Revox and Bang & Olufsen
Anthony Hall
I came across Revox and Bang & Olufsen equipment. I think they both have
some well-planned and easy to use equipment. Does anyone out there have
any experience with either of these two companies and would like to comment
on their equipment?
Is their equipment worth the high (although less in Europe) price?
J|rgen N|rgaard
Mostly a matter of taste but,
> I am interested in buying an high-end stereo system. When living in Europe,
> I came across Revox and Bang & Olufsen equipment. I think they both have
> some well-planned and easy to use equipment. Does anyone out there have
> any experience with either of these two companies and would like to comment
> on their equipment?
I have B&O at home and think it is fair to say that the sound quality is high,
state-of-the-art in design and simplicity of use. Which is a very important point
for me. Don't get me wrong; I love playing around with new things but I hate
having being unable to remember (or having to) a completed sequence for how to
do simple things, i.e. the everyday use. For example turning on the CD
automatically turns on the system (also the external power amp) and switches to
CD as input source etc. Because this is what I most often want to happen when I start
the CD.
And the remote control (also good design, i.e. simple to use) works for the whole
system, including the TV, i.e. only one piece of hardware to look for :-)
Cf. "The psychology of everday things" by D. Norman.
But I wouldn't claim that it is state-of-the-art talking in terms
of sound quality alone.
> Is their equipment worth the high (although less in Europe) price?
That is a matter of taste I suppose. Believing "yes" as stated above.
the british Meridian (if I remember correctly the name) also has a appealing
design, don't know about the use.
--
/j|rgen n|rgard | Computer Science Department | <j...@daimi.aau.dk>
| Aarhus University | Phone: +45 86 12 71 88
| Ny Munkegade | Fax: +45 86 13 57 25
| DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark |
Charlie Mingo
> I am interested in buying an high-end stereo system. When living in Europe,
> I came across Revox and Bang & Olufsen equipment. I think they both have
> some well-planned and easy to use equipment. Does anyone out there have
> any experience with either of these two companies and would like to
> comment on their equipment?
>
What I appreciate most about the Revox is that the music appears to come from between and around the speakers, not just from the speakers themselves (as most other CD players I tried sounded). The Revox has excellent tracking, although not quite up to the level of some Japanese players (eg, Kyocera), which nonetheless produced much inferior sound.
I felt that the Revox was the best CD available in that price range; no doubt there are better sounding ones reviewed in the pages of TAS, but I can't afford them. (Studer Revox makes a line of studio audio components.)
While I was there, I also listened to the Revox cassette deck (forget the
model number, but there's only one), costing about $2500. It was really
spectacular, but I ultimately decided to go with a DAT (Sony DTC700) because
of an inherently better technology.
Overall, I'd recommend giving Revox a listen, if you can afford the price
tag.
Bang & Olufsen is a whole 'nother story. My father has one of their 9000
series systems, which cost him over $3000 a few years back. It sounded like a nice $1000-1500 stereo; when you buy a BeoBeast, you're paying for front panel gizmos, and not sound quality.
The B&O struck me as having astonishingly poor design from an audio perspective. For example, even though the tape deck had three heads, and
the receiver had a monitor circuit, the deck wasn't smart enough to support
the monitor function. For example, the tape deck insisted on "calibrating"
the timer every time you inserted or turned over a new tape, which meant
that the apparent length of your tape was never the same twice. (Better to
have a consistant error factor than to be totally unpredictable.) And the
deck took two minutes of playing to "calibrate" the timer; otherwise the
timer function wouldn't even operate.
I could go on and on... Get a B&W if you want a stereo that looks like
it just escaped from star trek. If you want good sound, thoough, spend
your dollers somewhere else, where they'll go much farther.
* Origin: A point in my favor (1:109/716.4218)
Paul Smee
>I came across Revox and Bang & Olufsen equipment. I think they both have
>some well-planned and easy to use equipment. Does anyone out there have
>any experience with either of these two companies and would like to comment
>on their equipment?
Don't know Revox, other than their tape decks. I know several people
who have B&O systems. My opinion (for whatever it's worth): B&O is
very nicely styled, fairly visually unobtrusive, and has a well thought
out integrated user interface. (Easy to use, right?) Problem is that
they are also musically unobtrusive.
They make sounds that don't hurt to listen to; very pleasant. However,
they also don't make you sit up and want to listen to them; not at all
compelling. If you want 'background music', they are probably great,
if you can afford them. (That's all some people DO want, and if it
makes them happy, that's absolutely fine.) If you want something to
LISTEN TO, you should look elsewhere.
(All my opinion, and I think that for the next few weeks I'll be
careful to watch out for lurking B&O owners when I'm passing by dark
alleys. One thing about them is that people who like their sort of
sound REALLY like them.)
br...@uoft02.utoledo.edu
writes:
>(All my opinion, and I think that for the next few weeks I'll be
>careful to watch out for lurking B&O owners when I'm passing by dark
>alleys. One thing about them is that people who like their sort of
This was in regard to B&O systems. I would indeed watch out for owners.
Its unfortunate that many folks who purchase B&O don't really care, and
actually get a complete B&O system. It can be a bit of a yuppie thing.
Several years ago, I purchased a 5000 receiver, control unit, and
turntable. A couple of years later, I added a 5500 cassette, and the CD
player then offered was grossly overpriced, so I went with Phillips (ie,
Magnavox).
The reciever is connected to a pair of home built speakers, using Altec
15" drivers, Altec 8 series Voice of the Theater midrange horns with
JBL drivers, and EV T35 tweeters. Does it sound good? Oh yes. The only
complaint is not enough power in the B&O. But I am thinking of adding a
Crown or Nad power amp.
I can tell you, a friend of mine and myself vacationed in Denmark this
past summer, and the B&O hardware we saw was nice. But not in speakers.
I even purchased a B&O telephone while over there.
brian nelson
Senior Systems Programmer
U of Toledo
br...@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Tom Gray
>In article <34...@sumax.seattleu.edu> aeh...@sumax.seattleu.edu (Anthony Hall) writes:
>>I am interested in buying an high-end stereo system. When living in Europe,
>>I came across Revox and Bang & Olufsen equipment. I think they both have
>>some well-planned and easy to use equipment. Does anyone out there have
>>any experience with either of these two companies and would like to comment
>>on their equipment?
>
>Don't know Revox, other than their tape decks. I know several people
Years ago when I was in school we had a systems lab which consisted of
critiquing designs of existing equipment. As one assignment, I was given
a Revox reel to reel to analyze. I didn't know at the beginning that it
was a "high end" system owned by one of the instructors.
In my innocence, I borrowed several texts on magnetic recording from
the library. The intersting part of my analysis was that the
Revox deck violated every rule that the books gave for producing
high fidelity signals. Needless to say my report was not kind to
the Revox. The instructor who owned this deck marked the report.
His comments on my opinion of his high end deck were very interesting.
--
i.sinature
Don Cohrac
>
>Years ago when I was in school we had a systems lab which consisted of
>critiquing designs of existing equipment. As one assignment, I was given
>a Revox reel to reel to analyze. I didn't know at the beginning that it
>was a "high end" system owned by one of the instructors.
>
>In my innocence, I borrowed several texts on magnetic recording from
>the library. The intersting part of my analysis was that the
>Revox deck violated every rule that the books gave for producing
>high fidelity signals. Needless to say my report was not kind to
>the Revox. The instructor who owned this deck marked the report.
>His comments on my opinion of his high end deck were very interesting.
Well, how did it sound? How did it measure? Was this strictly an
intellectual/paper exercise? Who had the closed mind here, the student
or the instructor? Enquiring minds want to know (lots).
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Don Cohrac do...@novell.com
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