These speakers are some of the greatest available for small systems. Although they do not hold up very well when mixed with other, more powerful speakers, they do an extraordinary job when used in B & O systems, or when used alone. High-end is great; midrange exceptional; low end lacking, but not excessively so. If you simply must have more bass, get a subwoofer.

Great speakers. Overpriced, but their appearance is truly unique, and they have power. Sound is definitely over-average, very decent. Amplifier is built-in. If you're looking to art-deco your home but still want good sound and not Bose crap, Bang & Olufsen is what you're looking for. These speakers are capable of whatever you want them to do, including blasting (yes, I've tried it, for long periods too), and the only thing that they lack is in deep bass. Has clear, crisp, and orchestral sound quality, unlike the slightly lower-end model Beolab 6000. Even their smallest system, the Beosound 2000, with built-in CD, tape, and radio, is not only stylish but very powerful.Beolab 8000: Avant-garde speaker system with muscle. Overpriced, but highly recommended. In fact, I highly recommend the whole Bang & Olufsen line. Whoever said the Rolls-Royces of hi-fi systems come cheap?

Hello, B&O fans. David, who has written a review on this web site, is running parallel with my views on these speakers. I love them so much that, well, I have created an e-mail address that hences my vast interest with the 8000s. David has owned a pair of these beauties, along with the great BeoSound 9000 music system. Together, the three components add up to about $7,000, but if you are serious about not only sound, but also looks, definitely consider this package if you can afford it. Despite my huge love for these speakers, I could not honestly say I would spend three grand to buy a pair of these. For that price, I could buy four Bose 901s with money to spare...or some kickass Definitives for a huge amount less...or Polks...or JBL studio monitors For $1,500 a pop, the BeoLab 8000 speaker is neither cheap nor worth it. Yes, you do get superb, state-of-the-art sound, but not to the same caliber as many other 1.5 thousand dollar speakers. However, you do get two things many speakers lack: looks that are unlike any other speaker out there (maybe with the exception of the BeoLab Pentas or Linn speakers for $65,000) and, of course, the prestigious Bang & Olufsen name.
However, to fully judge and appreciate/hate the speakers, you really need to go to a store and try them out. These speakers are NOT ones you can make assumptions about. They are experiential speakers unlike others on the market. Contrary to Teddy's hatred for them and contrary to David's absolute and devine love for them, I think they are good and impressive, but like I stated before, not worth the money.

I know David very well, and he is the type of person that would buy them solely for the looks and the brand name. In fact, he also has a BeoCom 2400 ($250) telephone by B&O, and has even gotten me to buy a BeoCom 1401 ($100). At first, I didn't quite understand why I spent $100 on a phone that had next to no features (hey, it had a MUTE button!), but the sound quality (God, am I really talking about a PHONE???) is absolutely amazing. There is actually a bass-reflex speaker inside every one of their phones, which makes going back to an ordinary phone literally ear-painful. They use the same speaker/driver in their headphones, which go up in price to a surprisingly low $135.

To learn more about Bang & Olufsen, stop by their site at www.bang-olufsen.com. Also, request a brochure just for kicks.

SMD

Give me a break people. B&O can hardly be classified as hifi. I don't know what kind of sound comes out of these things. They are plain lame. NO consistency from lows to highs, no imaging, and the sound is so 'fake'... so unnatural. If you have to go for ONLY looks, maybe (I have a pair at home) but then for the price, almost ANYthing else sounds better.

Design

Bass

I listened this one at local hifi happening last year and didn't like the sound of it. Bass is weird! It generates lots of sound but not in good way, you don't get details and other stuff. Design of speaker is awesome, it's a really art.

beautiful design,audiophile sound,self contained amps

lacks deep bass response,pricey

these speakers are built well. look fantastic,the 8000s are for bang&olufsen freaks.you can buy as fine a sounding speaker for less cash but when you consider the speaker has its own biamped power source in each unit for a total of 160 watts rms per speaker,three grand a pair not sounding so bad.The 8000s have a very transparent sound,a large soundstage,they will play very loud ,and they will not distort,b&o has matched the amp, crossover, speaker,well.You will need a subwoofer if you are a bass nut.b&o claims 40hz on the low side that may be a tad optimistic,however the speaker rolls off sharply with no distortion .With well recorded jazz and vocals they really shine,but can be unforgiving with poorly recorded material.the speaker is intended for use with b&o equipment.If bang&olufsen is your cup of tea you can now have audiophile quality sound.I have owned these speakers for 7yrs have never had a problem, I play them very loud for long periods of time,all types of music.highly recomended.

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kef 104.1s,magneplanar1.6s

Power, aesthetics, cable management, impressive design.

Lacks detail and gets congested with detailed music.

I walked into the B&O store at the local mall just looking around for something interesting to see or hear. The store had just opened so I thought I might as well see what they had to offer. Their showroom is awfully impressive; stylish, chic, every adjective describing urbane style. I was checking out the BeoLab variety of wall mounted cd players, admiring their loading mechanism with my friends when I heard your average sales person talking big talk with your average client. Like any good person, she was skeptical when he blabbered on about how great B&O merchandise is. She asked if the speakers she was standing in front of sounded good, which was a big mistake because that's obviously an open invitation to the sales person to pump up the volume. At that moment, the cd that was playing at a barely audible volume halfway across the store came to a blaringly loud crescendo at which point the woman jumped back a bit as she was positioned directly in front of the speaker about two feet away. I had always equated B&O to be like Bose in that they sell a very stylish product for the average consumer that are generally of mediocre quality but of extravagent expense. I am not entirely sure how good the normal B&O loudspeaker system is or the quality of components used, but for such seductively slim speakers, the power that these speakers put fourth is very impressive. The music was mostly female vocals with a little bass, but not much high frequency so I am still rather skeptical as to whether these sound harsh at high volume and high frequency like the poor paper cone midrange/tweeter satelites of most Bose Acoustimass systems. The midrange power and punch was rather musical and definately commendable and the bass was there as well, and it was definately pleasing to the ears. For such a relatively high price I would certainly expect such high performance, regardless of small footprint. For $3000 ($8000 in store including a cd transport and some other miscellanious equipment) I would absolutely expect great quality. I agree with most consumer's feelings that these speakers are priced because of style, and their style is very very nice. The futuristic look and small footprint and cable managment features of these speakers would go perfectly with a consumer with a modernly styled apartment who needs as much bang for the floorspace as possible. If, however, you have the room and the same amount of money it would take to purchase these speakers, run to your nearest hifi shop and purchase some B&W bookshelf's (DM303's are excellent), a respectable sub (I am about to purchase a Klipsch KSW12) and some nice amplification and stands and I guarantee you'll have a much more versitile system for 5.1 channel listening and for two channel listening as well. You *might* save a few bucks as well. If you like the looks of the BeoLab 8000 and have the cash, then I don't think they'd dissapoint.

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Well, this speaker is in a league of its own as far as size and stature, however if you're basing the comparison off price and exotic technology, then I suppose the Martin Logan Aerius.

Lacks bass :( & quite frankly....over priced.

Excellent sounds reproduction on classical pieces using a 9000 changer. It makes my Thiels sound as ugly as they look while playing Bach or Beethoven.

The bass could be stronger and more accurate, but they work well with music I most enjoy: classical.

Very powerful sound despite its size. Articulate high end response. Very moving sound stage.

Perhaps too neutral if you want a sparkling high frequency performance and big bass.

Its amazing how several of the people that have reviewed this loudspeaker on this web site have totalle misjudged its concept. The idea was to create a very small box and through sophisticated technology make it sound as if it were 4 times the size. Bang&Olufsen has more than accomplished this goal. The technique used to give the speaker its powerful sound is very sophisticated; the speaker does not contain normal cross over technology where details are lost in components, but two amplifiers - each specifically tuned to the units and the box size. A lot of you are talking about lacking bass. Please bear in mind that the actual speaker is only 5 litres - then compare the low frequency response from this speaker with other 5 litres boxes. Then you will have to admit that the sound from the Beolab 8000 is amazing. In this way the Beolab range is a new way of creating speakers and it should be awarded for this. Most of the other companies still create speakers the way they did 20 years ago. If you are still in doubt about the inventiveness of B&O, listen to the new Beolab 1 where digital amplifiers have been used to give a small box an amazing powerful and deep sound stage. They are impressive.