I caught the BeoVirus more than 20 years ago, and first bought audio products until I had enough money to buy my first BeoVision, a white MX 6000 with a BeoCord VX 7000, all on a motor stand.

Later it was replaced with an Avant 32 VTR when B&O went widescreen, then came BV3-32 when flat screens came out, then a Beocenter 1 for the guest room, then finally a BV7-32 DVD 3 years ago.

6 months ago, a friend of mine gave me a professional 50' Fujitsu plasma TV, and since then, I couldn't do with smaller screens, so BV8/10/7 in 40' were not an option.

My next TV had to be at least 50 inches, which in B&O world meant a BV7-55 or BV9/BV4. All costing between EUR 15-20,000.That is a lot of money.

About 3 weeks ago I visited the ex-B&O shop (there is no more B&O dealer on my island), and came across a Loewe Individual Compose 52' that I bought after 1 night of hesitation. Only one night, some might say..Why?

- the TV cost me twice less than a BeoVision, for a similar screen size

- it has a 3-year warranty, instead of 2, which, in my case, was crucial since there is no more B&O dealer in the area anyway

- it has the electronic curtain, motor stand, built-in DVB-HD for T/C/S, PLUS 2 USB sockets and an Ethernet connection to link it to my computer network and USB keys. This enables me to play ALL my video files & pictures directly on the TV with the same remote control: no BeoMedia, no BeoMaster 5, no need to copy all files to another drive, just a single cable..

- the picture quality is outstanding, the sound goes to existing 5.1 BeoLabs via phono plugs.

- I still use the Beo4 to replace the original remote, thanks to a Lintronic converter.

In other words, there were more pros than cons in my case, the only downside being the finish quality at the back (glossy plastic that scratches easily, and you see the Samsung logos all over behind the grille!!), that's all I could find.

What I hadn't realized until I visited the ex B&O shop was how much expensive B&O had become, and after feeling a bit guilty of "having turned to the dark side", I came to another conclusion: the money saved on the BeoVision allowed me to buy more B&O products than first planned!

I think you should have looked at the discount pricing on a later model BV9...if I was in this situation.

Barry

Chris I hear you, and sort of thinking about the same thing lately...

Inevitably I'm going to get hungry on the HD hysteria.

I love my BV5, but it's a SD television, that's not exactly getting any younger. Being a model with only analog video inputs it's a pain to connect anything to it! Last thing I tried was a Mac Mini, got it to work eventually, but it left a bad taste in my mouth, so I got rid of the MM.

Integration is of course amazing if used all components from B&O, and how to sort out the surround sound properly with a non B&O tv?

Used or demo BV9 are priced at about 15K euro here in Finland, and that's for a HD version, not Full-HD! Of course the B&O dealership will never get this thing sold at this price, but obviously they think they will, since it's already been for sale at this price for 2+ years.... 

bayerische:

Used or demo BV9 are priced at about 15K euro here in Finland, and that's for a HD version, not Full-HD!

Take a boat trip over to Stockholm, where it will cost you 10k € for a full HD BV9.

Surround sound is easy to solve. The Loewe tv has DD onboard. Simply connect the B&O speakers with a special cable and you are ready! This combined with all the other extra's that Loewe has to offer makes it rather difficult not to to go for it! I heard that the latest models are all based on LED technology instead of the "old" LCD technique and are several 100 euro's cheaper than their predecessors............

Indeed the Loewe TV has an adaptor to output 5.1 sound to BeoLabs with phono plugs (I use BeoLab 3s front/rear with the Powerlink-phono adaptor). The biggest concern for me was Beo4 use, but with the Lintronic converter it is pure delight.

Now with the money saved, I'll probably buy a BeoLab 11 to replace the B&W subwoofer hidden under the bed + a BeoLab 3500 for the bathroom.

Personally I'd go for a BL2000 for the bathroom... :-)

Yeah the new 55" loewe indi slim looks awesome, less then 5 grand, it has built in wireless network card, going to get freeview Hd built in, built in hard disk, 400hz screen, Led, sat tuners,

whats really interesting is after speaking to one of there sales people there going to have Iplayer workin on it later in the year and capability to browse the web.

The Loewe sound interesting indeed!

But in my case, how exactly goes the connections? I use BL5's as fronts, connected via coaxial digital to BS9000 and powerlink to the BV5.

Done this with a loewe referance.

Connected his lab5's via phono to the break out cable supplied with the loewe, then connected lab 5's together with the sync cable to keep them in sync.

The 9000 had a 5 pin din to phono out connected to the aux in and this was then connected via phono to the audio in on the tv.

on the newer indi slims they dont have phono in but  3.5mm jack.

to control it all I used the top end loewe learning remote to learn the codes for lab 5's and 9000 and away we went.

hope this makes sense

regards

Chris

Kokane81:

Done this with a loewe referance.

Connected his lab5's via phono to the break out cable supplied with the loewe, then connected lab 5's together with the sync cable to keep them in sync.

The 9000 had a 5 pin din to phono out connected to the aux in and this was then connected via phono to the audio in on the tv.

on the newer indi slims they dont have phono in but  3.5mm jack.

to control it all I used the top end loewe learning remote to learn the codes for lab 5's and 9000 and away we went.

hope this makes sense

 

regards

Chris

Well since I want to run my speakers without sync, since sync doesn't work in the earliest models!!! Amazingly....

So I'm sunning at the moment spdif from Beosound 9000 to BL5, and powerlink from BL 5 to BV5.... So how will my system be intact? Can I somehow use a powerlink cable that's "Y" connected to the Loewe with an adaptor and connects on one cable both BS9000, Loewe TV and BL5? Or am I out on deep water now?