Back in 1996, when most people were piling CDs onto cheap plastic racks and pretending they were organised, the rich were doing something very different. They were bolting a luxury strip of polished technology to their wall and watching it glide between discs like it was performing ballet. This was the Bang and Olufsen BeoSound 9000, at £2,500, an expensive CD changer created for people who had more money than storage space.
It was a six disc vertical gallery of music that looked like a modern art installation and sounded like money. Press a button and the mechanism zipped up and down with so much confidence you almost expected it to send an invoice after every disc change. It was the sort of audio system that did not just play music. It announced, very loudly, that you lived a life of questionable financial priorities.
The Rich and Nostalgia
Fast forward to today and nostalgia has become one of the most expensive hobbies available. Bang and Olufsen saw an opportunity and revived the BeoSound 9000 through their Classics programme as the 9000C, a lovingly restored and upgraded system designed for people who miss the retro aesthetic and the sheer elegance.
The price for this emotional time machine is roughly £45,000 and for that money you get a fully refurbished original unit, hand tuned mechanics, pairing with modern Beolab 28 speakers, and a sense of self importance that only companies like Bang and Olufsen can provide. It is retro indulgence engineered for the rich, wrapped in luxury sound and polished to a shine so bright it blinds your financial judgement.
The Verdict
The original BeoSound 9000 was a masterpiece of design, style and unnecessary brilliance. The 9000C is the same idea turned up to maximum decadence. It is a celebration of expensive technology, a shrine to audio excess and a reminder that sometimes people will pay extraordinary amounts of money for something simply because it looks great.
