I’ve always wanted a beosound 9000 but even now they’re very expensive second hand with the beolab speakers. Would I be better off spending the money on a couple of boring looking black boxes instead of this retro masterpiece? Are there any slimline speakers which would sound anywhere near as good as the B&O ones, or is it a case of form over function and I’d find out they’re not really all that after all?

It’s Phillips gear hiding in dust-attracting Swedish enclosures. There’s better out there for the money.

The answer is no. It’s about what you want and if you like how it looks you should get it as you’ll end up loving the sound too.

There are loads of other choices out there too which will get you a much better sound, which look great as welll. However nothing that I know of that looks anything like B&O.

Its the only hifi range that makes Bose look like good value.
Their shop in Leeds has recently closed and my only surprise is that they ever stayed open as long as they did.
Buy proper hifi and not some over stylised scandanavian tat.

My dad has a B&O CD player that he bought in 1988, with the turntable, speakers and amp being even older. They’re still going strong. They sound fine to me, but then I’m not an audiophile. Worth the money just for the glass doors opening when you wave your hand in front!

Style over substance – in the same price range are kit from meridian, naim etc and they are head and shoulders above B&O
If you are going to buy expensive hifi, please go and demo with your favourite music.

You rarely see Bose or B&O kit reviewed – reason – neither company submit their gear for review.

Whether that is because they want to maintain an exclusive aura or whether its because they are afraid that the magazines will say ‘good kit but way overpriced…’ is down to you to decide.

Bose kit is clever and well packaged for ‘domestic harmony’ and B&O kit is the Apple kit of the Hi-Fi world style wise but give me the equivalent money to source the same components from else where and I could put together something that sonically speaking would blow them both away.

Cheers

Danny B

It’s not quite what I would describe as deadful, but it’s not far off. It’s marketed on style not sound and they clearly do a very good job of it.

The stuff I’ve heard sounds okay, if you’re asking the question then it’s likely you will be happy with what you get and it looks great – go for it. If you want an awesome system to sit in front of and listen to your vinyl on then that might not be it but lives tend to get busy when you’re older so not so much of that happens any more 🙁 . I’d avoid it just because of the ‘Apple’ thing

My dad has a B&O CD player that he bought in 1988, with the turntable, speakers and amp being even older.

I have a Sony CD player of the same age, with an even older amp and speakers 😉

Ha ha ha. Just posted about mix tapes and if I want to play them,it will mean firing up the Bang and Olufson(which is in the attic with the cassettes ) 🙂

Still got my Technics Linear Tracking turntable from 1987 in a cupboard and I’m still using my MS speakers from the same year. The cassette player, CD player and amp have all died in the last few years.

im using a denon amp from about 1990, a systemdek turntable from 1992, and some ms speakers from 1995. all still sound perfect, although i mostly play off my ipod these days.

A lot of B+O gear is very well engineered. I had a turntable of theirs for a while it sounded OK – though I’m sure a Linn or Gerrard would have been nicer – but when you opened it you could see the thought and attention to detail in the engineering, and inside the bottom cover there was an envelope glued to the inside containing a schematic and the service instructions. Nice touch.

I currently have a set of B+O Form 1 headphones, when the Form bit actually meant they fitted to your head rather than the other way around. They sound pretty good*, but they need new foam and wearing them outside is just, beyond me [even in this age of ginormous Beats]

I’ll be selling them soon, if there’s interest I can pop them on the classifieds now.

If we’re talking old gear then I’ll say I’m still using those 1979 Technics, and my bud downstairs is still using my AE’s, as the Technics sound plenty good enough [though the bass in the Avenged Sevenfold album I listened to the other day hit the cabinet/driver resonance the bass drivers suddenly moved about 15mm more than any other note 😯 ].

*Clear, smooth treble, very very nice midrange with loads of detail. Lots of bass, but that’s most headphones for you. Very good for classical!

hot_fiat – Member

It’s Phillips gear hiding in dust-attracting Swedish enclosures. There’s better out there for the money.

It is Danish but beside that you are right.

For architects, designers and anyone who does their top button up but doesn’t wear a tie.
It’s for looking at not listening to.

Technics Linear turntable here SL-10, with the show-off lumps of metal to tilt it up. Still goes (not often though!)

I had a friend who was really, really into his hifi’s. One of his favourite rants was how poor sounding B&O stuff was. So I’m left with the impression that B&O is mostly about great looks with average sound quality,

Its Philips gear underneath – well most stuff is like that. Do you think Linn and other manufacturers make their own IC’s and electronic components? No – they buy it in. B&O is not worth the money if you are looking for sound, but it is aimed at those who have more money than sense and want a system that sounds as good as anything you can get out there and also looks nice and bespoke.

There are definitely as good or better systems available for alot less, but there are better cars than a Rolls-Royce Phantom for a hell of alot less. Depends how you define better.

That SL-10 looks awesome.

I used to sell the stuff, along with Sony, Denon, Pioneer, Rotel, Sony, Technics.
B&O used to get a lot of attention, up until the customer sat down and listened to it, against a Rotel RA820 amp, Denon CD player, and B&W speakers.
B&O stuff was very much a shelf queen, there to be looked at, not listened to, unless you’re the sort of person who’s record collection consists of CD’s given away free with Sunday newspapers.
During the several years I worked a Saturday job there, I think only one B&O system got sold, and that was discounted because it was a shop demo unit.
You don’t have to buy ‘boring black boxes’, there’s nice looking kit in silver as well, and if you really look around you can still find kit in champaign gold, which Sony and Marantz were very fond of. Oddly enough, Marantz are a Philips company, but their stuff is, or was, head and shoulders above Philips own audio gear.

Technics = Panasonic = Panaracer tyres!!

EDIT: Just don’t try to buy them in a Panasonic highstreet shop, they don’t even know Panasonic make bike tyres, LOL!

Do you think Linn and other manufacturers make their own IC’s and electronic components?

There’s a difference between buying a tube full of ics from someone like phillips or toshiba and soldering them onto a board to a design based on your own r&d, and just taking entire assemblies from another manufacturer and hiding them in a polished plastic box.

Its Philips gear underneath – well most stuff is like that. Do you think Linn and other manufacturers make their own IC’s and electronic components? No – they buy it in.

It’s entirely Philips gear, even their TV’s are just a regular panel plonked into a ridiculously overpriced cabinet. Rotel, on the other hand, completely re-designed all their circuit boards for the UK market, removing components that were unnecessary, and people like Linn, Meridian, Naim, etc. design all of their circuitry, and specify the components to go onto the boards, to higher tolerances than mainstream brands like B&O. Better power supplies, bigger transformers and capacitors for greater headroom when driving bigger speakers, none of which you’ll find in B&O, because it’s purely lifestyle orientated, designed to fit into your minimalist Ikea living room.

The only B&O stuff I’ve listened to sounded pretty good. Shows what I know. When the time comes for a purchase I’ll stick another thread on about choosing me a system and some speakers. You guys obviously know a lot more than me about HiFi. Can’t believe it still goes for so much money second hand if it’s basically overpriced rubbish. Surely they don’t all buy it just to look at? But then again……

Its mostly OK, not bad. Haters always gonna hate.

B&O hifi: stupid cable system, randomly switches on to FM static at ear splitting volume a la The Ring.

B&O telly: average picture, wavy black lines along sides of picture, crappy remote badly designed and randomly died.

B&O phone: rubbish signal, battery conked out quickly.

B&O headphones: crap sound, uncomfortable, died.

B&O is banned now.

They’re advertising Franchise opportunities in the Sunday Times Business section, yours for only £125k upwards…

B&O is some of the worst designed kit I have ever had the misfortune to use. Hiding all the controls behind a glass panel until you put your hand close, then lighting them up is very cool, but breaks every usability guideline in the book.