This is something to get Flappo and Co foaming at the mouth!  I rang a Melbourne dealer today to ask the price of a pair of A8 headphones as my son had managed to break his second pair. I was told Aus$215.  The dealer then said that there was going to be a price increase on July 1st to Aus$250 !!!  That is a 16% increase at a time when the Aus dollar is racing ahead against the pound and US Dollar and is stable against the Euro.  There cannot be any justification for this increase and if it is the usual July across the board price rise involving other products I can see some serious buyer resistance getting a further head of steam.  At present I am considering replacing my Avant with a BV-7 40 inch but have been put off by recent posts about its poor value etc. In fact these posts have been very negative about B & O and very depressing for someone who has invested a lot of money in the brand.  I just hope the new CEO can put a stop to this madness.  I currently have a large, well integrated system around my house.  I can see in a few years this may fall apart as I introduce better value products.  I must say I am disappointed with B & O if they continue to screw customers like this.  Cliff

Well the price increase in important. i also head the same from a member living in Japan, regarding a Beosound 1.
 As for the TV, I agree too, the BV7 is not worth the money yet, meantime you can have something that is of a good value looking for Loewe or Sony.
My mother just bought the upcoming Sony Bravia KDL 46W4000 (LCD Full HD 1080p with TNT HD tuner). I know it's Sony, but I recognize it's worth it.
In my case at this time, I would go for Loewe Individual Compose ( LCD-TNT LCD 46'' Full HD), even if the design is not so beautiful as the BV7.

Cheers,

Guy 

 

The price issue is becoming a real issue for B&O nowadays, perhaps the new ceo can make a positive change......

But if you own a beautifull avant [a RF version I presume?] I would not trade it for a BV7 [and certainly not for a sony e.g] imho not worth the investment and with a sony 4eg you will loose integration as well as the good looks.

Perhaps in the future when standards [LCD=allready old or Plasma= about to get overhauled by Oled= perhaps allready in the near future replaced by laser?] are certain to stay for a longer period, you can improve your A/V setup worthwile.

clifft:

This is something to get Flappo and Co foaming at the mouth!  I rang a Melbourne dealer today to ask the price of a pair of A8 headphones as my son had managed to break his second pair. I was told Aus$215.  The dealer then said that there was going to be a price increase on July 1st to Aus$250 !!!  That is a 16% increase at a time when the Aus dollar is racing ahead against the pound and US Dollar and is stable against the Euro.  There cannot be any justification for this increase and if it is the usual July across the board price rise involving other products I can see some serious buyer resistance getting a further head of steam.  At present I am considering replacing my Avant with a BV-7 40 inch but have been put off by recent posts about its poor value etc. In fact these posts have been very negative about B & O and very depressing for someone who has invested a lot of money in the brand.  I just hope the new CEO can put a stop to this madness.  I currently have a large, well integrated system around my house.  I can see in a few years this may fall apart as I introduce better value products.  I must say I am disappointed with B & O if they continue to screw customers like this.  Cliff

The new CEO is not going to make much difference- one individual whos ex[ertise is in marketing cant change the world that is B&O

Things have changed though and by December comming to a store near you will be the new B&O. It really depends how management handle the new product pricing as to success in the marketplace.

I suspect that some B&O customers wont be happy but there you go!

I agree with beologisch about not selling your Avant, as I would not trade my avant for anything else before I find something worth to spend money.

Guy 

 

Normal workers have not enought money to buy B&O anymore.  B&O are history for me ! What a shame..

the founders of bang , olufsen made the products for everyone. But it seems bnO will sell it sproducts in future only to mega rich russians and arabs. :(

At a higher range price can be very irrelevant assumed that technology is up to date or there is an upgrade path. B&O recently lost sight in integrating technical  innovations:

The rebadged MP 3 players Beosound 3 is an example for a dull product. How many buyers of B&O plasma TV's were disappointed to hear that their 14.000 € Beovision 5 is not upgradeable for HD ? The DVD 2 without the ability to record from digital sources. Terminating two-way remote controls was also a big step backward. 

If B&O want's to play successful in the high-price area they should  concentrate on integrated home entertainment solutions with high quality standards and upgrade paths. Beosystem 3 is a very good example. 

i was recently seriously thinking of upgrading the front room tv from an avant to the bv9

unfortunately i was put off after finding that the inbuilt hd recorder can only record the channel you are watching

so a tv costing £12,000 is incapable of recording one channel and watching another  !!???

vhs in 1980 had that capability !! 

this is what i mean when i call bno's current efforts technologically stone age 

Hi guys.

I was in a melbourne dealership yesterday auditioning a pair of lab 5's which I was planning on getting by the end of the year. Well true to form I was informed of a price increase of july with the labs increasing from 27k to 30kish.

Every year i go back the delear informs me of another price hike.

Ouch

J 

 

Hi,

Agree with your sentiment on all fronts. The question is what will happen from here?

Are you back in Aus yet?...

Perhaps its a good time for the next B&O dinner...

Beoaus.

Somehowe, it seems Bang & Olufsen is still not back on planet earth. For me it is not an AV-brand anymore but a rich and famous toy factory.

I cannot take them seriously any longer. The value for money fact fades away year by year.

As long as they don't seem to reailise that theire televisions must be lowererd in price instead of going up. I think it will be over for them in a few years time.

I think I'll put off replacing the Avant for quite a while!!  Hopefully by that time things might be more realistic (he says hopefully) or B & O will have lost another customer.  Cliff

 they probably put the increases down to r&d costs

putting a silver frame on a panasonic plasma must be a real technological achievement for the bno team.. 

bno need more technicians and less designers

it's the entire look and feel of a product

they concentrate too much on the 'look' and not enough on how stupid you 'feel' when you've blown all your dough on something that's outdated as soon as you take it home

 

:) 

AUD 30K is around £14K or more here, far too expensive for me.

However, it's supply and demand guys. If people are prepared to keep buying, B&O will be able to raise the prices. Indeed, for some people, these price increases just make the products seem more 'exclusive' to some.

It's same with watches. Panerai watches receive a price rise every year. These price rises are way beyond inflation. It's been rumoured that they are increasing prices again this year, twice in one year. Now the same watch that was 'only' £1500 a year and a half ago, is now £2700. However, people are still buying and this why Panerai are able to put up the prices - the demand meets their supply.

Only a few days ago a couple of AU Beoworld forum users stated that the AU retailers are now some of the most profitable and successful. So....there's a reason why B&O are increasing prices. Think about it - if the AU stores are working well and people are buying, they can increase the prices and people will still buy.

We may moan all day long, but until customers stop walking in to those AU stores, they won't start dropping prices...

 

Flappo The Grate:

they concentrate too much on the 'look' and not enough on how stupid you 'feel' when you've blown all your dough on something that's outdated as soon as you take it home

One person's strong opinion obviously isn't changing the way B&O are selling products in AU. As I said above, only a few days ago some AU Beoworld forum members were saying that the AU stores were now some of the most successful and profitable in the world.

Flappo The Grate:

 they probably put the increases down to r&d costs

putting a silver frame on a panasonic plasma must be a real technological achievement for the bno team.. 

bno need more technicians and less designers

it's the entire look and feel of a product

they concentrate too much on the 'look' and not enough on how stupid you 'feel' when you've blown all your dough on something that's outdated as soon as you take it home

 

They should FIRE mr. Lewis and kick the whole mangement team out of Denmark !!!

 I know this sounds hard, but Lewis has got his best time and now it's time to move on...

I really don't have the B&O feeling when I see the products of the last 2-4 years like the Beolab 9, Beolab 10, Beosound 6,Beovision 8 and the redesigned/screwed up Beovisions 4 and 9 (the old ones were beautifull). The image and the sound is great, but they just don't look like B&O, and especially not like components worth thousands of euro's.

These days I just can't find a reason to buy B&O .

 

Well I do think the prices are reaching the statosphere but having said that.... I will probably still get a pair of lab5s as there is no second hand market for such items and they are to die for... with amazing sound quality... so what choice do I have? As for other items... i will stick to the second hand market (I purchased some lab8000s and a beosound 9000 over a year ago) or.... bypass bno altogether ... for example- their tvs are just too expensive for what you get. Sure they are lovely but not too the degree of the price differential over other nice tvs like pioneer... so I will vote with my wallet!

Cheers

J 

Beobird:

 9, Beolab 10, Beosound 6,Beovision 8 and the redesigned/screwed up Beovisions 4 and 9 (the old ones were beautifull). The image and the sound is great, but they just don't look like B&O, and especially not like components worth thousands of euro's.

 

 

Im sharing the same opion. Especially the BL9 and the BV 8 doesnt looks expensive. Theyre looking cheap ! After 15 years people still talking about the BL8K but nobody talks about this cheap looking BL9.

Alex:

Beobird:

 9, Beolab 10, Beosound 6,Beovision 8 and the redesigned/screwed up Beovisions 4 and 9 (the old ones were beautifull). The image and the sound is great, but they just don't look like B&O, and especially not like components worth thousands of euro's.

 

 

Im sharing the same opion. Especially the BL9 and the BV 8 doesnt looks expensive. Theyre looking cheap ! After 15 years people still talking about the BL8K but nobody talks about this cheap looking BL9.

Not agree at all. I had the same impression the first time I saw both, BV8 and BL9, and end up buying them for their looks and sound quality (BL9). For their amazing sound they are not expensive to me. That I can say of the BL4 but not BL9s.

 

Beobird:

They should FIRE mr. Lewis and kick the whole mangement team out of Denmark !!!

I know this sounds hard, but Lewis has got his best time and now it's time to move on...

I really don't have the B&O feeling when I see the products of the last 2-4 years like the Beolab 9, Beolab 10, Beosound 6,Beovision 8 and the redesigned/screwed up Beovisions 4 and 9 (the old ones were beautifull). The image and the sound is great, but they just don't look like B&O, and especially not like components worth thousands of euro's. These days I just can't find a reason to buy B&O .

Just a couple of points.

David Lewis is an independent design shop. He does not pitch-up once a month and say "hey guys, got a great idea for a music centre or a mono portable radio with an SD slot" B&O ask him to design a "package" for an engineering product that someone in B&O decides thye need in their product portfolio. He goes away, folds some cardboard and hey presto, the B&O project team decide which one of the "packages" concepts fits their needs the best.

The BV4's and their reframing is again probably the Marketings Dept cheap way to spruce-up a TV range that has always been overshadowed by the BV5 and 7. They are simply "reframing". What more can one possibly to the BV4 in terms of packaging without encroaching on the BV5/7 segment? Again I doubt it is Lewis going "Guess what folks,....smoked some weed last night, had great visions, got a great idea for the BV4....."

The fact that the BL5 and BL9 look "cheap" is subjective. However, once could simply look at it as cost-effective economical packaging with good electronics inside. Both loudspeakers we could argue offer good value for money in being technically advanced (and world leading) and that the money is spent on the acoustics. The opposite could be true of say the BL4000/6000/8000 where most of the money is spent on the package rather than the sound. Ask B&O fans which they prefer for looksand the 8000 will always come top. Ask audiophiles which they prefer and they will say the BL8000 is all style and no substance. They will remember the BL5 and 9 in the long run.

One could argue that B&O have been very good with two of the three main electronic disciplines of Audio/Visual/Loudspeakers. In the Jenson days there were good TV's and Stereos with "average" loudspeakers. Today, one could argue there are excellent loudspeakers, good audio and average TV's. I am certain in the years to come we will see more product reversals with better TV's and Audio. Who knows, in a few years time the BL5 and BL9 could be seen as only "average"

In essence, there is nothing wrong with David Lewis' designs. One could argue (as it is a matter of personal taste) that his designs are/were more adventurous than JJ's who in my mind made endless nice little boxes and wedges. JJ could also have the same accusation now levelled at Lewis levelled at him in that it appears that he made the same things over and over again rather than the more realistic approach in that he was told to re-polish the same i.e. BS5000/5500/6000/6500/7000 by the marketing people. It was in fact the engineers who were the un-sung heroes of B&O of the JJ era and those are what we now need in the DL era and beyond.

Finally, one could argue as to what the new CEO will do. Is he going market B&O up or do what is really needed and bring in the new young engineers.

 

10%

 

 

 

Nice reply and a good story (especially the "weed" part ).

I guess it's a bit personal like you said, but I do like the lab 5 instead of the 9. The 5 looks more expensive and stylisch (because of the alumium circles) and it sounds really really good. The 9 showed on the photo from BeoBeo looks good too and I know it sounds good too, but I would prefer the lab 5 or another non-B&O speaker for more pleasure for the eyes . 

 btw, this is how a B&O setup should look like . It's a setup of one of our members but I forgot his name .

Compare the new 2005-2008 stuff to the old B&O components (on the photo) and you will agree that the new designs are just rubbish... 

Beobird:

Nice reply and a good story (especially the "weed" part ).

I guess it's a bit personal like you said, but I do like the lab 5 instead of the 9. The 5 looks more expensive and stylisch (because of the alumium circles) and it sounds really really good. The 9 showed on the photo from BeoBeo looks good too and I know it sounds good too, but I would prefer the lab 5 or another non-B&O speaker for more pleasure for the eyes . 

 btw, this is how a B&O setup should look like . It's a setup of one of our members but I forgot his name .

Compare the new 2005-2008 stuff to the old B&O components (on the photo) and you will agree that the new stuff is just rubbish... 

Beautiful set up. I fully agree the BL5 beat the BL9 in every aspect.

However, you post this stuning picture and call for David Lewis to be fired?? Don't quite get it.

No no don't get me wrong, he did a very great job between 1990-2004, but now it's time to move on, especially when I look at the "new" designs. Compare a new range setup (bl 9's arround, new bv4 with bl10 at the front) to the showed photo. The image and the sound of the new setup will be much better, but the pleasure for the eyes is probably 50% less...

i've always been a rabid jacob jensen fan , imo lewis' stuff is dull and lacks jj's magical genius , with jj it was not just what you saw , it was the extra depth - the hidden features - like the brushed aluminium flaps hiding all the secondary controls on the old beocentres , beomasters and beocords

i'd bring jj back asap or his spiritual successor - who could that be ?

 maybe jonathon ive is available freelance !!?? 

 

what in the current range stands anywhere near jj's best !??

 

nothing !!!