Hi all,

I have just picked up a new pair of Beolab 3's from my dealer and have a couple of questions that I need advice on.

As I am connecting the speakers to my Imac the dealer ordered cables that have powerlink at one end and a single rca at the other, with both cables plugging into a single mini jack adapter that can then plug into the Mac. The cables themselves appear to the thin powerlink MK1 style cables rather than powerlink mark2, does the fact that the cable is a line input mean that the cable does not have to be the thicker powerlink mark 2? Hope that makes sense. Also if the speakers are set to line I'm not sure how the right and left designation works?

A final question...the speakers are ex-demo and despite having all the packaging etc I have not been supplied with the rubber bases. From looking at the user manual it appears these should be supplied as standard, is this the case?

I also plan to raise all these questions with my dealer tomorrow, but thought I'd also get some knowledgable opinions.

 
Thanks for the help, Jon.
 

Think you have to buy the rubber bases.

The Mk2 cables are quite thin, also, so I'm not sure whether you've gotten Mk1 or 2. You'll find out tomorrow. I have a similar setup, and am very satisfied.

L & R you sort out by moving the RCAs in the minijack connector. Use music you know the soundstage of, or fiddle with the balance in your SOUND>OUTPUT setting in System Preferences - to decide which is which channel. 

Left/Right designation is determined by which speaker goes into which connection.

Thanks for the quick replies guys. I checked the cables and according to the manual the powerlink mark2 have a small triangle on the powerlink socket, which is missing on the cables I have. Also I have some powerlink mark2 cables which I use with some other beolabs and they are slighlty thicker than the mark1 cables I also have.

 Thanks again, Jon.
 

Good luck. My cables are Mk2 - don't know whether it would make much of a difference at the signal strengths at play here, though. Let me know whether you hear a difference.

BTW - my experience with the BeoLab 3s from iTunes: these speakers are harsh on music at low bitrate compression. Seriously - they come alive when you feed them lossless or play a CD through the Mac to them -- mine get clinky sounding with music compressed at very low bitrates.
 

I use my Beolab 3s with my Mac. I use Mk3 Powerlink cables which are thin - I think you have the correct ones for your needs. I play almost exclusively MP3 music with them but recorded at a high bit rate. They are excellent. I hope you really enjoy them. The rubber bases were standard but no-one used them so they were removed and the price dropped. I still have mine somewhere!

As far as I know the rubber base was standard in the beginning, but are not included anymore. The first two pairs I got, came both with the rubber base, the last one 3 month ago came in new more "light" packaging without the rubber base.

Karsten 

 

I bought mine early 2006, no rubber base. I am super happy with them. If you have the wrong cables, you will hear a loud buzzing. I doubt your dealer messed that up so don't worry too much. Hope you will enjoy them as much a s I do. I just watched the Joss Stone DVD and I am still in disbelieve how good they sound.

Hi all,

I got  a call from my dealer first thing and he confirmed what you are saying that the cables are mark3 and ok for the Lab3 and that the bases were no longer standard and price dropped to reflect this.

 Looking forward to trying everyting out at the weekend!

Thanks again, Jon.
 

Where are you? If local, you could have my bases if you need them. (This is not an invitation for anyone else to write to me for them!!)

Peter:

Where are you? If local, you could have my bases if you need them. (This is not an invitation for anyone else to write to me for them!!)

Peter,

Thank you for the very generous offer. I have actually bought some floor stands from Lifstyle AV which I intend to use longer term (once we have completed some building work), but neither the stands nor speakers had the screws to secure the speakers to the stands (hopefully being resolved by Lee and his team) so I was going to use the rubber stands short term to test the speakers out. I wouldn't like to take your bases only for me to end up not using them and storing them away somewhere in a couple a weeks time, but thanks again for the offer.

 

You could send them to me once you're finished with them. Then I'd have a better excuse to get BeoLab 3s than just "there's two empty powerlink sockets on the back of my Beomaster"

I managed to hook the Lab3's up to test them out and I am amazed by how good they sound and that this sound comes from such a small package.

I have Beloab 6000/4000s on my main set up linked to a BV3 and the 3's blow both of these away. It has got me thinking that I should trade in both these sets for another set of Lab3s as the rear BL4000s get minimal use.

 

Have you tried the 4000s as fronts? The 3s are lovely little speakers (I have a pair!) but the 4000s are very under rated. 6000s are ideal rear speakers but IMHO do lack a little as fronts - particularly bass.

You are of course in a perfect position to do some speaker testing! Why not do some testing using the same source and different speakers and do a short report on your finding for us. I know what I think but everyone has their own opinion and each is equally valid. I don't have 6000s but of the 4000 and 3s, I find that at high volumes, the 3s lose control and the bass and midrange become out of focus and muddled. The Beolab 4000 maintains control, has a little bit too much bass at times and shrieks at very high volumes. It goes louder than the 3s before the respective faults kick in. The imaging of the 3s is better and at normal volumes, I would choose them. I am however considering 4000s to go with my AV9000 as I think they match better.

jodes28:

I managed to hook the Lab3's up to test them out and I am amazed by how good they sound and that this sound comes from such a small package.

I have Beloab 6000/4000s on my main set up linked to a BV3 and the 3's blow both of these away. It has got me thinking that I should trade in both these sets for another set of Lab3s as the rear BL4000s get minimal use.

And would you believe? They actually get better!
If yours are new out of the box then you should count on a number of hours of use (well over 100) before they get their flex. In the case of the BL3 I think it's a question of the "moving" parts getting a workout. I have compared a pair of run-in (several hundred hours) with a pair straight out of the box - and the new ones were "harsher". I think it's the large radiators (the active in front and the passive ones on the sides) that need to settle in. The mid and bottom get more precise with use. I also suspect it's the same radiators that have trouble staying up to speed when you push the volume on these speakers, accounting for the "smearing" of the sound at top output. But there's really no need to go up there with the BL3s. They're instruments for diving deep into your music.

And I agree. Though I like the BL4000s, the BL3s rank  above them for musicality - (adding: in my opinion). 

(Just read Peter's suggestion. Would be great to hear your opinion on the speakers relative to one another, once you've run in your BL3s! And remember to twiddle with both the wall-corner-free standing switch and the position of the speakers relative to walls, etc!) 

I agree completely with this running in. I am a complete sceptic with this normally but my 3s sounded almost as if one was listening to two separate speakers each - very disjointed. After about a week they suddenly started to really sing.

Interestingly, there is a short review of Beolab 3s as computer speakers in What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision this month. Only get three stars due to expense - it is a group test. The reviewer had not done his homework though as he seems to think all the bass units are powered. I would guess he had a new pair as well. 

When B&O had their press launch in Struer for the BL9, they flew down a number of editors and journalists from HiFi magazines. I know one of the editors, and he told me that what blew them all away was the precision and vocal quality of the BL3s. In his opinion it shouldn't be possible to get that kind of sound out of something that compact -- he also added that all would be great if B&O had players as good as these speakers.