I have absolutely not heard them. And I'd like to. I am judging them solely based on what I've read, seen, and my experience in terms of analyzing design vs. performance. I absolutely will withold final judgement until I've heard them.
I have heard the 8000's, 150s, 9's, 3's, and 5's.
Regarding earlier B&O speakers, I don't have a lot of experience/knowledge - I first became aware of them in the early 80's, when as a newcomer to Australia I discovered a dealership in the city.
I absolutely adored the style, but also knew a great deal less than I know now about what works and what doesn't in HiFi, so wasn't really in a position to make an 'educated' assessment of them. I did think though that their TV's were ahead of anything else I'd seen in terms of picture and especially sound quality.
At the time I owned a Rait amplifier (copy of a Radford) TD 125 Mk11/SME 3009/V15 Shure TT & a pair of B&W DM2a's, and whilst visiting interstate heard in a friends home a B&O system of speakers which were similar size to the DM2a's (no idea which model) a B&O TT with the tangential arm, and the Beomaster amp - I think the 5000 - silver front with the clear perspex sliding controls for bass/treble etc - this was in the very early 80's.
I thought the sound very similar to my own setup - certainly on par if not better in some areas, and not as good in others, so similar, but different, but certainly very good.
If my memory serves correctly, at one point in the intervening decades, Philips owned majority shares in B&O, albeit in due course B&O bought those shares back, but that may part explain the earlier point made about Phillips PCB's etc being in the products and less than stellar build quality.
My experience and real appreciation (apart from the amazing style) of B&O began with the Lab 5.
I've now heard the Beolab 90 around 4 times - first at a dealership and lastly at a recent HiFi show - held as usual in a large hotel.
What was interesting about that was the array of competition: JBL Everests, B&W 800D's, a Naim system with Focal speakers and amplification costing circa A$100k, Quad Electrostatics, various horns and other exotic high end speaker designs such as one usually only sees at a high end audio show, all resplendent with the obligatory wrist thick speaker cables and shiny gadgets etc.
Some of it sounded great, others sounded dire - as usual the 'room' was given as the problem in some rather 'difficult' demonstrations.
I attended with a friend who has a good ear and owns electrostatics; both of us felt that when it came to the most authentic sound at the show, by which I mean which system most realistically portrays music with authentic and natural tonal timbre, transient response and dynamics to afford the most realistic involvement in the emotional message of the music, and spatial perspectives reminiscent of live performance, along with stunning resolution, it was the Beolab 90's by a country mile.
They dynamics and scale of something like a JBL Everest, with the sense of utter neutrality, clarity and finesse of something like the B&W 800D is one way of describing the sound.
The other is that speaking as a trained classical musician, the Beolab 90 is without doubt the most authentic sounding speaker I have ever heard, and at any price.
Notwithstanding of course the likes of Steinway Lyngdorf systems, or MBL Radialstrahler, neither of which I have heard, but I have little doubt the Beolab 90 is up in that league.
Do try and have a listen if you can - they're more about revolution than evolution when it comes to HiFi as we have known it. And now we have the new Beolab 50 offering a great deal of what the Beolab 90 offered, but at a much more approachable price.
Cheers
