVision (PC, HDMI, SCART, Powerlink, MasterLink, etc) - but it's all controlled with ease with one Beo4 and one iPod Touch. Nicely illustrating B&O's challenge: I can't move what the Touch does into the Beo4, which means I'm now trying to move what the Beo4 can do into the Touch. I hope B&O beats me to it! 😁
 

Nice response their soundproof and a lot of interesting points and comparisons.

As this topic has already been posted (twice), i have merged it with the other topic(s)

🙂 

It's nearly three years since this Designers Rule article was published about B&O.

Anyone think B&O are moving in the right direction (bearing in mind that this article was published just before the credit crunch took hold!)

Graham

From a dealer's standpoint: Yes, but not fast enough. 

To qualify that a little bit: I'm aware that our relatively small size prevents us from doing anything as fast as a major firm like LG would, but the fact that we build every part of the eco-system means that it's even more crucial that we stay current. Using a newer more versatile cabling structure is great, but if I'm still plugging it into a passive kit with the same capabilities as it had over a decade ago, we haven't moved far enough ahead. 

I expect that in 2 years I'll look back and be satisfied with where we we've ended up, but knowing what's around the corner and still having to work within some of the current limitations can be frustrating at times.