LATEST ADDITIONS

If stepping off the plane into the Copenhagen airport is a little like stepping into the world's biggest IKEA store, then stepping out of the tiny airport in Karup, Denmark is a little like transporting to the farmlands of Nebraska. But my mission to the far west end of the Jutland peninsula, together with a number of other European and North American journalists, was not sightseeing, but information. Information about what Struer, Denmark manufacturer B&O is currently about, and how the activities in its several facilities are leading to interesting new products, and how those products are influenced by the thinking and research behind them.

This is the R&D prototype for the BeoLab5, shown with the project's lead designer, Gert Munch.

The BeoSound 4 is an all-purpose CD, radio, SD card slot, and optional Digital Audio Broadcasting (European format) music system. The pyramid-shaped BeoLab 4 speakers are self-powered, with digital amplification. Approximately 8" high, B&O calls the BeoLab 4 a multi-purpose unit, suitable for a small stereo system, for a music system or computer, or as a surround sound speaker in an AV setup. It can be placed on a desk stand, floor stand, wall mounted, or hung from the ceiling.

B&O began as a radio manufacturer in the late 1920s, operating out of Svend Olufsen's family farmhouse outside of Struer, Denmark. Its first product, the Eliminator, was designed to allow a radio to be powered by line voltage instead of a battery. The photo shows B&O consultant Ronny Kaas Mortensen next to the radio. The small box at the upper right hand corner of the radio is the Eliminator. It was not only built inside the radio itself, but also sold separately. It also cleaned up the dirty power line output of the day—the first audiophile high-end power conditioner!