For me it's a double edged sword and I'll explain why...

The design and thought into design of a select group for me. When I see the BV10 or 11 I fall in love, the Ouverture made the brand younger for me as a child back in 1991, the BeoSystem 5000 in 1984 was to me just amazing, the CX50 so cute, the Beolab 6000 and 8000 iconic.

BUT, to me, their longevity and parts are absolutely appalling. The PLAY which can't be repaired in the long run, my Century that has always had electric door problems, a tape deck that died after 3 years and now a dead CD player, a DVD1 that skips more discs than an excited child skipping in a playground and the rather unexciting sound of my A8 iPhone dock and lifeless A8 earphones. Reading through brochures of their before my first purchase showed how well the electric door had been made and how durable their designs are. I realised they were nothing but dishonest salesmen! Panasonic/Technics for me lasted 10+ years of heavy heavy heavy use and I really expected B&O products to do just as well. For me, I'm terrified to ever buy into the brand because I know that its longevity is probably limited and this is often proven when I read this forum. Just look at the people who waste their precious short life trying to get that Moment to function properly! I guess it's an Emperors New Clothes kind of company. I just feel that their products are not very well sourced but at the end of the day, everyone is free to spend their money as they please. For me, I have to have something that causes no stress in my life.

Design, materials, simplicity, sound and picture quality, one remote, integration - I know of no other company that makes so much effort to support and integrate older products into new systems and networks. The joy of having music playing all over the house on equipment that is nearly 30 years old when everyone else is messing around with sonos and everything else.

Design aside, it's all about integration. I can connect a 30 year-old record player (Beogram 8000) to a 20 year-old stereo-system (Beosystem 7000) and integrate it with a semi-modern TV (Avant) + speakers and control it all from one remote. There are arguably better stereos, speakers, record decks, TVs, etc. out there, but how do you make them all work together so that the total value is greater than the sum of the individual components?

ThijsSchippers wrote:

Hey!

I’m a student at the and I’m working on a paper on Bang and Olufsen for my Master’s in Strategic Design. The brand isn’t doing that great at the moment and I’m trying to figure out how they can improve.

I’d love to get some input from you,  Bang and Olufsen fans, about what a B&O product means to you!

What makes you guys choose a Bang & Olufsen device?

 

I would say it choose me. That seems a bit more accurate since I got into it back in 2003 on a serious level that got more deeper and deeper as the years goes by.

But it happend and one day things changed. 3 weeks later and I had my first complete Beosystem 2000 '80s with B&O attyca stand. It was a nice waste of space and it looked great while the sound was good. 

Then deeper into the virus and by 2015 we get by. 

When things feel right they do and the world of HIFI does not even matter anymore. You got B&O and HIFI you can make a choice and B&O did it for me.

It was not just black boring boxes just like any other products. Once serviced right it does not seem to go out of fashion in the sound. You can take your pick of any products and it will surprice you how great it really is and everything that went into producing it. 

In a world that has thanks to the internet brought out a lot of cynical and fake vibes + words such as scam etc. B&O is the real deal since they started out way back in western part of Denmark. No it was made for the love of it which many people outside B&O ownership never seem to understand.

You are into the love of it or outside in the world called HIFI wondering about that snob brand that has high cost for any product they sell.