I find the bass performance of the BeoLab 9s to be better than that of the BeoLab 2, much faster, more accurate, and MUCH more detailed. The BeoLab 2 can be a bit 'slow' at times, although it's fantastic for bringing down your house during a movie! For music though, the BeoLab 9s are much better without a BL2, and even with movies, the BL9s are pretty

It will slow things down considerably, and generally not be much help. You are of course, aware that there are alternatives to Microsoft Office which still support the same files. iWork has the ability to open and save Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents (although it's not obvious), and there is of course NeoOffice (although this isn't very good).

If moving the connection from the CD input to the PHONO input produced different results, then the fault's probably with the BeoMaster. Probably needs it's relays cleaning, something a service engineer should be able to do.

Definitely a good deal. The differences in picture are outstanding, you'll see a world of difference.

The sound will be good, but obviously not as good as CD. The iPods can actually sound very good as long as you use high bitrates, preferably in AAC format or Apple Lossless format (although the latter takes up stupid amounts of space). One thing I would recommend is an in-line volume control, you can get them from Maplins for £3.99. Unplugging my BeoLab

Trojans and viruses are completely different. A trojan is just a piece of software which doesn't do what it says on the tin. You install it thinking it's going to install a codec etc... when in fact it just deletes files. I believe there are others out there for Macs, but it's not a 'vulnerability', it's just a disaster waiting to happen to incredibly

Sure you don't get the same earth-shattering bass you get from the Lab 5s, but I personally think the highs and mids especially from the BeoLab 5s are still a leap up from the 9s.

The top diagram is the one you want. Ignore pins 6 and 7, they're not needed at all, and your plug won't have them. They're only used on special 'Datalink' connections, all the other connections are the same as a standard DIN plug.

I agree with Peter, the BeoLab 5s are just 'invisible'. When listening to them they just seem to disappear, and the bass is only there when it's needed. The mids are notably more open on the 5s, it's noticeable on almost any kind of music involving vocals.

I've noticed that the mids on the BeoLab 9s can sound a bit 'closed in' at times, but I think this is just when they haven't been used much (ie, they need to be 'worn in'). Give them a lot of playing, and they'll sound wonderful. They really are a fantastic pair of speakers when set up correctly (which they're quite sensitive to it seems). Although