MaxH
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Lee, many thanks for the thoughtful response, it was appreciated.
Your statement: ‘ We have a hard-core of members who, as the site stands, will make it financially viable and enable the site to exist’, puts a different perspective on things. If you have the membership, resources and commitment to continue then please do so and I will be happy to support the site in any appropriate way I can.
It seems that I am a rare beast in that I gave up the brand for over 20 years returning to the flock some eight years ago and, incrementally, purchasing almost the entire range of new products – no legacy products for me (much as I admire them). Consequently, I have done my fair share of supporting B&O financially and don’t regret it in the least.
The common denominator on Discord is the enthusiasm for the brand and it is not populated exclusively by young, noisy members – simply the current and future buyers of B&O equipment. Just a quick scroll through the recent posts shows people buying Theatres, 28s and 50s in addition to the lower-priced and legacy products.
The question for you is do you also wish to attract this audience and, if so, how?
And I thought I was impatient 😉
If they have been factory reset that’s the ‘normal’ sound without calibration.
Get an appropriate mic, watch the video and notice the mic positions and (personally) I would set up only two or three standard positions at first. One for Narrow, music listening, and one for Wide TV watching, others dependent on room layout.
You don’t sound like a ‘switch it on and leave it’ type of person so once you are familiar with the process, my guess is you may want to experiment with adjusting the positioning of the 50s and ( to my ears anyway) speakers and associated equipment do change sound over time especially if furniture and furnishings are changed.
Good luck. They are exceptional speakers.
First, you will need a USB microphone.
Read the manual: https://bangolufsenassistentgohe.blob.core.windows.net/manuals/SPEAKERS/BEOLAB_50/beolab_50_technical_sound_guide.pdf#page14
Then watch: https://www.tonmeister.ca/wordpress/2017/04/19/bo-tech-beolab-90-how-to-set-up-active-room-calibration/
Although this video is for the 90s, the process is the same.
I agree with most of Mr10Pecent’s comments.
With huge, and the upmost respect to the time, effort and financial outlay that the present owners have contributed, the questions that should now be asked are:
Who’s purpose does the site now serve?
What is the appropriate vehicle to serve the purpose?
Is it a growing or declining purpose?
Yes, there are technical questions that get answers but the Discord forum can also provide this as well and its interactive design is more appropriate to the modern-day forum/blog user. It’s a great resource for legacy products, but apart from this, and useful interventions from Geoff Martin, I think it has a very limited and diminishing value due to the growth of contemporary media.
I assume it does not serve the purpose of B&O because financial help is not the only way that contributions’ to forums can serve a purpose (see the comment regarding Geoff, above). In fact, the absence of any official support, whilst the forum being hyper-sensitive to anything that B&O (may) disapprove of, is difficult to comprehend. I regret that Discord is also going in a similar direction.
Does it serve the purpose of the owners to attempt to construct a new forum model, involving fees and different tiers, when the real problem is that the structure and framework (indeed, the attitude) of an old-style forum is rapidly becoming outdated?
In this three-way, who does it serve? question, there must be at least two out of three stakeholders getting significant benefits and a judgement made whether the time, effort and financial outlay is worth it.
Can the forum play its part and bring its benefits within the framework of Discord would be one key question I would ask and if the owners feel committed to continuing in their current efforts then they have my best wishes.
Please don’t shoot the messenger. I have tremendous respect for what has been a useful resource for me.
Give Andre at Audio Visual Services a call on 01273 725182.
Ex Hove showroom installer and service engineer and B&O official service for Guildford showroom.
Based in Eastbourne and does Brighton serviceTook some new pics of my theatre now that I’ve had it about a month. Love it more every day.
Looks great 🙂 Congratulations
The vertical direction of the wood on both the 18s and The Theatre make it look like they were designed together.
Wow, it seems that it is widely regarded that the WISA standard isn’t very good, or at least usable under certain circumstances. B&O relies heavily on it for its products it seems. Is that wise?
My 17s have operated in wireless mode faultlessly for about two years as have my 18s.
You need to access the menu for controlling the Apple TV in the ATV menu to configure the remote.
My remote periodically loses control (normally when an ATV update is required or has recently been installed) and I find a reboot of the APV puts it right.
Also, the HDMI does need to be set to on via the Horizon.
Hope this helps
The point I was making about watches and luxury goods in general is that there is plenty of cash about – even refurbished turntables at £10k fly off the shelves!
Whether buyers are foolish speculators . . . who knows . . . but that’s not really my concern in this thread.
It’s a basic truism that the biggest fans of anything tend also to be their harshest critics ( fings are never what they used to be!) and there are certainly severe challenges in most consumer markets but this challenge is simple if not entirely easy.
Give the market, who have the means to buy B&O, great design and great sound wrapped into todays and tomorrow’s incoming tide of technology.The people I know who spend a lot of money on B&O also spend a lot on other audio equipment outside of the B&O range. This is low-hanging fruit!
Take a well-appointed streamer such as the Hi-fi Rose. Not overly expensive and certainly not a good looker by any means but it’s made for attaching speakers to so today’s systems can keep on growing and updating.
Actually, all it is is an Android phone inside a large case with more connections and better quality components than a phone. Most of the features that are needed to be relevant in the audio market today are already available.
There are opportunities to be taken and my opinion is that I don’t believe it will be a lack of spending in the luxury end of the market that will hold B&O back.
If the positive signs from the company continue I believe my optimism will be justified.
Fingers’ crossed ?
Well, I must be the only optimist around ?
First look at the global luxury market. Just try to buy a Rolex, Patek or Vacheron. The stores are empty and that’s not a lack of computer chips or shipping costs.
No. The luxury market is not suffering – whatever may happen to average consumer spending – and B&O has never been a market for the average hi-fi consumer.What is vital is that the brand’s legacy of a combination of great design and sound is given even greater emphasis because most of us were recruited – like all great brands – on the basis of aspiration.
The other vital aspect is that the product range be relevant to the way the market is going and, indeed, demanding for success.
Does it make sense for my additional audio spending on a very expensive streamer to not be with B&O?
Does it make sense for my son to not have a B&O base product that will stream to his headphones, add streaming music services and allow him to add speakers as he settles to a more home-based lifestyle?This is the other area that really needs attention.
So, why the optimism?
B&O have great brand values and a loyal ( if somewhat grumpy ) user base which is a hell of a lot more than many competitors but I have seen evidence over the last year or so that things are changing
I hope I am right ?
