[Mark]

Millemissen wrote:

Personally I would not need the multiroom/included sources etc functionallity. But making two versions (just a speaker and the multiroom version) probably would not be possible saleswise.

For use with just the Theatre I agree, but as long as Mozart doesn’t introduce problems over a speaker only version I will be ok with it.

My initial viewing of the speaker was a little jarring, but it is really growing on me since it can match up quite nicely with the Theatre and Beolab 18’s.  It will also be easier to place over the Beolab 17’s.  I didn’t think I would be needing it but maybe I do…

[Mark]

Sorry for the multiple posts, but this topic got me to do some thinking!

What if the somewhat affordable Theatre was a problem for B&O.  Like many people who already have B&O speakers and wanted an update to the Beosystem 4, the Theatre was a dream come true, albeit we had to stretch our budget for it quite a bit.  While the Theatre is a stand-alone product you really benefit from additional speakers.  The current offerings by B&O are expensive probably causing much moaning from people in this budget class.  B&O sees a need for smaller satellites but do they want to put out multiple versions to satisfy all budgets?  That could be a logistical nightmare.

Maybe the initial price of the Theatre were for the B&O fans that were willing to stretch their budget for it, and 10-11 months later they figured we got ours.  Now priced $2000 more they are only attracting people who can easily buy the other speakers in their catalog. I have a 5.1 system, could I upgrade to a 7.1 or 9.1 system??? No!

[Mark]

My “fear” is that the new Beolab speaker will be on the Mozart platform just like the Beolab 28.  I purchased the Beolab 18 and 19 with the Theatre over the Beolab 28 because in my mind there is much less to go wrong with them over time.  They are just speakers and much less dependent on software and moving parts.  The Theatre has Mozart, do the rest of the speakers need it?

[Mark]

Which puts the new satellite’s in a similar category to the Beolab 17’s.  I found my old Beolab 17 receipt from November 2015 where I bought them from Abt Electronics because they were a bit cheaper and the total was $5443.91.  I very much love my Beolab 17’s and I don’t find any reason to replace them.  Would 6-8K be outrageous?

[Mark]

Does the European price include taxes?  The US prices don’t include state taxes, and they vary depending on the state.

Edit: Looking at the German website, the price of the gold Beolab 18’s are 8.750 €, which works out to under $9,500 which is lower than the $11.250 US price.

Sorry I initially read it as the European prices were 30% higher, which is not was you wrote.  How much of an increase did the 18’s get in Europe?

 

[Mark]

I may have missed something checking out the new prices but it looks to me that most of the price increases were pretty modest except for their top three products, Beolab 90, Beolab 50, and Beosound Theatre.  It looks like the wood elements of many of their products went up by $100 US.  In general, I wouldn’t say that B&O are targeting the super wealthy across the board, but they realize which target group is most likely to buy their top 3 products no matter the price and adjusted them accordingly.  I probably would pass on the Theatre at today’s price, but I am glad I purchased when I did.  There may be other supply chain issues or something else that cause them to want to make less of those.

I very much expect when they do release their new satellite speaker for the Theatre it will be at an accessible price, seeing the Beolab 18’s only went up $250 US, which can be attributed to inflation.

[Mark]

Maybe not so much a prediction in that it is happening now.  I just came back from the grocery store and many of the prices make my eyes bleed!!!

 

[Mark]

It almost sounds like a prediction that the world-wide economy will continue to get worse, mostly affecting the middle income people buying their top-end products.  To compensate and maintain their profit levels, they need to substantially raise their prices on the flagship products and sell fewer of them to the wealthy because even at their previous pricing there will be a big sales decline.  This is kind of scary, but I can see that.

[Mark]

A couple of weeks ago, my dealer emailed me to let me know that B&O is now offering an exclusive turntable only program.  The wood and the aluminum is customizable to their current finishes: Silver Aluminum, Black Anthracite Aluminum, and Gold Aluminum; Oak Wood, Dark Oak Wood, Light Oak.  It sounds real nice except (for me) the price of $25,000 US.

 

[Mark]

What are you hoping to get out of this turntable/project?  Are you looking for a really good turntable or the experience fixing it, or something else?  They are all valid reasons.  I don’t think I understand the idea of super gluing the cantilever on, but this isn’t my area of expertise.

I hear many complaints of vinyl reproduction, and I have to wonder how much of it could be the quality of the cartridge.

[Mark]

thomash wrote:

For many reasons I wish I were in Danmark to have someone who knows their way around it fix it but that is logistically impossible.

I purchased a Beogram 8002 from someone on eBay which is from Texas.  He specializes in refurbishing Beogram 8000 and 8002.  He tears down the turnable replaces all the capacitors and does everything necessary to bring it up to specs and restore it to “new” condition.  For me the turntable was quite a deal price-wise, and it replaced a Beogram 8002 turntable I also bought from eBay that was nothing but trouble.  I have had no trouble with the new turntable and I can play transparent disks without a mat which surprised me.  I don’t know if he would refurbish  turntables for other people and it probably wouldn’t be cheap.  If you think your turntable is worth the effort and cost I could email him and ask him about it.

[Mark]

It must be bluetooth.  To cast or airplay to it they would have to be on the same network.  If they are that would be a concern unless you gave them your wi-fi password.

If they are using bluetooth to play music through your Core, you should be able to go into Product Settings -> Paired Bluetooth devices, select the device and unpair it.

For a product of the Core age, it is probably Product Settings -> Configure -> Bluetooth -> Removed Paired Devices

 

[Mark]

matador wrote:

I mean aren’t we praising those beogram, appart that they’re beautiful, because we save them from a certain death, because we like to repair them, adjust them, fight with them to bring them to work?

My Beogram 8002 equipped with an SMMC1 cartridge and the MMP3 phono preamp is well worthy of praise, at least in my system.  If I could get a B&O completely refurbished 4002 turntable, minus the B&O preamp, I bet equipped with the SMMC20CL+ cartridge I would be singing its praises every time I use it!

 

[Mark]

Dillen wrote:

This is not the only Bang & Olufsen product currently available on the market. There are many others to choose from. And at many price levels, – for beach or home use. You don’t have to buy any of it, if you don’t want to.

I think there are many B&Ophiles that would love to get turntable but only have eBay as a source to get one, and that’s always risky.  You really have to know how to properly ship a turntable to have any chance it will reach the buyer in working condition, if it is properly working in the first place.  Then the worry is how long their new 40 year old turntable will last. I think there would be a market of people that would actually want to use it, probably not huge, but to see them go at these prices is quite frustrating.

[Mark]

This topic seems to have brought out a lot of emotion out of me!

Millemissen wrote:
“The Beosystem 72-23 is a testament to Bang & Olufsen’s dedication to extending the longevity of products in the consumer electronics industry”, says Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, Head of Product Circularity at Bang & Olufsen.

I am wondering what they mean by this.  Are they saying we saved 100 turntables from the trash heap and we sell them to the rich?

I would like it to mean what Mr10Percent wrote:

Mr10Percent wrote:

Sorry to be negative on this but I’d rather see B&O (or their chosen contractors) advertise for a pay as you go/at cost Deck refurbishment programme (and why stop there – plenty of good loudspeakers and BeoMasters out there with the ability to undertake reproduction components) and have current owners re-generate a second life for these products….rather than what seems the current practice of hoovering up all old decks from eBay and causing massive asset inflation to be ginned-up for a tasteless NY/LA Man-pad that will never really get any use or be enjoyed and savoured.

What is B&O going for here?  Are they looking to become a high-end home decor brand?  Are they hoping to sell these to Hollywood to be used as a set piece in an appartment for a McDonalds employee?

I’m sure the profit on these are incredible.  If they sell 100 of these at £55,000, it probably has a much better bottom line than selling 6111 Beosound A5’s.  But what does this do for the mortal BeoWorlder?

I am lucky that I found a Beogram 8002 on eBay that was refurbished by someone who knows what they are doing.  Its been working fine.  This is my second 8002 purchase, the first was nothing but problems, even after multiple visits to the B&O repair shop.  While it’s not as elegant as the 4002 (series) is does have that nice double-sided tape elegance!

Playing vinyl is an occasional pleasure for me. I have to be in the mood to devote myself to the music for a period of time.  It is a wonderful experience for me.  I often ponder how much I would be willing to spend on a “Beogram 4000c” if they ever became available.  I don’t need an entire vinyl music system, just the turntable, but the original price of about $10,000 US is too high for me.

[Mark]

Sandyb wrote:

indeed – if we look at the price of the 72-22 that came with BL18s, we can probably make an educated guess as to what this (with Bl28s) will be.

I asked my dealer the cost mostly out of curiosity.  It was about 40% more.  Sadly it’s not for me, not after several lifetimes!

 

[Mark]

This is certainly not a tease for those of us that would like a nice and reliable B&O turntable but cannot afford one at the price of a house!

 

[Mark]

Thanks Simon,

I don’t mean to distract from your question, but TrueImage vs Direct in general has been an interest of mine.  I have a 5.1 setup with my Theatre, with 18’s up front and 17’s in the rear on bookcases.  I think the 17’s are a little too high for me to really hear their presence.  I can’t give any opinion on Dolby Atmos.

A while ago I watched Andrew Robinson’s review on the Beosound Theatre.  For him the direct mode for listening to music was better than TrueImage because it fixed a dip in the frequence response, if I recall correctly.  I tried Direct vs TrueImage on my system for music and I preferred the TrueImage.  That made me wonder if I should have preferred the probably more-processed TrueImage over the purer Direct.  For me and my environment the Engineers at B&O provided an improvement with TrueImage.  I really can’t compare my system to someone elses system.

[Mark]

SimonWeir wrote:

why does TrueImage sound different as all settings are at their factory defaults and I have the correct number of speakers, so in practice should be behaving as Direct.

Just out of curiosity, how does each of those settings sound?  I know everyone has different preferences, but does direct sound [much] better than TrueImage, or are they both listenable?

 

[Mark]

I had two Beolab 14’s that was used regularly in a 10.2 setup.  Both subwoofers experienced different problems around the same time. On one a channel was dead and the other would power down after playing for a little while.  Since electronic repairs is not my thing I took it to a Bang & Olufsen repair shop not very close to me.  They tried to get new boards for the subwoofers that are not available any more, and they are unfixable by him.  It’s been about 6 months and I haven’t got them back yet.  I wish I could offer more help but I just wanted to let you know there appears to be problems with the subwoofers now.

[Author]

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