Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:26:50 -0400, Severian wrote:

Errr...not to interrupt your ignorant rant, but the B&O speakers are
active, biamped speakers.

But I understand, B&O will be hard for people working at WalMart and
McDonalds to afford, you actually have to be successful and have a sense
of style and taste to want them.

And do they sound good? The B&O systems I've come across have been
ovbiviously design-led (and I don't mean audio design:-). One has to
suspect they're idiosyncratic for the sake of it, not because an
engineer made a breakthrough that column speakers actually SOUNDED
better?

Most people never get to hear B&O in the proper listening environment.
The Beosound 8000's sound as good or better than audiophile approved
monitors costing as much or more when you count amps and stands. The
sense of depth, space, and air, and the midrange smoothness, are all as
good as I've heard. They image very much like planar speakers without
the room placement issues. I've had the opportunity to hear the Beolab
5's setup well, and they sound magnificent, bass is deep, tight, and non
boomy but goes low enough to untie your shoelaces. Yes, they are $20K a
pair, but that's not expensive by audiophile standards. I've heard lots
of "high end" speakers that sound significantly worse that cost as much
or more.

They are expensive, and they do cost more because they pay a lot of
attention to design and style. I find that enjoyable, as too much audio
gear is absolutely horrendously ugly, which is all the worse as it has
no reason to be. It is possible to design in better looks for not as
much as B&O charges, but almost no one else does so. And B&O's materials
aren't cheap, solid aluminum speaker enclosures, high end finishes, etc.

But I get tired of ignorant knee jerk reactions that are as often
prompted by envy as by objective observation. It took a long time for me
to finally listen to B&O seriously, when I did I bought, and have been
happy with the sound and the reliability.