B&O is literally one of the world’s leading names in audio engineering and has been for decades…

They just also take visual design into consideration, unlike the vast majority of speaker manufacturers.

I always find it interesting how polarizing Genelec’s visual design language can be. For me, they’re some of the most visually pleasing speakers on the planet–but then I am also immersed in modern and contemporary design/art history (in personal and professional contexts), so I see them alongside many other examples of innovative speaker design–Bang and Olufsen’s many designs over decades, B&W “Nautilus,” Radialstrahler speakers…literally anything other than a box.

There are a few general criteria for what constitutes good sound reproduction. For example, one general principle most will agree upon is that the speaker setup (including all equipment between the source file/record/CD and what you hear out the speakers) should not vary from the recording to the point where it’s apples and oranges. Some will want to minimize any difference at all, and some will accept some difference because, to them, that makes for a more enjoyable, engaging, “musical” experience.

As far as I’m concerned, hi-fi is the use of dedicated equipment–passive or active–to create the above conditions. How “flat” (or accurate) you want the sound, or how colored–that comes down to your own preferences. It has little to do with what equipment costs. A $5,000 system can sound better than a $50,000 system.

There is nothing that can compete with Class D amplification when everything (physical footprint, efficiency, heat emissions, etc.) is taken into account.

Whether you personally care for the “sound” or approach it with preconceived ideas about “sterility” vs. the supposed “warmth” of AB is a different issue.

Which honestly speaks to an alarmingly broad lack of knowledge. Even a cursory look at the history of design–that is, component engineering AND “how it looks” or more simply form and function–should indicate that there are deep, rich histories that so-called “audiophiles” simply ignore. Whether it’s radio, television, or audio devices, museums around the world highlight industrial design histories.

B&O has been a leader in this space for decades, and I wish more of the community would actually recognize these histories, regardless of whether they personally find the B&O sound or design language appealing.

I mean turning the question around, this subreddit often dismisses Bang and Olufsen, of all things. Yet B&O has not only been at the cutting edge of audio engineering for decades; they *also* paid attention to actual design–as in, design as part of the history of art, architecture, etc. And that’s why their products are in museum collections worldwide.

Between this subreddit’s obsession with maximizing bang-for-buck and just general hostility to non-boomer thinking, it’s not surprising most of the equipment photos give off Most Divorced Man Ever vibes.