BeoWorld North America

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Piaf — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:11:20 GMT

In all fairness, ANY company must compete on the world scene…. whether it is reasonable or not.

Sony is a very large corporation which makes exceptional products. I have one of their “boom boxes” from the late eighties which has spent a lot of time outside…. on the Florida beach, in the sun, and used extensively….. yet all functions: CD, Cassette, AM/FM, and remote all function like new.

McIntosh and Linn are not really large companies and any comparison to them, is MORE than fair. While Linn did not do anything to address my cosmetic problem with my Isobaric speakers, McIntosh was simply incredible in their efforts to restore my ancient pre-amp and amp to original condition UNDER WARRENTEE!

Don’t misunderstand me; I love Bang & Olufsen products….. my Beogram 4000 is my absolute crown jewel…. and all the rest of my B&O “collection” is treasured.

However, I have several “dead” B&O units with no service within several hundred miles. Now while I don’t expect a small company like B&O is repair my vintage equipment for FREE like McIntosh did, I really DO expect that they would keep basic replacement parts available like belts, Beogram cartridges, etc. BUT THEY DON’T.

This makes owning older B&O products problematic and depresses values. Don’t believe me check B&O pricing on eBay as compared to McIntosh.

Jeff

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Evan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:57:03 GMT

Well a comparison of B&O to Sony and those larger companies is most unfair.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Piaf — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:05:37 GMT

The real difficulty in buying second hand B&O products, whether it be eBay or elsewhere is finding accommodating and knowledgeable service after your “treasure” arrives.

I am from Florida where there are numerous B&O dealers, however I now live on Vancouver Island and there is virtually no repair facility available. The B&O store in Vancouver recommends a local and independent repair facility but they tend to answer their phones when the mood moves them.

I have purchased two Beomasters, four Beograms, and two Beocords on eBay with the majority arriving in serious need of service/repair.

My only viable option has been to work with the really great people here at BeoWorld and try to repair these items myself. “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

As I see it the core problem is B&O is a smallish electronic firm in Denmark and they never fully developed a North American dealer network. In the larger cities, B&O is well established but once you leave New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, etc. the dealer was as likely as not a one-person enterprise operating on a shoe-string. (Some were very good, but many were not.)

B&O like any other company is faced (and compared) with competing firms like McIntosh, Sony, Linn, etc. and the comparison does not favor B&O, which is sad.

I received absolutely no help from the Vancouver B&O shop (other then the phone number of their “service dept.”) as compared to the McIntosh dealer who while unable to repair my 31 year old amplifier sent it back to the factory, who completely rebuilt it, UNDER WARRENTEE!

If B&O took service, in particular the service of “vintage” B&O products a bit more seriously it would great simplify the purchase and ownership of their amazing products.

Jeff

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

bandorocks — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:17:58 GMT

IF YOUR IN THE us TRY PUTTING YOUR ITEMS ON AUDIGON ...

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Evan — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:30:02 GMT

beotex:

It would be nice to have a secondhand store, or have the offical shops with a preowned section. I have seen many shops in Europe that take trade-ins and sell the used equipment. That would be great.
As much as I am wary of ebay, I have done ok buying / selling there. I won my Avant on ebay, and it turned out to be a few blocks from my house, so that was very lucky. Something that may be useful would be to use the sales forum on the site and preface the subject with USA or CAN (or MEX, etc) so we can easily identify North American items. Every now and then something from the US pops up in the sales forum, but it takes some digging to know the location.

Yes, a preowned section in an official B&O dealer is a handy resource but the products would be subject to very steep prices. In my experience with the small amount of used B&O items in my dealer, almost all of them were overpriced. You may have caught the thread about the $5000 (US) BM4500 and BGCD4500. That came from the same used lot at the dealer in question.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

burantek — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:17:44 GMT

beotex:
Something that may be useful would be to use the sales forum on the site and preface the subject with USA or CAN (or MEX, etc) so we can easily identify North American items. Every now and then something from the US pops up in the sales forum, but it takes some digging to know the location.

i felt the same way... so i posted my last "for sale" with USA + the region... would be nice if there was some defaulting with the IP address? maybe in the new rev of beoworld coming soon...

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

beotex — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:02:27 GMT

It would be nice to have a secondhand store, or have the offical shops with a preowned section. I have seen many shops in Europe that take trade-ins and sell the used equipment. That would be great.

As much as I am wary of ebay, I have done ok buying / selling there. I won my Avant on ebay, and it turned out to be a few blocks from my house, so that was very lucky. Something that may be useful would be to use the sales forum on the site and preface the subject with USA or CAN (or MEX, etc) so we can easily identify North American items. Every now and then something from the US pops up in the sales forum, but it takes some digging to know the location.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

cooldude — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:02:14 GMT

Hi,

I totally agree about having a store like lifestyle AV in the US.

You can always list on this forum what you want to sell...

I live in Montreal, Canada now and secondhand B&O items are very hard to find here.

EBAY is my only option though not a lot of US ebayers seem to want to ship to Canada.... I am constantly looking to complement my existing set-up and I loose out on alot of deals because of that.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

linder — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:17:09 GMT

Actually B&O's target market in the US is usually persons between age 30 and 50 who do use the internet. However generalizations about age just don't always work. I am past 50 and have used computers and the internet for a long time. I am also the one who in previous posts talks about the coming of the day when the CD players will be regarded like the turntable.....charming but out of date.

I would like the idea of a store like Lifstyle AV in the US but probably only one store will work maybe in the New York area. Since I am planning on upgrading to Beolab 5's and maybe Beosound 5 this year, I will have some older B&O items to sell. I dread putting items on ebay due to the hassle. Being a buyer is easier than being a seller. It would be nice to send everything to a Livestyle store to do the selling.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Evan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:45:26 GMT

bandorocks:
I just joined and I am enjoying this forum i currently have 4 B & O systems and my opinion to your comment about the US market is I think that there are opportunities for someone to start a similar business like Lifestyle in the UK to sell used B&O in the US used market because if your like me you get real cautious about ebay. With that said i have enjoyed tremendous success with Audiogon however they turn their nose up to the B&O equipement. I have to say I have had many cd players ( Macs, Simms. etc) but last year I purch. the BEO 4 and was blown away with the analog sound ( better than the six cd changer ) so B&O rocks and always will... Also hopefully some of the b and o executives read this they need to release a new turntable with a killer phono stage... It's time.. linear tracking, teakwood etc....

First off, welcome.

I agree with your idea regarding opening a number of stores in the US similar to lifestyle. Mostly due to the fact that the current or average age of B&O owners are people that are not fond of the internet and prefer it the old - fashioned way, walking into a store. Ebay is an excellent resource when used properly. But these stores would require a lot of capital to get off the ground due the declining US economy. Not to mention how long it would take for these stores to break even.

And yes, the CD players are superb.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

bandorocks — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:30:32 GMT

I just joined and I am enjoying this forum i currently have 4 B & O systems and my opinion to your comment about the US market is I think that there are opportunities for someone to start a similar business like Lifestyle in the UK to sell used B&O in the US used market because if your like me you get real cautious about ebay. With that said i have enjoyed tremendous success with Audiogon however they turn their nose up to the B&O equipement. I have to say I have had many cd players ( Macs, Simms. etc) but last year I purch. the BEO 4 and was blown away with the analog sound ( better than the six cd changer ) so B&O rocks and always will... Also hopefully some of the b and o executives read this they need to release a new turntable with a killer phono stage... It's time.. linear tracking, teakwood etc....

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Evan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:14:54 GMT

In the states, a B&O connoissieur such as myself is a rarity. A great majority of people in America often go through life without ever hearing a B&O product. Its quite depressing. When someone hears the name for the first time they often think it is a dirty joke of some sort. I think this awful mentality and lack of recognition really disadvantages the brand. I think another big part of the problem is the scarcity of dealers and their nearly minimal advertisment.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

Stars — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:41:31 GMT

It's disappointing to hear that there a few dealers like this. I have been in B&O stores in Europe, the US, Australia and Singapore. I too have come across the occasional rude and arrogant dealer before. Each time I swiftly leave the store.

I think it is natural for a dealer to make a quick judgement of each person who walks through the door. I do not think this is bad, so long as their judgement is not made visible in any way.

Returning to the initial topic of this thread however, I remember being told by a B&O employee that in the US many more vision products are sold than audio products.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

turbotol — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:28:13 GMT

It sounds like you have a much better dealer in your area than I do.

I am still waiting for the second beolab 5 box (I received the first one more than a month ago). I got notice yesterday that the second box was accidently shipped to Canada so who knows when the second box will eventually show up. I ended up transporting the speakers one by one with my single box about 45 minutes each way by car. At least my listening experience is making up for all the dealer hassle so far.

Re: USA & Used B&O Market

drevil2k2 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:58:45 GMT

A couple of experiences... bought a Beosound 3 from a US ebayer. The price was ok, at the time, not too much competition. The player started to get wonky (technical term) and decided to bring it in to the local dealer. They scanned the serial and questioned why I had a EUR model. Anyways, paid for the diagnostics and surprisingly, the dealer pushed head office to cover it under warranty.

Bought a BL3500 from another ebayer, customs decided to 'see' what was inside of the case (hoping to find a stinger missile) and attempted to open the end of the speaker with a flathead, failing that, they dented the cover and one of the speakers. Took it to the dealer, and had it all fixed (for a few hundred $s).

I rarely wear suits, so 90% of the time, I walk into the store wearing jeans....