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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 12-05-2011 8:42 AM by Chrisreunion. 52 replies.
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  • 10-03-2011 5:01 AM In reply to

    • Zoggerty
    • Not Ranked
      Male
    • Joined on 09-29-2011
    • Finland
    • Posts 7
    • Gold Member

    Re: Now the Form 2's have had a splash of colour!!!

    Has anything changed internally? Or is it just the new looks?

  • 11-27-2011 4:49 PM In reply to

    • Evan
    • Top 25 Contributor
      Male
    • Joined on 12-15-2008
    • Ohio | USA
    • Posts 2,601
    • Gold Member

    Re: Now the Form 2's have had a splash of colour!!!

    9 LEE:
    I'd have kept the headband, but made the ear pads into closed ear.

    Looks like you got your wish Lee!

    Albeit not in B&O guise...

     

    Evan

     

  • 12-05-2011 8:42 AM In reply to

    Re: Now the Form 2's have had a splash of colour!!!

    I was browsing the net today and this is what I found on Steve Mac Gugan's website, which I've pasted shamelessly below.

    Nice touching story about the making of Form 2's..

    QUOTE:

    In the world of consumer electronics, products come and go as the wind blows. Some last six months

    on the market, others can last a few years, but in general it is very seldom that a Hi-Fi accessory can

    stand the test of time and still be on the market after 25 years.

    Bang & Olufsen’s Form 2 headphones had their 25

    birthday in 2010. Here is the story of how a pair of simple

    headphones, have lived a long and quite life.

    From 1978 to 1981 I attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California, USA to study industrial

    design. During this period I had learned about a company in Denmark that was producing some of the most

    fantastically designed Hi-Fi equipment on the market. At first sight I had fallen in love with their products and the

    company. The first stereo I ever bought, was of course a Bang & Olufsen Beomaster 1900.

    Near the end of my education at Art Center, I decided that I wanted to work as industrial designer some where in

    Europe. Therefore I thought what better place to start my design career than to work for Bang & Olufsen. So I

    wrote to them and said, “hey I would like to work for you as a in-house designer”. After a couple of interviews and

    talks back and forth, I got the job.

    In 1982 I was getting ready to travel to Denmark to start my career as product designer for Bang & Olufsen. In

    preparing for my trip, I decided to purchase a Sony Walkman to take with me as I always enjoyed listing to music

    and found this new product idea, which Sony had launched in 1979, to be a fantastic way to enjoy music

    whenever and wherever. This little product would turn out to have a big influence on some of my future ideas for

    Hi-Fi design.

    The first year at Bang & Olufsen was full of new learning experiences as well as exploring some of the ideas that I

    had floating around in my head. Some time in 1983, I had the idea that B&O needed a more compact and

    lightweight headphone in their product range. I thought that this type of headphone would be ideal to use together

    with B&O’s existing Hi-Fi products as well as together with a Sony Walkman. At the time the headphones that

    came with the Walkman where not at a high standard of design. With a Bang & Olufsen designed headphone the

    Walkman consumers could enjoy good sound together with a nicer looking design. I started to sketch some ideas

    and created some 3D cardboard models. After a while I chose a design and presented it to my boss, Jens Bang.

    He looked at the model and said, “this looks really nice, but we have Form 1 headphones which is our top of the

    line model. We don’t need a cheaper headphone in our product line”. I though “well OK, it was just an idea” and I

    put the model up on a shelf in my office. One year later Jens Bang comes into my office and says, “I remember

    that you had made a design proposal for a lightweight headphone some time ago, do you still have the model”. I

    looked around on my shelf and found it still lying there. I dusted it off and handed it to him. Jens looked at it and

    said, “it still looks good, we’ll make it”.

    The next step was to get the designed engineered and ready for tooling. A mechanical engineer working at B&O

    at the time by the name of Bent Gørbel

    was assigned to create the final mechanical construction.

    In 1985 Form 2 headphones hit the market. In 1992 the headphones where accepted to the Museum of Modern

    Art’s permanent design collection. At one point a Chinese company had copied the headphones and were selling

    them under another brand. B&O’s legal department quickly put a stop to this. In the late 90’s B&O was

    considering phasing out Form 2, but Apple suggested that they continue producing them because they were ideal

    for their iPod, which had become a huge success.

    When seeing all the newfangled electronic products and accessories that have come and gone over the past 25

    years, it has shown me that having the right idea and keeping things simple is a good formula when designing a

    new product. I find it amazing that these little headphones have continued to appeal to consumers thru all these

    years, delivering good sound quality with a stylish and classic design, first for the Sony Walkman generation and

    now for the iPod generation. I am very grateful that Jens Bang and Bang & Olufsen had changed their minds and

    saw the potential of introducing a new headphone into their product assortment.

    This is absolutely one of my all times best designs, which I am very proud of, and I’m thankful to all the

    consumers that still find the design desirable.

    S TE VE M CG U G AN  IN DU ST RI AL  DE SIG N     MDD

    UNQUOTE

    Reunion Island is greeting you!

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