Ive just purchased a pair of beolab 5's and I am awaiting delivery and installation on 13th January for my main sitting room. OOOO i cannot wait!!!.  its my dream come through:):):):) Currently, i have Beolab 8000 as my front speakers and beolab 4000's at rear. Im running both the Beosound 9000 and the Beo vision 7-40 M111 through these.

 My question is this....When I get the lab 5's in a front speakers in my main sitting room, I intend to move either the 8000's or the 4000's upstairs to accompany my bedroom tv (beovision 6-26) and then use either the 8000's or 4000's as rear speakers with the lab 5's.  The main room is not big, maybe 20 feet by 15 feet, and i open doors into dining room to make a larger area. but u get the picture...its not a concert hall...so should I use the lab 8000 or 4000 as rear speakers with the lab 5's?? some think the 4000 will be lost with the lab 5's and others say its a waste of the 8000's to relegate them to rear speakers....maybe someone has a similar set-up and could advise me?

and also, got my hands on the new Beocom 5 speaker phone and another beocom 5 unit for bedroom which i installed today...easy peasy.... its beautiful, especially the speaker unit. U can use the phone to control the volumes on any B&O equiptment... maybe a bit gimmicky, but sweet none the less.

Finally, I have  also ordered an new apple mini mac  ( 1 Tb of storage  and 4gb memory) for my Beovision 7-40 to try and use apple movies, though im not so sure this is easy in ireland. if anyone in ireland has the apple mini and is using it with B&O equiptment to store your movies etc , id love to contact you to see how to set this up. someone said you need a UK based credit card to order and d/l from apple?

Regarding the Mac mini, if you do not have a UK credit card, you can buy some pre-paid itunes cards create a "UK" iTunes account using them.

Hello Paul, and congratulations!

The BL5 are great!

I had almost the same question a few years ago. I had to choose between BL6000 and BL4000. I chose the 4000s as rear speakers, mainly because of their "easy to place" abilities.

To my ears they are very capable rear speakers. I would choose them again if I had to.

Good luck with your decision, and enjoy those 5´s!

Congrats!

I had the same dilemna when i got my 5s

I ended up putting the 8ks with mine

I thought they were stronger. . however, you can rest assured that either will do.

The B&O brand is very good about creating the same "type" of sound from all of their lines.

I always here the same voice from my speakers. .. no matter which ones i listen to. 

An equally important question is what goes with the BV6 ...

So I think 4000s for the BV6 & 8000s to complement the BL5s

Congratulations to your new speakers!

The 8000's are too good speakers (and good looking) to be used as rear speakers. I would use them with your second TV. The 4000's are the ultimate rear speakers and easy to place. 

Thanks guys for the advice on the speakers....i think i will go with the lab5 + 8000 as rear and transfer the 4000 to the bvedroom with the 6-26 TV. Anyway, since both the 8000 and 4000 use same input leads, im sure changing them around wont be too much of a hassle if i change my mind.

Unfortunately, i cannot say the same for getting the Lab5's installed as all my current wiring for the 8000's is buried behind the fireplace and i underrstand the lab5's need a heavier input lead, so for the third time, i will have to pull my fireplace off the wall and re-plaster:(:(:...having said that, i guess im lucky and its a nice position to be in to have the choice to install the Lab 5's.

Phil, thanks for advice on MiniMac and apple...I will try using the pre-paid itunes cards and see how i get on as i do not have a UK credit card or access to one.

Much appreciated guys.

Paul - Dublin

The famous "what surround speakers to use?" issue.

There have been a few threads on the topic in here. I'll briefly summarise my experiences and recommendations.

Try to get the surround speakers up on the side walls and rear wall. That's where they are when the movies are mixed for surround, that's where they are in the cinema, and that's where they should be in a home theatre. You get the best possible sound perspective then. The surround sound information is a mixture of q-sound off the front speaker signals, and dedicated sound-effect signals - and they work by far the best when your speakers imitate the positioning in the cinema.

Floor speakers of the column kind will be sending quite a bit of information into the rear of your chair or sofa, instead of to your ears, and their position will not enhance the sound perspective as intended.

BL4000s are perfect for the purpose. I use BL3s with my BL5s, but have tested BL4000s, and am just looking for a reason to have the BL3s somewhere else before I replace them with BL4000s.

Enjoy some of the best movie sound on the planet, with B&O speakers!

The 5´s are still a dream!!!

Congrats!!!

thanks soundproof - had not actually thought about the issue of column speakers sending a lot of info to sofa but actualy it makes sense. so ive reversed my initial decision and will now go with the lab 5 + lab4000 as rears, and ill move the lab 8000 upstairs and add them to my BS6-26. i cant wait to hear the lab 5's, they look and sound like an incredible speaker in the shop set up, so im hoping they will prove their worth in my home:)

thanks for all the good advice guys - this site is great.

p

And they sound much better at home than in the shop.