Due to a near move-in with my girlfriend and as a result of a discussion about our interior I will have to downgrade my choice of speakers. (The expression SWMBO was not invented for nothing )

Currently I have a pair of BL5000's and was thinking about swopping the speaker parts to the smaller 4500's.
A colleague of mine has BL4500's and was positive about making a trade (of course) because she has a large living room. Only, the fabric fronts on her speakers are grey and I like the blue ones better. Are these still available new?

Also, I quite like the look of BL4's and BL4000's. I know that BL4's would probably be a set-back soundwise.

What is your take on this? Maybe there's other alternatives that I didn't think of. BL3's are out of my price range.

Best regards,
Ben

Put your foot down and insist on keeping the 5000s. Come on lad, who wears the trousers in your relationship?

Or, dump your girlfriend and find one who appreciates the finer things in life.

Show her the 8000's, ladies love them.

Hehe, dumping is definitely not an alternative! Afraid keeping the 5000's is not, either

Ladies might love 8000's, the thing is I don't

But thanks, guys! Other suggestions are more than than welcome  

Since you won't dump your girlfriend, I think your only option is too buy BL4000s. I would save up to a pair of BL3s though - I am sure she would love the look of them. Buy them 2nd hand on eBay if you have too - there are often a pair on the market.

 

Christian 

Show her the BL5 and she will love your BL5000.

ridax:

Show her the BL5 and she will love your BL5000.

I love that Ridax!

Having owned a pair of 8000s for a number of years I have to comment on just how good they are. It's a shame you don't like them since there are arguably B&O's most famous long standing speaker ever. I have never met anyone before that didn't like them so this is a definite first for me. Anyway, since we have to consider others I would say the 4000s are certainly up there but not the 6000s. Neither the 4. How about the 3500? I love this speaker and wonder if it would fit the bill depending on how you want to use it? The 3s are amazing too but as you say they are out of your price range. If you really can't go with the 8000s which are by far the most obvious and best suited choice then I would take the 4000s without hesitation.

Best of luck, keep us informed.

Simon.

britpop:

Show her the 8000's, ladies love them.

BeoLab 4000s, 8000s and 3s are your options IMO! You could maybe even push for BeoLab 9s, if you have the cash/the girlfriend agrees. All sound pretty different, so you should always listen to the speakers properly before buying them.

As much as I love my new BeoLab 4s, I can't recommend them as an alternative to BeoLab 5000s! The 4000s are a much more sensible choice if you're using them as main speakers.

Since keeping the BL5000 is not an option because of your girlfriend; I would go for the BL4500 because of the looks but soundwise the only option would be the less beautifull BL4000.

I'm glad my girlfriend [who recently became my wife and not just because of her perfect speaker taste...:-] likes both the BL5000 as well as the BL4500 hanging on our walls and I don't have to get rid of my sets...........;-)

Congratulations, Leon! With your wife as well as her taste in speakers
And thanks to everyone else for the input

Naturally, I'm still lobbying for the BL5000's to be a part of our interior but at the moment I'm looking at the alternatives if the lobbying doesn't go through.

Right now my hit list is this:

1. BL5000's
2. BL4500's
3. BL4000's

 Let's say I was to swop my BL5000's to BL4000's - would it be sensible to make a straight swop? (for both parts)

I would ask your girlfriend to make the decision! I would choose 4000s - though probably the older ones rather than the ICE ones. If you are wall mounting the 4000s, they will be fine. They are only about one third the volume of the 5000s though so you will notice a difference!

benkap:

Congratulations, Leon! With your wife as well as her taste in speakers
And thanks to everyone else for the input

Naturally, I'm still lobbying for the BL5000's to be a part of our interior but at the moment I'm looking at the alternatives if the lobbying doesn't go through.

Right now my hit list is this:

1. BL5000's
2. BL4500's
3. BL4000's

 Let's say I was to swop my BL5000's to BL4000's - would it be sensible to make a straight swop? (for both parts)

This would be my hitlist as well [if I where in you that is] I guess the BL5000 will be worth a bit more in value but in reallity the WAF factor will kill the difference for the bigger part.

I would go for a swop to keep both partners happy....;-) you've got the most beautifull version of the two : BL4000 vs. BL4500 and this will be a bit cheaper than a set of the newer but less beautifull BL4000.imho

You will certainly notice the difference between the BL5000 and the BL4500/4000 !

My BL5000 set will be in the dealers workshop for the next week; he will trade the less visable amber display for a green display of the BL4500 and this will become a perfect match with my setup of two BL4500/one set of BL5000 and one set of penta III ................

Great news!

I finally convinced my girlfriend that I simply cannot live without my beloved BL5000's.

Woohoo! I'm sure that with time she will appreciate them a lot, too
 

SÅDAN!

(= something like "Yeah")

benkap:

Great news!

I finally convinced my girlfriend that I simply cannot live without my beloved BL5000's.

Woohoo! I'm sure that with time she will appreciate them a lot, too
 

 that's great ! congrats ! you've got a sensible girlfriend and she won't be sorry [I suppose] because it will keep you happy :-)

your discussion over this BL5000 started me thinking so I removed the BL5000 from front [speaker daisychained to with my BLpenta] to rear and moved the BL4500 to our bedroom. the result ? what I sound from the rear every time we're watching a DVD !!