Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 5

[bikezappa]

I have read a little bit about this company. They appear to be on the cutting edge of speaker design. This speaker/amplifier system appears to automatically compensate for your room acoustics.

Has any one listened to these speakers.

Has any one listened to any B & O speaker systems?

I would be very interested in your comments.

Thanks

Peter

[heiney9]

I sold Bang Olufsen in the late 80's early 90's and they were on the cutting edge of design and lifestyle products. They are a good solid company but they really lean towards design as art rather than performance. Most of their products look slick and ultra-modern and work in unconventional ways. As with most "far out" design and engineering they had some issues of reliability. When those issues cropped up it was very expensive to repair.

The Beolab's are cool from an aestetic point of view and they do perform well, but their primary design is for good looks that stand out and the idea of performance is secondary. It always depends on what you are spending vs. performance. These are merely good speakers and if you can get them inexpensively it might be worth it.

Personally I have never been impressed with B & O gear because it just never performed at a high level sonically for me. It's impressive to look at and new it costs a lot money (great for bragging rights). It sounds good but not great. B & O has always been form and function over "knock your socks off" sound reproduction.

YMMV

[dorokusai]

B&O begat Bose.

[shack]

There is a Bang & Olufsen Boutique down in Atlanta on Peachtree near the Lenox Square Mall. A friend of mine who thinks of himself as an audiophile, always raved about their gear. A few years ago I stopped in to give B&O a listen. I spent a prettly long time in the store. The gear looked cool, but I was not impressed with the sound. I was even less impressed when I saw the price. I left and went around the corner to Hi-Fi Buys and even their entry level gear sounded as good as Bang & Olufsen. I've never been back to the B&O store or given their gear a second though.