Beolab 90 end of life - repairs and spares

seethroughyou:

The thought of an unserviceable 137kg speaker sends shivers down my spine!

Beolab 5 are from about 2005 and still being sold new basically unchanged today. My local b&o dealer is still intimately familiar with the 1992 BL8000s.

Other than the accessory line of beoplay their mainline products seem to be well supported IMHO.

BeoLab 1 speakers already have boards that are not available.

STY,

I had to read your post twice. First time, I reached for the defibulator. Feeling better now.

I would look at the following considerations:-

1. B&O maintain the BL90 for +20yrs - which should have been a design criteria given the cost and small production scale. I imagine most of the electronic componentry is bespoke and manufactured as required by hand. Thus I'm sure some entrepreneurial ex-B&O engineer can probably acquire the rights if the BL90 parts are discontinued or if B&O is discontinued.

2. The 6-year warranty as part of the Gold Warranty plan is approx. 9% of their Shop value. That tells me of the risk in terms of what it would cost if anything went wrong (excluding drivers or common OEM parts). Then there is year 7 to 20 or beyond.

3. I'll be posting later in the week on an Beoplay/Beoconnect/XP/Win10/WMA/FLAC/BeoSound5/Essence saga I have been enjoying (not) over this  weekend. Again, history - advancement - move-on etc...

4. At the end of the day, they give me an immense amount of pleasure, you only live once and if someone sets off an EMP, everything is dead anyway. Live once, live hard, live free. (Live with a smaller bank account. Its all fiat paper currency based on confidence and perception only and may be worth absolutely nothing someday soon).

 

Can I ask, how do you know that B&O have promised support for 20+ years?

If I was to spend such a big amount I would... 1) not buy a revision a unit. 2) not buy a demo unit pushed to its limits. 3) be very sure that the money is thrown away and make sure I can enjoy the product as much as I could use the money otherwise. 4) realize that technology breaks down after years. 5) check my insurance for coverage... 6) go for a walk, realize there's always someone who has better speakers, faster cars and bigger houses than me and be happy with what I have .

Cheers

Michael:

If I was to spend such a big amount I would... 1) not buy a revision a unit. 2) not buy a demo unit pushed to its limits. 3) be very sure that the money is thrown away and make sure I can enjoy the product as much as I could use the money otherwise. 4) realize that technology breaks down after years. 5) check my insurance for coverage... 6) go for a walk, realize there's always someone who has better speakers, faster cars and bigger houses than me and be happy with what I have.

 

 

Cheers

A completely rational and well adjusted approach. What are you, some kind of anarchist or Marxist or something!!! That's just crazy talk man!!!

Marx favoured a very middle-upper class lifestyle in his later years here in London. You're right, he wouldn't have gone for the BL90 and my guess is he'd have mostly likely gone for the BL20

Michael:

If I was to spend such a big amount I would... 1) not buy a revision a unit. 2) not buy a demo unit pushed to its limits. 3) be very sure that the money is thrown away and make sure I can enjoy the product as much as I could use the money otherwise. 4) realize that technology breaks down after years. 5) check my insurance for coverage... 6) go for a walk, realize there's always someone who has better speakers, faster cars and bigger houses than me and be happy with what I have . 

Cheers

And then the "Man-maths" take over (Man-maths - the equation that always calculates "I can just afford them if I do a) b) or c)" )

seethroughyou:

Can I ask, how do you know that B&O have promised support for 20+ years?

 

Just a guess.

I would be seriously irked if they had a life of the Encore or perhaps an Android driven TV

seethroughyou:

Marx favoured a very middle-upper class lifestyle in his later years here in London. You're right, he wouldn't have gone for the BL90 and my guess is he'd have mostly likely gone for the BL20

The Beolab of the Proletariat!

Stalin would have gone for BL90s and had all of the other Beolabs shot.

Stalin had an awful taste as I could see in his reconstructed office in his birthtown Gori.

A multiple rocket launcher in WW II was called "Stalinorgel" (Stalin's organ pipes). That is his "musical" legacy ...

Peter the Biker:

Stalin had an awful taste as I could see in his reconstructed office in his birthtown Gori.

A multiple rocket launcher in WW II was called "Stalinorgel" (Stalin's organ pipes). That is his "musical" legacy ...

Maybe he would have used an array of BL8000s then for his organ pipes...

I don't honestly think B&O will stock spares once they end of line it. It's super expensive stocking spare parts and unlike Mercedes who make a mint servicing and selling spares this is not B&O's business focus or forte.

IC and PCBs are custom made and no one would be able to replicate these specialist boards and B&O aren't going to share the codes for their DSP processing as they spent years collecting, analysing and formulating it.

The only hifi companies I know that offer servicing many years or decades later are the ones using discrete components like Naim, Kondo, Burmester, McIntosh etc... If your gold and oil or silver cap needed replacing they'd make it or hold/source it but who in 15 years will know how to copy these complex boards BL90 and programme them properly.

In France we have since 1 year a new law against scheduled EOL to push the providers to tell to the customers  if and how long the spare parts will be available. Although it's only a 1st step as they will not give fines if they don't indicate it, why not just ask B&O and see what will be their answer?