Re: ´My B&O story

Kevin — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 06:26:57 GMT

darioazul:
Very nice! Would kindly post pictures of your set ups, Kevin?
Enjoy,

Dario

Of course I´ll see what I can do next week.

Re: ´My B&O story

darioazul — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:00:31 GMT

Very nice! Would kindly post pictures of your set ups, Kevin?

Enjoy,

Dario

Re: ´My B&O story

mobeyone — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:25:49 GMT

I will have a go at writing one up aswell! Always interesting to read about how we have been introduced to B&O.

Re: ´My B&O story

Kevin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:01:18 GMT

@ Craig Go for it! Your so kind but really it´s about what you want to write you´ve plenty of time to get it how you want it.

@Andy I´d rather you Pm´d me ´cause I´m a control freak really! No it´s really so they don´t all end up on the forum in one go here am I telling the master of thread suspense If we can do one a week I think everyone will get the most out of it.

cheers,

Kevin

Re: ´My B&O story

Craig — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:39:26 GMT

Great story Kevin, Now I am inspired to write one myself. Although I do not think it will be as good as yours.

Craig

Re: ´My B&O story

Jandyt — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:04:46 GMT

Hi Kevin, smashing story mate.
I will make a concerted effort to do mine over the next few days, though I doubt it will be as good, or lengthy as yours!
Would you rather I posted it or PMd it to you?
Trouble with the latter, I don't seem to be able to add a photo' to a PM.

Andy T.

Re: ´My B&O story

Kevin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:17:25 GMT

Look forward to reading it

Good luck with the exams

Re: ´My B&O story

camshaft — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:29:10 GMT

Nice thread. I'll start working on something after my evolutionary bio exam in 2 hours [:'(]

edit: ^ Of course my smileys are the ones that show up broken...

Re: ´My B&O story

Dave Moulton — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:32:56 GMT

Nice!

Best regards,

´My B&O story

Kevin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:48:10 GMT

Hi all,

this will hopefully be the start of a series of threads which will give everyone an idea of how easy it is to get hooked on B&O

I´ve already invited some members to write something which I´ll post in the coming weeks hopefully every Monday evening.

If you feel you would like to put your experiences on paper send me a PM and we´ll include it in the series.

What you write and in what style is up to you (after all it´s your story) though what I´m aiming for is the personal human interest touch.

Please don´t feel excluded because your first language isn´t English happy to help if needed.

So I´ll start off with my offering, happy to answer any questions or to see comments BTW.

Cheers,

Kevin

It was a Saturday, school was finished and I was looking forward to catching the train home but there was still one thing I had time to do before
it went. All week morning and evenings I´d managed to get a glimpse through the shuttered windows and finally there it was a full stack of Philips Hi-Fi all in a deep burnished black with a stunning sound coming from it. This was the Hi-Fi of my dreams.

Over those school years I got to see a variety of Hi-Fi´s, not just in the shops but also in the school where boys who spent 3/4 of their year there had a huge range of different setups. There was everything from the latest Japanese music centers to Ferguson systems with speakers made from orange crates but no B&O. Well I say that, I just wasn´t aware of it and then it was only a glimpse. One of the teachers who took us for History decided to have a study session in his flat (that meant coffee and biscuits!). It was touch control so I think it must have been the BM1900/2400 but the sound was astonishing from such a small system. This was at the time before real miniturisation and serious HI-Fi was was 19" rack.

Television just wasn´t really available (for the individual), three channels and most of it rubbish so music was the mainstay.
The Music listened too was pretty much a three way split: Classical, then the Genesis/ Pink Floyd crowd and Punk! Quite a noise when it all got played full blast. Of course Sham69 played at full volume just improved as the distortion kicked in.

Radio became my favourite listening medium (well it didn´t cost anything) so I spent a lot of time recording onto cassette tapes (mostly TDK which still play well 20 ish years on). The main program was John Peels show which aired late every week day and through the sessions I got to know the Northern Irish music scene (strange that that´s where I would ended up living for almost 20 years) The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers are still all time favourites. Most of this was done on a cassette alarm clock so the quality was pretty rubbish.

The time came to save up for my first "decent" music machine an Akai Boom Box bought on the Tottenham Court Rd in London which did me very well as I went into the Army. Again music was the main entertainment in the barracks (apart from the occasional sherry) and I was able to sample a whole new range of music, Northern Soul, Ska and of course all the latest bands that people had been to see while on leave. We had a lot of Geordies so were the first to hear of the Toy Dolls (you may remember Nelly the Elephant?).

It was while on Leave I had my first close shave with buying B&O. Walking through my home town I passed a dealership which had started to sell B&O and there was the second love of my Hi-Fi life a BC2200

Even better the speakers were part of the package and it had 0% interest for a year, which in those days was a pretty new thing. So I swallowed hard walked into the shop and said I´ll have one of those. Now to be fair to the dealer he did suggest that I buy the BC7000 as it was a better system but it was a bit more expensive. But no I knew what I wanted and hit the first snag which showed how naive I really was about hi finance, I needed to be 21! So off to my Father I went to get him to go down and get his signature on the guarantee. He duly came back with the system which he´d bought for himself. I was devastated!

I went back to Germany from leave and ended up buying a pioneer system which did very well for almost 15 years till the speakers got foam rot. That´s when I remembered the BC2200. After my Father passed away it had an unfortunate life ended with a pint of beer being poured over it and then being shoved in the garage.

I´ve always had a go at fixing things so had a go. That´s when I found Beoworld. To my rescue came Chris and Martin (and of course others) with advice on getting it up and running. It has to be said though that in those days the BC2200 was considered one of B&O´s worst creations the x25 speakers especially, but I loved it to bits and more importantly I was hooked, completely absolutely. Not just with B&O but Beoworld where I´d found a group of people who without self interest were happy to help and advise a new comer.

Reading and learning as I went along I started collecting my first serious system the 5000 set under the understanding and even now watchful eye of my wife It´s come a long way since then. Most of the items I bought as broken and repaired and most aren´t mint but are still a joy to have and own. The youngest item is the families absolute favourite the Avant 28" 50Hz which is hooked up with the BM550o system that is the music mainstay in the house and is linked to other rooms as well.

The music is of course still important, radio is still my listening mainstay with CD´s following a close second but my ultimate listening experience still has to be a glass of something warming in my hand watching the needle of my BM4000 tracking across a favourite LP.

I don´t buy as much as I used to and decided to follow Peter´s long standing advice "Never sell!". The prices of the new and old items are really reflecting the true value of the brand and often put them out of my reach but that doesn´t stop me having the odd punt on an item on Ebay that would be just right. Must have a look and see what´s on offer...................................

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