I must confess that although I like the thought of all B&O being made in Struer , the reality has long been that large parts of the products have been bought in and only the final assembly has been in Denmark. All TVs have long been made from Far Eastern parts, much of the electronics are assembled in China, and very little except the alumium originates from Struer.

The Century was of course based around a Philips cassette deck made almost entirely from plastic and based around a twin cassette design, the Dolby chip was made by Sony, and the CD was again made for B&O by Philips.

The Beosound 8 may be assembled in China , but the sound performance is quite fantastic and the circuit design and general form are all B&O. I am still giving serious consideration to getting one, especially with the news that it can be included as a link speaker, via Steve at Sounds Heavenly. The remote may be cheap, but you can use a Beo4, 5 or 6 if you want. The Century was £1150 when last sold and the BS8 will outperform it by a country mile.

Doctor wrote:

I must confess that although I like the thought of all B&O being made in Struer , the reality has long been that large parts of the products have been bought in and only the final assembly has been in Denmark. All TVs have long been made from Far Eastern parts, much of the electronics are assembled in China, and very little except the alumium originates from Struer.

The Century was of course based around a Philips cassette deck made almost entirely from plastic and based around a twin cassette design, the Dolby chip was made by Sony, and the CD was again made for B&O by Philips.

The Beosound 8 may be assembled in China , but the sound performance is quite fantastic and the circuit design and general form are all B&O. I am still giving serious consideration to getting one, especially with the news that it can be included as a link speaker, via Steve at Sounds Heavenly. The remote may be cheap, but you can use a Beo4, 5 or 6 if you want. The Century was £1150 when last sold and the BS8 will outperform it by a country mile.

Agree with this.

While it fits nicely with the brand image to think of "hand fabricated by craftsmen" hand assembly is what actually happens. I've also heard folk speak of hand machined aluminium, whereas the video on site cleearly shows all machining done by CNC machines - in reality the only way to do it and get high quality, repeatable and interchangeable parts. 

The site of assembly does not give any true indication of the quality of design, materials or reliability of the product.

The whole thing sounds like a con to me. Ford Fiesta for Jaguar price anybody?

B&O have been outsourcing at least part of their production for a heck of a long time. Not sure where you would start tbh. Certainly you would be shocked if you knew the truth about B&O's many cd and VCR 'custom clones'.

This company has to survive, and as far as I am concerned innovation is what has always put B&O ahead of the game - quality has always suffered slightly at the introductory end of the market, However the most important feature that this unit offers, that of good sound, does not appear to have suffered one bit, which I couldn't say about some of the systems released in previous years!

If I had the cash I would not even consider where this item was made, as long as I was happy with the end product. Personally I am as happy to see something made in China as I am the UK, Denmark or whereever these days. Doesn't bother me one bit!

Paul Winn wrote:

The whole thing sounds like a con to me. Ford Fiesta for Jaguar price anybody?

But it isn't a Ford Fiesta - it outperforms any other dock. Think Aston Martin Rapide if you will. (Made in austria)

I don't see the problem. Most electronics these days are put together with parts made in Asia, all the way down to the individual cap's on the circuit board.

Some manufacturers then supply their own skins to the innards. In non-B&O A/V it's at times amusing to watch how many manufacturers are using the exact same internal workings, with their designed shell around it.

I bought my BV8 100% aware of where it was made, it still breathes B&O, just as Apple products state their origin, in spite of being made in the same place.

You can specify exactly the quality level you want from China - doesn't seem to bother B&W customers. That company makes everything in China. A friend recently bought a wood day cruiser made in China. It had woodwork and varnish of a quality that you simply do not see any longer, and which was possible precisely because of the standards of excellence combined with low price that China offers.

I'd buy an objection to purchasing something from China because of second thoughts about the regime there - but not when it comes to quality issues.

Paul Winn wrote:

The whole thing sounds like a con to me. Ford Fiesta for Jaguar price anybody?

Sorry Paul, I am not trying to sound offensive but honestly I don't see any concistency in the way you think.

You state that your are very young and that people in your generation are OK with an ipod dock with it low res mp3 quality music and with the parties "playlist style" and I agree with that I like it too, but now the dock sound is not pure enough for you when clearly the BS8 sounds even better than a Zeppelin which is already very good quality sound.

Then you talk about separate trebble and bass control..., but this is an iPod dock. Sorry but that IS a fearture for the bigger leagues systems otherwise you really want a Ford Fiesta with Jaguar features but off course for a Fiesta price. Yeah I want one too 😁

Your remark about Ferrari is wrong also, Ferrari was bought long time ago by Fiat, which as you know, sell affordable cars for the masses. Enzo Ferrari by the way could not care less about their "street cars" for the "stupid rich" it was his source of income for his real passion which was racing.

Aston Martin was bought by an hedge fund and some oil rich arabs. Porsche bought by VW. MOST of the luxury brands are either of the LVMH group (Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Mercier, Moet & Chandon, Givenchy, Tag Heuer, Veuve Cliqot, Fendi, Pucci, Dom Perignon,  Loewe, Givenchy, Hennesy, etc. Hermes was their last target)or Richmont Group (Cartier, Mont Blanc, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, Baume Mercier, IWC, Jaeger LeCoultre, Panerai, Dunhill, Baucheron Constantin, Purdy, Chloe, Alaia, etc.).

As you can see these are lonely and theatening times for a luxury brand without any kind of back up behind.

No I don't like this either but these are facts.

Again in times of the iPod dock you bring the B&O century, yes I like it too but sonically is no match and well sorry but cassettes are long dead. Yes probably those magical doors made me fall in love of B&O when I was a kid but today that's long gone.

Sorry but if what you are looking for in a dock is a Ferrari for the price of a Fiat, it seems that it has not been release yet. The two best are the Zeppelin and the BS8 your choice.

Again this is my opinion. Things are what they are, not what we want. You either like it or not. That is freedom and that is your choice. Again perfection either doesn't exist or is way too expensive...😂

All our BS8 wish list and BS5 wish list at the end of the day are pointless because the product it is what it is and in my humble opinion with all it lacks and flaws and price excesiveness it is still some of the best out there in many aspects: materials, magical features, design, construction quality, warranty etc.

In summary is the BS8 the best possible iPod dock...no. Is the best out there...for me, YES no doubt.( Yeah it could sound better, be cheaper, have masterlink, play CD and come with a Ferrari) but still is pretty awesome.

B&O made in China=Lack of style.

we can talk all the day about what's wrong/right for B&O balance sheet.. but we can't hide from the truth.Lack Of Style.

Period.

BeoFab wrote:

I don't understand. This way of thinking might be true 15 years ago but now Made in China is not neccesarily bad quality.

Doctor wrote:

 

The site of assembly does not give any true indication of the quality of design, materials or reliability of the product.

True. However, the design and materials of the BS8 is mediocre from the start. My impression from playing with the BS8 came out very poor, and that was before I went home, logged on to BeoWorld and learned that it was made in China.

Leo

IMHO Beosound 8  does not have a place in curent line of products. It is very cheap, in the pictures looks ordinary but in reality looks weird.  It is out of proportions. 

I have a lot of B&O products but Beosound 8 will never be part of my collection. . I spent a lot of money on B&O, but if  B&O continue to make products in China and ....., then they have lost me as a client. I remeber I exchanged three  Beosound 4  due to the finger marks on the aluminum part...and two Beo5 remotes

I remember also I had chinese customers that specifically wanted products not made in China...hmmm