Hi,

I just bought myself a pair of BL9 this weekend. They are just stunning.

I have them as front speakers in my souround system connected to a BeoSystem 1. Unfortunatly I can't choose Beolab 9 in the Speaker Type setting. Currently I have choosen Belob 5 for that setting.

Is there a software upgrade that includes the BL9 for the BS1? What exactly does this setting do? Is it a big difference/is it worth the money?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Max

To be honest with you, I'd leave it on BeoLab 5. The BeoLab 9s are smart enough to flick into protection mode if you push them too hard, and they go lower than any other B&O speakers so far (other than BeoLab 5s).

Yes there is a software update though! Not worth it IMO

Forgot to say what it does! Choosing the correct speakers in the setup menu basically tells the surround sound decoder where to send the bass, and also protects the speakers by attempting not to send sounds to the speakers which might send them into protection (although this is very very hard to do). Using the BeoLab 5 setting with BeoLab 9s will be fine, as the 9s are very very capable speakers in terms of playing deep bass and also playing very loud.

Alex:

Forgot to say what it does! Choosing the correct speakers in the setup menu basically tells the surround sound decoder where to send the bass, and also protects the speakers by attempting not to send sounds to the speakers which might send them into protection (although this is very very hard to do). Using the BeoLab 5 setting with BeoLab 9s will be fine, as the 9s are very very capable speakers in terms of playing deep bass and also playing very loud.

I have understood that the speaker type setting tells the decoder not where to send the bass (that is sent to the subwoofer which is selected as a role) but is very important if you want to get a good sound image in a surround setup with different types of speakers. In principle you could have have BL5's and 4's in a 7.2 setup (perhaps not really). Please correct me if I am wrong but this at least SHOULD be the principle.
 

So the correct setting is to select the closest you can get  powerwise. Ie for BL9's the BL5 is probably the closest, could be Penta as well.

Personally I have RL60.2's (w MCL2P) in a surround setting together with BL4000's, BL7.1 and BL2. It would be interesting to measure the volume level from the speakers, the testing sequence of BS3 indicates a relatively well working adjustment. The RL's are identified as BL4's.

I would say the Pentas are the second closest to the BeoLab 9s, but the BeoLab 5s are much closer!

When BeoLab 5s are used as front speakers, at least BeoLab 3s should be used as rear speakers IMO, I just find that BeoLab 6000s or anything less don't really do it justice, especially BeoLab 4s which will really really struggle. Don't forget the BeoLab 5s are speakers which are capable of around 130 dB peak, possibly more. BeoLab 4s are only really suitable up to medium volumes in small rooms, and will not be ready for the kind of signals they would receive even as rear speakers when you're expecting them to keep up with 5s at the front.

The speaker settings seem not to affect the image as much as where the bass is sent, although with the BeoSystem 3 it does seem to make a difference to the image when using a BeoLab 7-1 instead of a 7-2. Maybe I'm just imagining things?

Hardly in terms of low frequency performance. The BeoLab 9s sound kinda weedy in comparison to what they really can do when used with the BeoLab 1 setting, they sound miles better when used with the BeoLab 5 setting...