You say to yourself pardon?! Thats not right, no comparison...

Well, to my ears i'm truly astounded everyday at what the BL4000's reproduce.

The second half of my day today was free time so went to our lovely dealer to say hello and have another good old fashioned audition of the BL5's... yes it was near-heart-attack stuff, but upon leaving, our dealer kindly lent me the CD's used.

Well the second i walked into the house it was straight on and turned up. Very shocking stuff. The 4000's in our room really whop out the dynamics and floorshaking sound. To me, they satisfy, impress and serenade me. This CD brought sound i haven't heard at home before. And  i now know what tracks to play to guests who say, 'can i have a listen?'

Maybe i am over zealous in my description, but these were my thoughts, thats what i heard and i had to share, as a beoworlder, some days there is nothing else interesting to read.

 

........and the CD's were....?????????

Music can astound even through a cheap Japanese boombox! I have a Sony radio cassette in the kitchen that sounds wonderful - because through pure fluke it is well situated and the room seems to enhance its sound. In the hall, it is just OK.

Beolab 4000s are excellent small speakers and produce an unfeasible amount of bass for their size: in fact I sometimes think too much for my tastes! I am sure yours sound good and that a lot of this is down to good positioning and a room that suits the style of the speaker.

Beolab 5s are however simply the best speaker I have ever heard and the clarity and the way they can disappear sonically puts them in another class to any B&O speaker. I don't find the Beolab 9s do this.

As soon as i read the topic of this thread i had to read more.

The BL4000's really are a miracle of audio engineering, but not in the league of BL5's.

Correctly placed and with good material the BL4000's are astounding, and are a real triumph. I'm pleased you get so much enjoyment out of them. For those who cant make the stretch to BL5's then, there is plenty of enjoyment to be had from 4000's or indeed any other speaker in the B&O range.

jazz

Agreed, the 4000s are a great speaker, arguably the best price/value ratio on their range.

The BL5 on the other hand... a league of their own.

The debate on the old Beoworld site was 4000 vs 6000 (and usually the 4000s won hands down), and 8000 vs BL3 (that was much less than clear cut). Add a BL2 in the mix and the BL3's have a distinct edge. Although I prefer the purity of the look of the 8000s, I do think the sound of BL3s is much more crisp. I can definitely tell the difference when I switched my living room 4000s with BL3s (which were in storage for quite a while).

No doubt though, the 4000s, pack a helluva wallup!

-Sal

Sometimes it's nice being naive. The attributes of the BL5 are of course infallible and truly exilerating. For the money i've spent so far, my satisfaction level with our setup is high enough to be able to say all this.

The quality of these CD's was top notch with incredible dynamics. Therefore, the best sound I've ever heard from our setup. Look at the size of the drivers! Look at the cabinet volume! Hell of a contradiction in my opinion, and always hard to believe when they are cranked up.

Was my little post over the top? You betcha! The conclusion however is that i am thrilled and impressed more and more with this product. When i remember that it has been only 4 years since being outed and living homelessly, i feel so lucky and appreciate everything alot more!  Gee i have busy fingers don't I! I'll shh now. 

Dave, what are the titles of those CDs!!

* Chiller
Kunzel / Cincinati Pops Orchestra - under Telarc Digital Record label. (1989)

 

* The ultimate demonstration disc
Chesky Records' guide to critical listening                                        (1995)
 

Thanks!

Sorry, no idea mate, that's what google is for!

That's nice of your dealer, I can't say my local would be that kind!

I find it truly mind boggling when people plug in their iPods to audition a loudspeaker when a finely edited CD leaves a lowly MP3 file and a poorly edited CD for dead.

David:

When i remember that it has been only 4 years since being outed and living homelessly, i feel so lucky and appreciate everything alot more!  Gee i have busy fingers don't I! I'll shh now. 

That sounds harsh - you were thrown out of home?
 

Yeh lol it was harsh but i was a pretty belligerent kid so i learnt my lesson quick

David:

Yeh lol it was harsh but i was a pretty belligerent kid so i learnt my lesson quick

 

Ah so you weren't thrown out for being gay - just for being a teenager  

BeoLab 5s in the same situation would have shown you what you're really missing out on! BL4000s are lovely little speakers, and really impress for their size, but BeoLab 5s in the same room would have shown what can really be done with the music...

David, I agree with you. The 4000s are amazing. We have 4000s in two rooms in our house and had a pair of Beolab 1s with a subwoofer in a third room. I frequently found myself choosing to listen to the 4000s over the 1s as they seemed to sound better to me. We recently purchased a pair of Beolab 9s to replace the 1s which are now rear speakers in our surround sound set up replacing the 6000s that were in the rear. When I listen to the 4000s I wonder why I spent the money on the 9s. However when I go listen to the 9s it makes sense again. The sound is better from the 9s at high volumes and the bass is tighter, although which is better is a matter of taste.

all i want to say really is horray for the gay.

its 2007 people, my dad was not even shocked when i said i was batty

i have no idea why i posted that i think i just got excited when i found there was another gay B&o owner lol

I'm sure there are plenty of gay Bang & Olufsen owners out there Sean! B&O design has both the WAF = wife acceptance factor and the GAF = gay applause factor

If i could afford BL9's i would have a pair instead of the 4000's. But i must reiterate that the sound we get from the 4000's in our room is very impressive and strange (considering the size of the drivers, cabinet volume and price). I don't question the value for money with BL9's - as the sound quality is clearly awesome. Placed well, i imagine that they are a "poor man's pair of BL5's". I do wonder, however, how much the BL9's cost to manufacture... they seem rather simple as far as materials go 

You think? I think they use very high quality drive cones, high quality amps and to me, the cabinets seem very high quality.

You should seem the 'simplicity' of what some of the competition is pushing out in comparison to the price tag! Not that there's anything wrong with this...

My perception of the BL9's was just an inference. How do you know all this Alex? You should work for B&O.

He does! On Saturdays!