Dear Beoworlders,

It's been a while since I was active on this forum, but I'm back! A couple of years ago I could have opened a thread named bye bye my friend, but at the end I have to say that I probably can't get B&O out of my heart. It's like a disease in a pleasant way and I think it won't cure.

What was the problem back in the days?

Well, I owned a beautifull Beocenter 9500 with a Beolink 7000 and a LX6000 and when I was searching for a update in terms of picture and sound I lost it. Couldn't find the wright speakers and telly for my room in the B&O (price)range and I went out for other a/v gear. It went so fast, and before I knew B&O was totally out of my main room. I had bought a Naim setup with Sonus Faber speakers and a big ass Panasonic plasma. Damn it sounded great and the full hd picture was awsome. I sometimes thought: "why did I buy B&O in the past?". Now it's about 2 years later and the setup still has the same great sound and picture, but the last year there was almost always a feeling that I missed something. It took some months, but last week, when the music was off I knew it for sure, I missed the red stand-by lights and the magic of my shiny B&O setup with his pornographic designed edges and curves! On the same day I took the B&O setup back into my main room and it felt great when I touched the panels again. I thougt: "f*** the audiophile sound, f*** the videophile image, this feeling is why I want B&O back in my life!".

Today I went to my dealer because I had some little problems with my BL7000 and I walked through the shop. It felt like being in love again. Damn B&O, you got me again!

You sir, fit the profile of a man with BeoPassion!

I hope you are back for good!

Now im confused so you've gone back to poor sound and vision quality but hey it looks great? er, OK

Paul Winn:

Now im confused so you've gone back to poor sound and vision quality but hey it looks great? er, OK

No I still have the Naim/Sonus Faber setup, but I also placed the B&O setup back in the main instead of the ceiling. This thread is about getting my B&O love back. The feeling that a/v is not only about picture and sound and numbers. It's also about the feeling and the magic you get when you put the cd in the player, and I missed that feeling.

Hm, same on me, except for the end: a couple of years ago I was obsessed by the design and feeling of B&O. I loved my BS9000, BeoLabs, BeoPort, BeoPlayer, the BeoComs, the remotes, etc. pp.

But after a while, B&O was loosing contact to the actual technical range. In the last few years the design of B&O products wasn't very thrilling. No, it was boring. And technical quality was far behind the status quo.

Even today, there is not one product in their range reaching the design quality of BS 9000 or BS 3000 or BeoCenter 8000. This nearly 20 year old design still fits in todays science fiction movies. To be the most expensive consumer electronics companies of the world (except for the audiophile stuff) can not be a legitimation for a good business model. If I have to pay 20 or 30 K for a TV, I expect the best technical stuff I can get for money, not 3 or 5 year old crap wrapped in uncool philosophy.

Anyway: I still watch the news of B&O, I still use and love my old stuff. And sometimes I wish, they would bring out a new product that knocks me off my feet. What a pity: I hoped, Encore 5 could do. Again I'm disappointed...

You know BeoBird, that it is possible to integrate modern speakers and amplfiers with your beloved B&O. In fact, I have done just that!

My BeoMaster 4500 basically acts as a pre-amplifier only and outputs the power link signal to a Niles amplifier which powers my JBL speakers. If you have a stand alone power amplifier in that system of yours then you could easily do the same with your BeoCenter 9500 and a simple powerlink to RCA adapter cable. Add in a DC trigger on that amp and it will turn on and off just like any BeoLab.

I tried that with a Aaron No. 3 ampflifier, but that was for me the beginning of a non-B&O setup, because it broke the invisible "one-brand line". I think I just have to split the sets into a pure B&O set and a pure a/v set and enjoy them both in the living instead of hiding one away on the ceiling.

Interesting post

I went the same route:
- Video is Pioneer (Kuro TV/AVR) and passive Canton speakers AND Pioneer Kuro + AVR + Beovox 3000 wall mounted in another room.
- Audio is B&O (Beosound 3000 with Beolab 2500 - painted white) with Sonos and ipad 2.
All in the same room.

To get the B&O feeling I have settled for a black Beosystem 7000 and (a soon to be here) Beolab 5000 system of the late 60s/early 70s. Set up in my home office.

I have tried to integrate Belaob with amps of other brands, but it just does not work - there is no of the shelf solution. You can build boxes to use trigger voltage, powerlink etc. but nothing that I could do... even found out about a "here to be named" manufacturer that sells these boxes (for about 500 Euro!!! crazy).

Welcome back!

Ralf

Here's where it gets interesting.

I left out the part about how I also still have a 100% B&O setup as well - in the same space, with the same components! I have two BeoLab 5000s daisychained from my 4500 as well. So, in a way, I have combined two setups. Either way my Beo4 controls it all. I just switch the amps I want to hear on and off I go