Some advice needed please.

I have had a 7-40 Mk3 for a few months now and although generally pleased i have some questions about sound. When trying to listen to say the news, i have to put the sound at around 60 to be able to hear speech clearly through the 7.4 speaker. I personally don't like the look of it, but was advised it was the best for speech etc as a dedicated centre speaker.

The problem really arises when i visit the dreaded mother in law, who's Avant effortlessly displays sound and speech even at low levels. I have the 7-40 paired with Beloab 8000's front and 6000's rear and a Beolab 2. When i put the volume up to 60 to hear say vocals the other speakers come blasting in making the situation worse. I have tried turning the other speakers down, which works to an extent, but in turn makes it pointless having them in the first place! What i want to do is play the sound on setting 5 but manually turn up the 7.4. B&O don't allow you to do this!

Would i actually be better off with a 10-40, and just isolate the satellite speakers for general use, making it into a modern Avant sound setup? I don't need a DVD player.

I have asked about the Beolab 7.2 at a few dealers and generally i am advised the 7.4 is a better speaker. I much prefer it's look, and most of the time don't want the 8000-6000's blasting away.

Any advice much appreciated in advance.

It sounds like you might not have not used the right speaker setting in the sound menu. Sorry, I've forgotten the correct one - but check the manual as it goes 0,1,2,3 or similar. Your dealer is right about the 7.4. Its a great speech mono channel and is very good in my similar application to yours. I have exactly the same but without the rear 6000s.

mawheele:

It sounds like you might not have not used the right speaker setting in the sound menu. Sorry, I've forgotten the correct one - but check the manual as it goes 0,1,2,3 or similar. Your dealer is right about the 7.4. Its a great speech mono channel and is very good in my similar application to yours. I have exactly the same but without the rear 6000s.

I'd 100% agree with this. The 7.4 is one of the best possible speakers for replicating speech! I used to have the 7.4+BL9s setup and the 7.2 doesn't come close, even though it's a very very good speaker. The clarity of the 7.4, particularly for speech, was top notch.

My guess is that the speakers are not fully setup correctly. In fact, I think this happened to me and the 7.4 ends up very quiet and most of the audio is pushed through the two stereo speakers. Get your dealer to look at this.

The 10-40 is not at the level of the 7.4+BL8000s, partly due to the alts on the 7.4's and the fact it's configured to replicate speech.

The only thing stopping me moving up from my BV7-40 to a BV10-46 is the audio. Even my local dealer, who would be keen to make the sale, no doubt, was surprised I'd even considered moving from a BV7-40 to any BV10. He thinks the video is better on the BV7 and the audio, certainly.

Thanks for all the replies.

I have tried the different sound options, but as only option 5 has all the speakers working together i will leave this as the default. 4 cuts out the 7.2 and uses the 8's and 6's, which can be better for music only.

I want to leave the setting as 5 but every now and then just want more from the 7.2(i want to manually set like i can with all the other speakers)

Again thanks. Trip to the helpful folks at Newcastle and mabye a Beo 6 at the same time. Access to their new shop is much easier from a parking point of view and although an extra minute or two's walk from the city centre, the new sound room should be fantastic.

I have done the same with my setup I have a 7.4 and pentas i find my set up ok! I was told to plug the 7.4 into a front speaker plug and not the centre speaker??  Hope that may help in some way

Cheers Nick 

You could check the speaker levels in the sound setup menu. Maybe the levels of front and rear are set to high.

hfat

Thanks. My problem arises from the fact that today we watched Tron Legacy on an Avant. At sound level 45 everything was clear and full. I only managed similar levels on the 7-40 at level 63-68 just now.

 I have never owned a TV where to here things clearly the sound has to be at 70-75% of max! I just find it un natural especially when you consider what power is on tap.