I am asking mysef the same question constantly. Realistically if you can mail a product your OK, so small speaker, beoplay range all a go for me. TVS and large speaker for now a no go for me. Am in Bay area as well and bought from Seattle store which is great, you save taxes

BeoFrederic wrote:

The last store in Bay Area (Palo Alto) just closed.  Perhaps worse, the only B&O repair shop in the area  that I know of (L&M in Daly City) just closed.  It’s now an overnight trip to audition speakers, either in LA or Portland.  I have no idea how I’d get repair work done.

I'm somewhat amused by the fact that, in every email I get from Beoplay there is a store locator.   Why do they want to advertise the fact that, with around a dozen stores remaining in the US, that means that there's 1 store per 25 million population, meaning essentially that there's NO store near you?   Just sayin'..

jk1002 wrote:

I am asking mysef the same question constantly. Realistically if you can mail a product your OK, so small speaker, beoplay range all a go for me. TVS and large speaker for now a no go for me. Am in Bay area as well and bought from Seattle store which is great, you save taxes

I have the same concerns as the original poster, but jk1002 hits the nail on the head for me when I think of buying B&O now. I have one substantial item, a BV11-55. Repair for that (knock on wood) would be a nightmare. But Luckily I'm relatively close to a repair center so not so concerned at the moment. That being said, although I'd love to have a pair of BL5's, BL50s, etc... I am steering clear because of the prospect that servicing them would be terribly difficult in the US.

That being said, I've had nothing but stellar service from B&O in the way of warranty work for my BL20s, so if you're patient, willing to communicate via telephone and email, it's not as bad as one might think it would be. For the most part, B&O really does want to do the right thing for its customers, and at least in my experience, it shows. The US is too large a potential market for B&O to effectively ignore - maybe those are my rose colored glasses speaking.

MediaBobNY wrote:

BeoFrederic wrote:

The last store in Bay Area (Palo Alto) just closed.  Perhaps worse, the only B&O repair shop in the area  that I know of (L&M in Daly City) just closed.  It’s now an overnight trip to audition speakers, either in LA or Portland.  I have no idea how I’d get repair work done.

I'm somewhat amused by the fact that, in every email I get from Beoplay there is a store locator.   Why do they want to advertise the fact that, with around a dozen stores remaining in the US, that means that there's 1 store per 25 million population, meaning essentially that there's NO store near you?   Just sayin'..

Yeah, that always amuses me too. Let's advertise the fact we're a dying niche brand in the US! That'll get us more business! It's like the Underpants Gnomes in South Park:

1. Advertise the fact we have no dealers.

2. ?????

3. Profit!

If the opportunity existed to buy, new, the equipment I have (BS9000, BL9, BL8000, etc.) I would if I was in the market for a new setup. But, given today's B&O, with the lack of dealers, and the current products (overpriced, under-reliable, problematic performance issues, and not as good looking), the answer is no, I'm no longer a B&O customer apparently. Maybe in the future if they get their kit together, but today, not a chance sadly.

Sal wrote:

The US is too large a potential market for B&O to effectively ignore - maybe those are my rose colored glasses speaking.

Well, today it would be your solar eclipse viewing glasses speaking.  But that's not important right now.

Jeff wrote:

Yeah, that always amuses me too. Let's advertise the fact we're a dying niche brand in the US!

I suppose they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.  Not a good situation to be in..

I live in the Denver, CO metro area. The B&O store that I visited for years closed a couple of years ago. Fortunately a new distributor has opened even closer to my home. I thoroughly enjoy my B&O audio system but for additional products I'm relegated to Ebay due to the price of new products.

I think B&O is in danger of becoming with respect to luxury/expensive AV systems what Jaguar (before Ford bought them and improved their QC) was to luxury cars. Hard to be taken seriously if you have significant QC and other issues, Jag's was reliability, B&O seems to have reliability, and QC issues/software issues, etc. of their own they must address if they are to be successful. Losing Netflix, Spotify, other issues, etc.

When Ford took over Jag they asked them to supply Ford engineers with the best XJ off the assembly line they could identify. Ford was horrified when they found that it was almost a half an inch longer on one side of the body than the other.

I have been buying Bang & Olufsen products for over 30 years.  The Beosound 5 which I purchased on the day it was first available is the purchase that caused me to start doubting B&O.  Needless to say I have not quite trusted B&O after that.  However I did buy a pair of Beolab 9s which I do like.  I am going to keep what I have and wait to see what happens.

To me B&O seems to be fading at least in North America.