My dealer says the BS5/BM5 is a must have. . .

He says it's going to be by far the next big thing. . .Also, the BEO5 is supposed to be much more user friendly beginning this November.  He actually told me they had the BEO5 controlling a Rhoomba remote controlled vacuum.  Apparently B&O is going to be more 3rd party friendly..  I also was told that B&O are coming out with a ML/Crestron product to easily incorporate an iPod into and existing ML system.

Anyone else have news about the Chicago meeting?

MJM 

Cool! I was thinking of buying a Roomba vaccum cleaner!

Looks like B&O (or the new CEO) is really starting to listen.

p.

ALL dealers are saying it's the 'must have', primarily as they've not had anything decent - and keenly priced - to sell to B&O customers for the last 12 months.

It's also a device that's been in discussion since....Summer 2007! It's had an extremely long development cycle and B&O still seem hesitant to announce to the public, hence the cloth that covered the product at the recent meeting.

I'll make my initial opinion when we see some decent images, then when we read about the final functionality and, lastly, when I get to use the device in my local store.

For now, I'm more than happy with my £350 Mac Mini media server that streams my audio wirelessly, around the house and is controllable by my iPod Touch, wherever I'm located in the building. Amazing concept, it's a bit of a 'must have', works flawlessly. Costs <£600.

My dealer was excited about the BS5/BM5 as well and ventured a guess at pricing to be about ~$6K.  I'm in agreement though that we'll have to see how it works in practice, especially the BS5 before making a final judgement.  With so much hype and anticipation though, the bar is pretty high.

He did also say that he saw the BeoLab 3 and 2 in white and thought the both looked cool.  While some components I think woudl not look all that great in white, I think the 3's certainly would.  I'll be interested in seeing them in that color in person.

Jeff 

My dealer said the white speakers looked interesting and you now can have a red, white and blue speaker system, good in Texas.  Customers he said always ask for white but then usually buy black or grey to be safe.  The white BS9000 with the alum plate painted white with and blue black side panel just looks goofy he said.  

The Beosound 5 was cool but delivery and price are big questions especially if the dollar continues to slide.  

I am more interested in the more user friendly Beo5, can anyone elaborate on the details? New software? Uncrippled IR? Can the Beo5 finally become the universal remote that brings new customers into the world of B&O? Finally, Mac compatible software?????

Come on B&O release some details.

-Sal

I was informed that the software update and availability of 3rd party product controls would be vastly increased.  My dealer told me that "they made me a believer."  This coming from a guy who literally wouldn't sell me the BEO5 because he knew I'd be sending it back.  

Supposedly the B&O guys are accepting that we all used some type of 3rd party products in our B&O setups.  The word I got was that it would still require a dealer to upgrade the software, etc. However, there would be many more codes to access.

I'm ready for the new software myself as I've just ordered and expect any day my BV9 

Maybe they've bought a database of IR codes and it's been added to the config software...

I am happy to be able to control non AV devices directly from the Beo5, but for AV devices, I think the STB-C is better as it can be accessed from link rooms, and recording can be programmed.

p.