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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 2
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

"The Cube" is the first stop in testing a B&O loudspeaker. At 12x12x13 meters it is the world's largest privately owned sound test room. It is not an anechoic chamber. Instead, B&O built a space large enough to use MLS measurements to a high degree of precision. MLS measures the speaker's response to an impulse. This result is then gated to eliminate the effect of the sound reflected off the walls. The reproduced and filtered impulse is then converted back to a frequency response (techies will recognize this as a Fourier transformation). The two walls of the chamber are damped, not to eliminate reflections but to speed up the time between impulses (a number of impulses are averaged for greater precision). The support structure shown here holds the loudspeaker (in the photo it's one of B&O's very tall, pencil-thin designs). The mike is visible in the distance. Measurements are made in 140 different directions.

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 3
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

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

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 4
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

Speakers for cordless phones, another B&O product category, must be tiny. Looks like it also might make an interesting tweeter, though probably not, as the frequency response of telephone drivers is band limited by design.

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 5
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

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.

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 6
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

The BeoLab 3, shown here with acoustic engineer Peter Chapman, is a tiny sphere with a small woofer-midrange, a single Acoustic Lens tweeter, and a two on-board ICEpower amps, all in a tiny, spherical cabinet with an internal volume of 1.5 liters. It sounded remarkably close in balance to the big BeoLab 5 (the deepest bass and ultimate volume capability excluded, of course).

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 7
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

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!

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 7
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006
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A/V Veteran
B&O PART 8
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

B&O has produced televisions since the early 1950s. This is its first.

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A/V Veteran
B&O Part 9
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006

The BeoVision 9 television, which just started shipping, is B&O's current flagship 50-inch plasma. The 50" set, at around $20,000, may seem pricey for a 1366x768 design (it uses Panasonic glass), and it is. But it does include a built-in center speaker with an Acoustic Lens tweeter and 5" woofer. It also features an on-board version of B&O's BeoMedia (available separately in the BeoSystem 3), which includes all of the features of a sophisticated pre-pro and more. These include full 7.1-channel decoding (expandable up to 10 channels), speaker switching and speaker assignment options that may be the most flexible on the market, and easy access to sources as diverse as CD, radio, cable TV, satellite TV, DVD, photos, digital cameras, and the Internet. And oh, yes, the entire cabinet has a motorized swivel. Very cool.

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Audio Video News
Microsoft To Sell TV Show And Movie Downloads Over Xbox Live
 |  Nov 09, 2006  |  First Published: Nov 10, 2006

Microsoft announced this week that it has secured deals with a number of major studios to sell downloads of movies and TV shows through its Xbox Live Internet service for the Xbox 360 game console. Although the bulk of the programming available will be standard definition, some content will be available in HD out of the gate, with more to follow. The service will go live November 22nd.

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