I had a look at the driver configuration Gorissek is using and it's one I've had experience with. The bass should stay fairly well controlled, I was driving the same cones with a 35 wpch Rotel amp and it sounded beautiful up until medium-high volumes, at which point the mids really began to yelp and screech. Of course, this isn't taking into account

I feel the same! My parents get fed up with it, as most places them seem to take me end up having B&O in some way! I guess I'm just eagle eyed, or my parents have a very good taste in restaurants (which I'll admit they do).

Because the OP wasn't sure which they should go for. All these discussions prove is that speakers are a very personal choice and people should really let their ears be the judge rather than other people.

The highs and mids would be distributed well, but I can see how the bass would be a bit wallowy. All sub-bass and very little detail as far as the upper bass driver goes will result in kinda dull bass with no upper-kick to it. Kinda like a Bose system, except the frequencies which are there do actually sound quite nice...

The BeoLab 1 may have been the flagship speaker for a brief period (and it was kinda brief), but that doesn't make it the best even while it was flagship. The BeoLab 1s are better IMO, far more musical...

Hmmm, it's always possible I suppose that you've got a defective unit. I suspect however it's more to do with where it's mounted. Either that, or there's nothing wrong with it and you simply are in want of something better! Wall mounted BeoLab 4000s + a BeoLink Active will give you much much much higher standard of performance!

BeoLab 5s + a BeoLab 2?

I agree, the Pentas really are a pretty phenomenal pair of speakers. Up until B&O released the BeoLab 9s, the Pentas were the best speakers B&O had made bar the 5s. I think the 9s are superior though, better bass extension, far better high-frequency (the Pentas can sound a bit too 'fluffy' by today's standards). Only thing the Pentas have over the 9s

Agreed, and the BeoSound 4 is a very nice unit indeed, it's got 'wow factor' although not in the same way as the 9000 (it's more discreet). BeoLab 9s are better than Pentas, and you'd probably find this is the best setup sonically. It's likely to be more expensive, but it'd be worth it. BeoLab 9s need to be set up correctly (usually they end up sounding

I've always been impressed with the sound of the 3500 whenever I've heard one. How is yours mounted? Did it sound similar in the showroom to your ears?