Bang and Olufsen

I gave the Beolab 5's a listen a couple of months ago. I was quite impressed, despite the fact that the balance was biased to the left and the salesman could not figure out how to correct it. They are dynamic and have a good tonal balanced for the most part, though were still a bit bright to my taste. I couldn't help but smile to myself knowing my Linn Kabers, despite their smaller scale presentation, are a far more refined speaker than these at about 1/7th the price (or 1/15th used).
The B&O salesman, who came from a Hi-Fi boutique background and had sold Linn and Naim in the past, told me that the B&O rep had eagerly asked his opinion about the B5's knowing he had been involved in the 'real hi-fi' end of things in the past. Very telling.

B&O is certainly beyond Bose in tonal accuracy and general fidelity. Of all their speakers, I think the Beolab 8000 (the "organ pipe") is the most suitable for a critical listener. However, it needs good signal coming to it. Most people who have that speaker underserve it. Truth is, it becomes something quite credible within its tonal and dynamic range, if fed by exceptional sources and a good tube preamp. B&O's own associated gear can't live up to the speaker, leaving it sounding constrained and smeared. The 5 has similar merits too.

Phil

I knew one of the B&O engineers who did some of their programming on their micros for their receivers. He told me that the top flagship B&O speaker (at the time) had a tweeter that didn't even cost $10 per driver! He basically felt that everything B&O did put was to put styling first, second, third and fourth with their products and the sonics portion of their product line coming in at a dismal 13th on B&O's priority scale.

I do bet that Bose never has spent as much as $10 on one of their tweeters though ;-)

B&O stuff is architect's delight. Many architects spec them for their clients, but purely for the looks. It's almost like "standard issue" for hi-end residential design, especially in Asia where space is a premium. And most of the clients care more about the look than sound. Otherwise, I would have a special niche designing places with good audio systems. ;-)

But my personal experience with B&O has been terrible. The keypad on my B&O phone just decided not to work one day for no reason. My panasonic cordless phone that costed 1/4 of what I paid for the B&O phone has never had any problem for the past 15 years and is still working!

The designer of the Beolab speakers had a demo in Berkeley, California several years ago, and I was not impressed. I can't remember what it was but it did not sound quite right and convincing. When I mentioned that, the designer recalibrated the setup, listened to his CDs, then told the crowd the problem was with my recording, and that the system was revealing som flaws in the recording that I have probably not heard before because my system was probably not revealing enough. I happened to be using a well-recorded CD from Taiwan that has been the "standard" for audiophiles in Asia and has been a popular demo disc at every hi-end show in Asia for the past few years.

I guess, maybe my ears just wasn't good enough for the B&O speakers. Or maybe it was the earwax buildup. That must be it!

FrankC