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ARCHIVED FORUM -- April 2007 to March 2012
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This is the first Archived Forum which was active between 17th April 2007 and 1st March February 2012

 

Latest post 12-31-2010 12:40 PM by Doctor. 97 replies.
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  • 12-28-2010 3:57 AM

    Beosound 8 and design

    A couple of comments re the Beosound 8

    see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex/5291366933/

    I have been a B&O enthusiast for 40+ years. I have owned a few systems and still do. You'll find that the poster of the Flickr image is too.

    I find the look of the Beosound 8 absolutely awful. I know people are enthusing about it but, just because it's B&O don't make it good!

  • 12-28-2010 4:06 AM In reply to

    • ®
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    It makes me cringe.

  • 12-28-2010 4:08 AM In reply to

    • Electrified
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I agree.

    I think that the BS8 isn't simple enough design wise when you plug an iPad/iPod/iPhone into it. And no matter which iThing you plug into it, it looks proportionally all wrong.

    Add to that, the functionality of the thing. As far as I know, the speakers aren't able to disconnect for imaging purposes. So what you get is a lowly boombox with no functionality of its own.

    Hell, I even don't like the remote. Puck-shaped remotes or mice are evil, lol (I used to have a Mac with such a thing).

    On the other hand, it doesn't look too much out of place in a garage.

     

     

  • 12-28-2010 4:14 AM In reply to

    • Michael
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I find the look of the BeoSound 8 gorgeous.  I suppose for everyone that doesn't like it; there will be someone that does.  And if it gets people talking about B&O, then that's a good thing.

    I think the BS8 appeals to a younger market and is a good halo model for people to enter the brand.  B&O have long been a brand dying for a younger client base. 

    BMW did the same thing with Chris Bangle.  Before all the beautiful flame surfacing, they found that their client base was not changing.  Being controversial bought in new customers.  But the one thing, whether you find bmw design ugly or beautiful, you know what the product is and you discuss it.

  • 12-28-2010 4:34 AM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    Electrified:
    I think that the BS8 isn't simple enough design wise when you plug an iPad/iPod/iPhone into it. And no matter which iThing you plug into it, it looks proportionally all wrong.

    Did you ever see it live? Did you take it into your hands and touch it?I would give it a try and good design is said to need some time...

    Electrified:
    Hell, I even don't like the remote. Puck-shaped remotes or mice are evil, lol

    Did you ever try the remote. It lies perfectly in your hand, not like the puck mouse of the early iMacs!

    I am also not sure if I would buy one, but it is a good statement and should be a starting point for future B&O customers. I think it is necesarry to open the brand to younger customers. And to make another "me to" speakerbox is luckly not the way of B&O.

    Heribert

     

    BeoVision 8-40 / BeoVision 8-32 / Beovision 6-26 / BeoSound 3200 / BeoSound 1 / BeoLab 3 /  Beolab 6000 / Beolab 2000 / Beoport / Beomedia 1 / 3* Beo4 /BeoCom 5 with VOIP

  • 12-28-2010 4:44 AM In reply to

    • Kokomo
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    ojibway:
    I find the look of the Beosound 8 absolutely awful. I know people are enthusing about it but, just because it's B&O don't make it good!

     

    Have to agree, BUT I've only seen it in pictures.

    Suspect that if it carried, for example, the Amstrad name, many Beosound 8 enthusiasts would find its looks hideous!

    Seriously cannot see it going down as a classic design by B&O, but as I'm not a designer I'm probably wrong.

  • 12-28-2010 4:51 AM In reply to

    • Electrified
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    Heribert:

    Electrified:
    I think that the BS8 isn't simple enough design wise when you plug an iPad/iPod/iPhone into it. And no matter which iThing you plug into it, it looks proportionally all wrong.

    Did you ever see it live? Did you take it into your hands and touch it?I would give it a try and good design is said to need some time...

    Yes, I've seen it live. I live in Denmark, so it wasn't hard to lay my hands on.  Yes, good design is said to need some time, but it's a logical fallacy to infer from that, that because something isn't liked from the get-go it must be good design.

    Heribert:
    Did you ever try the remote. It lies perfectly in your hand, not like the puck mouse of the early iMacs!

     

    Yes, I tried that too, and I disliked it just as much as I disliked the puck-mouse from Apple. Of course there are differences. For one thing, the mouse had a wire.

    Heribert:
    I am also not sure if I would buy one, but it is a good statement and should be a starting point for future B&O customers. I think it is necesarry to open the brand to younger customers. And to make another "me to" speakerbox is luckly not the way of B&O.

    But isn't that exactly what they have done: A me-too iPod dock three or five years later than most other companies?

     

  • 12-28-2010 6:44 AM In reply to

    • Alex
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    Personally, I'm a fan. Far more beautiful than any other iPod dock I've seen. Heck even more beautiful than the BeoSound 1 (which I loved), and far, FAR superior to the Century in design (all IMO of course).

    It's one of those real growers, I wasn't sure at first, but having seen it in the flesh a few times, I think it looks absolutely fantastic. Haven't seen it wall-mounted yet, but I'd be quite interested to see one!

     Weekly top artists:                   

  • 12-28-2010 7:27 AM In reply to

    • Henry
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I loved when I first saw a picture of it, loved in when I saw it in the flesh and love it now sitting on a shelf above my bed! Many years ago I had exclusively B&O products and then went away from them. This has brought me back to the brand, so it has performed a function.

    The sound is excellent, better than the Denon tuner with B&O speakers I've had for years in the bedroom.

     

  • 12-28-2010 8:00 AM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I'm not amazed by it.

    The design isn't really what I would expect from B&O. But it doesn't matter if I like it or not, I'm not in need for a iPod dock. Don't have one, and will probably never need one. (maybe in my car)

     

     

    -Andreas

     

    BLab5, BLab5000, BLab8000, BV10, BS9000, BS3, Beo5, Beo4, BLink1000, BLink5000, BLink7000, A2, A8, Form2

     

     

     

  • 12-28-2010 8:19 AM In reply to

    • Puncher
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    bayerische:

    I'm not amazed by it.

    The design isn't really what I would expect from B&O. But it doesn't matter if I like it or not, I'm not in need for a iPod dock. Don't have one, and will probably never need one. (maybe in my car)

     

     

    Trust me - it would look daft on your dashboard and would, most likely, serious restrict vision!Whistle

    Still haven't seen one yet.

    Generally speaking, you aren't learning much if your lips are moving.

  • 12-28-2010 9:00 AM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    Puncher:

    bayerische:

    I'm not amazed by it.

    The design isn't really what I would expect from B&O. But it doesn't matter if I like it or not, I'm not in need for a iPod dock. Don't have one, and will probably never need one. (maybe in my car)

     

     

     

    Trust me - it would look daft on your dashboard and would, most likely, serious restrict vision!Whistle

    Still haven't seen one yet.

    *Hammer to head*

    LaughingLaughingLaughing

    Well I see, I obviously didn't think of that! 

     

    -Andreas

     

    BLab5, BLab5000, BLab8000, BV10, BS9000, BS3, Beo5, Beo4, BLink1000, BLink5000, BLink7000, A2, A8, Form2

     

     

     

  • 12-28-2010 10:24 AM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    bayerische:

    Puncher:

    bayerische:

    I'm not amazed by it.

    The design isn't really what I would expect from B&O. But it doesn't matter if I like it or not, I'm not in need for a iPod dock. Don't have one, and will probably never need one. (maybe in my car)

    Trust me - it would look daft on your dashboard and would, most likely, serious restrict vision!Whistle

    Still haven't seen one yet.

    *Hammer to head*

    LaughingLaughingLaughing

    Well I see, I obviously didn't think of that! 

    LaughingLaughingLaughing Funny, Puncher! I don't have the need for an Ipod dock either, that's probably why I haven't seen one yet.

    Beoworld's twenty-eighth ninth prize winner and fifty-first second prize winner. Best £30 I've ever spent!

  • 12-28-2010 11:10 AM In reply to

    • mjmedlo
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I bought one for my office. . .
    I love it. . I've put the iPad and iPhone on it...

    I prefer the look of the iPad for proportion but the iPhone doesn't look out of place.

    I rather enjoy the look. .it always draws questions which gives me the opportunity to brag on the brand. . which I love.

    And. . .the sound of the thing. .. . . VERY VERY B&O. . .it's got the signature tones that all of my other B&O products have. . .I'm SUPER pleased with it. . .

    MJM 

    I'm ready for something new that I actually want to buy!

  • 12-28-2010 12:28 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    Interesting responses!

    I am a minimalist when it comes to design. But minimalism still requires a degree of aesthetic 'flow' (unless you are from the school of Memphis).

    B&O have been masters of the design process, producing things of great beauty as well as practical. But here they have thrown out all their design aesthetics. Two circles and a line. Oh, and an iPhone thingy balanced on it just like many other iPod/phone docks

  • 12-28-2010 12:52 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    While I agree that you can't equate immediate aversion and good design, it's not a stretch to say that the best things we experience can stump us at first and develop in our thinking over time. Some of my favorite films were initially challenging and took me weeks to assess. I find that I consume most artistic content this way.

    I appreciate the purity of form of the BeoSound 8 and, like many of the best appliances by Apple, Braun, et al. I can't find any extraneous details. Every curve and angle seems to land on its feet. It's the perfect resolution of the design imperative. You have two speakers, which take the form of iconic cones, and a platform for an iPod, which connects them as a simple transom. It's nearly impossible to improve upon.  

    There is scarcely anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey. - John Ruskin

  • 12-28-2010 4:30 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    To reduce things to their basic form is one thing but a circle is a circle. Pure, indeed.

    The easiest part of designing is coming up with the form. The hardest part is getting the details right. I think they started ok but didn't finish the job!

  • 12-28-2010 4:45 PM In reply to

    • Michael
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    henrybennett:
    I loved when I first saw a picture of it, loved in when I saw it in the flesh and love it now sitting on a shelf above my bed!

    What colour did you get? ;-)

  • 12-28-2010 5:02 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I want to see it in the flesh?? If it would be masterlink enabled so can be used as a link room speaker, it would be amazing and also be able to intergrate your itunes into your link system from your ipad pod phone!  Maybe the mk2?

  • 12-28-2010 6:14 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    I've yet to see one close up but the BS8 does not look that attractive to me. That said, I don't believe B&O are aiming it at me. They need to design something to attract the iPod generation. Sure, I have an iPod but to me it is something that supports my audio-visual experience, not that sits at the centre of it. I suspect most of the people that will be attracted to the BS8 would think it crazy to spend €3000 on a pair of speakers that look like organ pipes wedged into a lump of iron (like I did). The BS8 looks a bit odd to me but B&O built their reputation on adventurous design and that means taking a few risks now and again. Some of those risks may become the classics of the future.

  • 12-28-2010 6:20 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    ojibway:

    To reduce things to their basic form is one thing but a circle is a circle. Pure, indeed.

    The easiest part of designing is coming up with the form. The hardest part is getting the details right. I think they started ok but didn't finish the job!

    Out of curiosity, what would you have added? At a certain point you move from design into decoration. What part of the form is unresolved? What's missing? What's extraneous?

    I'd also argue that coming up the form is not easy at all. That's like saying, "the words and the lyrics are easy, it's figuring out whether to play the song on a guitar or a saxophone that's tough." Think of how many great designs, B&O or otherwise, can be done with a quick sketch of the pen and be instantly recognized. That's not an accident. Settling on a elemental form can be very difficult with all the sensory input a designer has to deal with.

    There is scarcely anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey. - John Ruskin

  • 12-28-2010 6:29 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    Let's not fool ourselves. It's not Bang and Olufsen. It's a quick design job that's outsourced and made in China! And no it will not attract a young, affluent customer. They are looking for absolute quality. If you had seen them turning their noses up at the sound quality and that cheap remote in London last week you would have been very worried. I think the whole thing is a joke by Bang and Olufsen to see who of their customers is daft enough to waste all of that money on the thing. And yes, in today's recession, it IS a lot of money!

  • 12-28-2010 6:37 PM In reply to

    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    There is scarcely anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey. - John Ruskin

  • 12-28-2010 6:44 PM In reply to

    • Electrified
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    TripEnglish:

    Yes, facepalm indeed:

     

    TripEnglish:
    Out of curiosity, what would you have added? At a certain point you move from design into decoration. What part of the form is unresolved? What's missing? What's extraneous?

    Hmm, his point wasn't  that something was extraneous, but rather getting the details right. You making a strawman to follow it up with a facepalm really speaks volume.

     

    Anyway, for one, it really doesn't look very streamlined when an iPod, or - horror - and iPad is placed in it. Talk about weird proportions: You have two pretty big circles, pretty close together, you have one small box acting as a bridge, and then you have a huge vertical box sitting smack in the middle of it all at the bottom, but rising above the thing.

    When an iPod/iPhone is attached, the bridge then becomes the focal point, once again giving it weird proportions, that doesn't play together nicely.

    No, the easy part is stripping everything down, the hard part is making the proportions play well together.  For one, they could have made the bridge lower and wider. It wouldn't have been perfect, but at least it wouldn't look quite as mashed together. The legs holding it at the right angle, doesn't really sit well with me either. It reminds me of a plastic ikea kid's chair for some reason. Almost there, but not quite. And that seems to run through the design of the entire product.

     

     

     

  • 12-28-2010 6:44 PM In reply to

    • Russ
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    Re: Beosound 8 and design

    TripEnglish:

    Nice pull Trip!

     

    I was in the shop today and heard a remark made by a shopper that the BS-8 reminded him of the original BeoSystem 2500.  Having stumbled onto this thread, I am forced to agree with that anonymous commenter, and Trip.

    Consider that the singular shock of the 2500's design was to present all of the sources, and the speakers in a direct, visible, self explanatory manner so that anyone with any tech-awareness at all could walk up to it and rather immediately guess its main capabilities.  The signature distinction was, and remains, the vertical orientation of the CD drive, so that it is visible, and moreover apparent.

    Consider now the BS-8 with the 30-pin socket.  What could be more readily apparent?  To Trip's point, what else is needed, or missing?

    We kid because we love.

     

    Bang & Olufsen Tysons Galleria

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