Bang & Olufsen reveals new future-proofed Beosound A9 and Beosound 2 wireless speakers

[What Hi-Fi?]

The iconic Scandinavian manufacturer returns with a new generation of its Beosound wireless speakers that promises to adapt to new technology for years to come.

Bang & Olufsen reveals new future-proofed Beosound A9 and Beosound 2 wireless speakers : Read more

 

[simontompkins]

"future-proofing module that will ensure the speakers’ longevity with new technologies."

So basically all it does it receive software updates. A PC from 1981 is perfectly capable of receiving updates so why don't we just keep 1981 PCs? Obviously because all kinds of hardware changes have improved all kinds of things and any amount of software wouldn't compensate for getting better hardware components.

Seems to be this is Bang and Olufsen's marketing department trying to spin some kind of sustainability message, being able to update its software is hardly revolutionary. Or have I missed something?

 

[ultraminiature]

The Mozart platform is a module. The dealer can take this out and plug in a replacement.

With most televisions and hi-fi you can not change anything and very rarely they offer mod updates. In the digital world you can't upgrade mobile phones, tablets or laptops. Memory options, capacity, storage are built in when you buy them.

The Apple IIe had replaceable boards. CP/M S100 and the IBM PC continued the idea allowing for a 10 year old system to get hardware and software updates without needing everything replaced.

That is what B&O are aiming at. Some changes can be accommodated by new software but others will need new chips and so the module can also be unplugged and replaced by the user or dealer. In PC terms it is fitting a new motherboard and all the cards and drives to the case and power supply.

Whether this will work and support the speakers in 5 or 10 years time we have to wait and see.

Some owners of the CX50, CX75 and CX100 have fitted the Raspberry Pi with B&O 4 channel amplifier that fits onto the RPi board. The passive crossovers are removed and a full active cross-over parameters selected in software. CX50 work as a stereo pair and the CX100 takes three of the four amplifiers for each drive unit. It turns a quality speaker into a new steaming active speaker. So they have a history of making some products get new advanced updates.

 

[simontompkins]

Thank you ultraminiature for a most excellent clarification.