I am currently returning (by train) from the annual shareholders meeting at Bang & Olufsen in Struer. Christian and I went there together with a friend, Brian (a fellow economist and B&o lover).

 

The day started early, by train from Copenhagen central station at 7.50. We arrived at Struer train station at 12.20, so we had plenty of time to discuss B&o's situation, equipment and life in general. After a short stop at the local pizza-house, we stated looking for a cab to take us to the Farm. None were in sight, but shuttle-busses from B&O drove from the Struer Museum and the Farm, fortunately it picked us up.

 

At the Farm 3 cars were lined up, the Aston Martin DBS, the usual Audi A8 and an Audi A4. Inside Jens Peter Zinck gave a nice presentation of the Automotive business area, he made some jokes about young people (us) spending heavily on alloy wheels and other assesories, but expensive audiosystems for cars were not available until b&o entered the marked (the point were a bit misplaced, since the wheels on my 1984 WV Polo are the original steel rims and very rusty, and Brian and Christian don't own a car).

 

After the presentation it was time to look at some cars. The Aston was the most sought after and only had room for one listener, so we opted for the classic A8, and as always, we were impressed. Don't ever consider buying an Audi without the sound system.

 

We just had time for a quick tour around the concept shop and the beoliving installation before we went to Struer Museeum by bus. Christian had already been there and guided us brilliantly around the exposition. All the pictures will be on a Google gallery when I return home to a faster internet connection, so be patient.

 

Most interesting was that we got to play with a Beolink 7000 (I had never seen one of those up close) and a AV 9000 television with the mechanical curtain in front of the picture tube.

 

A full Beosystem 8000 was very interesting to see too, and they also had a white Beomaster 6000 (4 channel) and a white Beomaster 3000 (the early version). All in all very impressive.

 

The annual shareholders meeting was held in the gymnasium of Struer High School, in the foyer a white Beovision 9 (only the speaker cloth was white, and a white pair of Beolab 9s, and a Beovision 9000, the finish on the 9000 didn't look up to standards, but it was probably a prototype.

 

Worming guided the meeting precisely and promptly. Some remarks were made by a shareholder about the incentive package given to the managing directors, but unless you are into Corporate Governance, I'll spare you for the details. Worming stressed B&O's dedication to making audio/visual products, and that product launches had to come more often in the future. The most interesting part was the presentation of next year's new products. The Beosound 5 was covered by a cloth on the picture we were shown, but a rectangular shape in one end and a half-circle could be seen in the other end. We also saw a picture of the new bigger Beovision 4 with a Beolab 10 below, the speaker looked very small mounted below such a massive 100'inch television. We will also see a 40 inch Beovision 8 (looks nice) and a much anticipated Beovision 7-40 with blue-ray. Worming told, that B&O had misunderstood the marked and waited too long before introducing bigger bv8s. A 26 inch screen is not big enough anymore.

 

Well, that is all for now I hope you enjoy. Revisions and additions will be made later on, and I'll upload pictures when I return to a faster internet connection

 

Best regards

Chr.

The pics are in the investors presentation, uploaded tonight.

Thanks for the informative post Chr! would be interested in seeing the pics, but I don't see them in the investors presentation on the official site Beofan, am I looking in the wrong place?

Robert. 

Thanks for this, Christian,

Andy T.

I am currently uploading my photos to Google, using a 3G card, but it only works in build up areas, a bit tiresom...

here you go: http://picasaweb.google.dk/christianhaagerup/BOGeneralforsamling26Sept2008?authkey=uJh_Oy9TcQg#

 Enjoy

Chr.

http://picasaweb.google.dk/christianhaagerup/BOGeneralforsamling26Sept2008?authkey=uJh_Oy9TcQg#

you might have to copy paste the adress into a browser...

Presentation, select the pdf file generalforsamling (general meeting)

Excellent photos, love the touch on the 9000 with the limited numbers and the AV9000 even today still looks as good as it did when it was launched.

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks ChrDH for the fabulous report and the pics. Your my hero of the day!

Well, what do the others think about the news in winter-wonder-land aka the white wave? For me at least the white bv9 looks fine, but the remaining items, I don´t know... Bl9 is so-so in my eyes, the black stripes are kind of disturbing. Would have been much better in an all-white version, like the white bv8. But the biggest disappointment is the white bs9000 to me. The model looks -pardon me- patched up like in a hurry. Why they simply painted the alu-part white, is beyond my understandig. Wouldn´t it have been much better to let the metal be classic brushed alu and paint the black door white and do the plastic back housing in white too? That would have been really stylish... But this? The blueish-black laquer of the striped black front door doesn´t match the white alu-board at all. Seems to be like a panic reaction on dropping sales. Just one word on  "B&O had misunderstood the market". They didn´t misunderstood, they simply didn´t hear to their customers. They were just arrogantly trying to complete their line-up in a way of "buy it or leave us alone" and trying to sell cheap, small screens for a premium. Not to mention the dvb-t disaster aka the neverending story of digital freeview the danish way. So they got what they deserved. Let´s hope for better times.

 

Kind regards, beoberlin 

It looks like the BS5 is attached to the floor panel on the right side. I am still hoping one can take it off and use it as a 2 way remote. Since the Beomaster will house everything to play the media anything else wouldn't make much sense to me.

Thanks for the great pictures. I somewhat like the Beolab 9 in white.

Thanks for the info! Looking forward to see the pictures.

Fantastic photo's Christian. You are a star! Thanks again.

Andy T.

Christian,

 

What was the purpose of the Beosound 6 on the side of the Beovision 4 screen?  Great info.

 

Thanks 

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/UserFiles/File/Investors/BO_Beretning0708_Final_Web_UK.pdf

 

Transcript is up. Again they stress how the Beosound 5 is important for them. I so hope they are not messing this up.

My dealer told me today that the next issue of Beobrief (Magazine from B&O Scandinavia) brings an article with BS5. It´s released in week 42. Looking forward to that and some pictures. I was a little disappointed that the generalmeeting didn´t reveal much.

I like the idea of a larger BV8, but I would have also liked to have heard something about a new, larger BV7.  I'm fairly indifferent about the Blu-Ray drive on a 40" TV - heck, I'm fairly indifferent about a Blu-Ray drive on any TV.  What I'd like, though, is a larger LCD panel from B&O.  Has anyone heard rumors of a 46" or 50" LCD from B&O?

 

Nice pics

(the classic items could have been taken on location in Andy T's lounge )

expoman:

Christian,

 

What was the purpose of the Beosound 6 on the side of the Beovision 4 screen?  Great info.

 

Thanks 

I think the purpose of the BeoSound 6 is simply to deliver music to the eating area of the museum. You cannot see it on the picture, but behind the BeoVision 4 there is a mixer for audio, and I guess that all the BeoLab 4's in the area is connected to this mixer. It seemed that the BS6 was connected to the mixer.

Christian >> Thanks for a nice recap of a great day.

Beofan2 >> I am also dissapointed that we did not see a BeoSound 5 in the flesh. Cannot wait anymore, but I have to...

WOW!!!!! Amazing pics!

 

The white BL9's? OH YEAH - NICE. Thanks so much for posting it , that would've been a fun day!  

 

Umm did anyone notice the picture of the BV4_65 on a B&o floor stand? Madness! 

The BeoSound 9000 had a red button, indicating that it was a mk I edition. Maybe this was a redecorated mk I, or maybe the main switch is returning?

The red button is also visible on picture 89.

BS5?

Do we know the dimensions? and what if the top two promo photos here are of the beomaster and the third is of the beosound?

 

Dave it´s not the BV4-65 but BV4-103!