B&O Boosts Focus on LCD TVs, But Won’t Abandon Plasma

Bang and Olufsen will increasingly focus on LCDs as it adds large-size TVs, but it won’t abandon its plasma business, B&O America President Zane Nielsen said.

While plasma TVs in sizes above 55 inches are “the picture source for us,” as LCD moves to larger screens, “I don’t see why we wouldn’t continue to grow” with it, Nielsen said. B&O shipped last year a BeoVision 7 55-inch LCD TV with LED backlighting ($17,500) and recently added a 40-inch BeoVision 10 with edge-lit LEDs. A 46-inch BeoVision 10 ($9,940) will be introduced in Denmark this month and will be available in the U.S. in June, company officials said. The new BeoVision 10 set uses 240 Hz panels sourced from Samsung. The BeoVision 7 40-inch and 55-inch also feature an optional Blu-ray player module that sells for $1,500 to $2,000, including installation.

"A few years ago we said 40 inches is where the cutoff will be for us, but LCD has been able to push the limit,” Nielsen said. “We want to have both options and will continue to have both options for sales in the stores."

LCD TVs “have been leading the charge” for B&O recently, given “the concepts we are playing with right now” and that the company recently shipped new models, Nielsen said. B&O LCD TVs also are sold as an all-in-one product, while plasma sets are marketed on a component basis with separate speakers and surround sound processors, Nielsen said. Plasma TVs are for the “true home theater” customer, while LCDs lend themselves to the “regular living room,” Nielsen said.

B&O also moved more quickly to refresh its LCD TV line. It added a 103-inch plasma set last year that has “done pretty well” and met the company’s U.S. sales targets, Nielsen said. But Nielsen declined to disclose exact sales figures and “obviously those types of customers are few and far between,” he said. B&O assembles the 103-inch sets in Denmark and dealers in Toronto and Mexico City display them in their stores, he said. B&O also has a 65-inch model, the first of which shipped in 2007, that has “maintained a steady course” of sales. It also fields 42- and 50-inch plasma TVs, Nielsen said.

B&O’s BeoSound 5 audio system has been “faring pretty well” since its introduction last year (CED Jan 30 p3), Nielsen said. BeoMaster 5 combines a 10.5-inch LCD controller with an attached 500 GB BeoMaster 5 storage device that’s designed to a user’s music collection. The ethernet-capable BeoSound also features B&O’s More of The Same software that analyzes two minutes of each song in a music collection and creates links based on a song’s sound, dynamics and rhythm. It has been B&O’s top-selling audio system largely because it’s the newest product, Nielsen said. But BeoSound “pushes the envelope” in terms of signaling where B&O stores “competence needs to be in the future,” Nielsen said. While B&O typically sells products as a series, there are no immediate plans for a new BeoSound, he said. The BeoSound software has been upgraded to add new audio formats, Nielsen said. “Obviously it involves much more digital connectivity so for us not to just dip our toe into that world, but plunge in completely, is a good experience,” Nielsen said.

Some B&O stores also are moving to slightly larger locations to accommodate the BeoLiving format, which merchandises products in a home-like setting, Nielsen said. Dealer stores in Miami and Kansas City, Mo. also will shift by June to new 2,200-square-foot locations, from 1,500-square-foot spaces, Nielsen said. B&O has 47 stores, including 13 company-owned locations, down from 49 a year ago. About half the stores have the BeoLiving format, Nielsen said. While B&O has a 650-square-foot outlet in Tysons Galleria Mall, McLean, Va., the focus is on larger stores with space for BeoLiving and big screen TVs, Nielsen said.