Hi everyone,

 

Two weeks ago I replaced my Beolab8000 speakers with  black Beolab1 speakers. The Bl1 are gorgeous in this color compared with Alu color! The sound is far superior to the Beolab 8000- which by the way I could say that I was never satisfied with the sound or the design. In fact I preferred the sound of the Beolab 4000 to Beolab8000!

 

Now, I want to up-grade to BeoLab 5, keep my new Beolab 1 and sell 4 Beolab 4000!.

It is worth the up-grade? Is there a noticeable difference in sound between BL5 and Bl1?

 

I would appreciate your thoughts about this matter!

 

Thanks,

I haven't heard both side by side but given that the Lab 1's are renowned for being bass-light for their size the answer is yes. the Lab 5's have huge bass drivers and so cover the entire audio spectrum much better than the Lab 1. They are universally acclaimed for their sound reproduction, even among non-B&O followers - not something that can be said about the Lab 1.

Personally, I can't stand the sound from the BL1's. I find it very shrill and hard on the ears. Playing around with a pair once on the end of the BS9000, I had to push the base right up and the treble right down to get an almost listenable sound. The worst speaker set in the range IMHO.

However, it may be my ears and not to my taste. You have to decide for yourself.

The BL5's are on the otherhand are chocolate smooth world-class loudspeakers that if you listen to them, you will never tire of.

Again my opinion and you have to decide for yourself. Worth every penny if you can afford them

 

10%

 

You're keeping the BL1, so the upgrade is from BL4000 to BL5?

I have both BL5 and BL4000, and there is a huge difference, of course.

I have never compared the BL1 to the BL5 side by side, but a friend of mine has BL1 and a BL2, and together they sound really nice I think.

But the BL5s are the best "ordinary" speakers I have ever heard!

Good luck!

That's the first time I've ever heard the BL5's described as ordinary

The BL5 is the best money can buy (I just read: for an "ordinairy" speaker that is........

I'd keep the BL4000 as rear's and the BL5 in front, you can't go wrong there. BL1 are to tall as rears and to high toned for my taste as fronts [compared to the BL5 and even to my Penta's]

I haven't spent enough time listening to the BL1s to be able to have an opinion - they're often placed in rooms that are too large (probably due to their size) and therefore the bass dies out, while you're left with the top end, leaving you with a shrieky impression. When in a room that is properly sized to utilize room reflections, I'm sure they'll do a good job.

I have heard better setups than what is possible with the BL5s, but they require substantial investments and lots of space. (Huge, passive speakers and serious amplifiers/monobloques.)
This is half of what you'll need, just imagine the other half to the right. This setup costs about $450.000+ -- I heard a perceptible separation in the background vocals of Free Men in Paris from Mitchell's Dreamland that I haven't heard from my BL5s:

 

I am thoroughly satisfied with the sound I get from my BL5s, though aware that the marketing-speak about "being able to listen to perfect stereo sound wherever you are in your room because of the acoustic lenses" is nonsense.

You can plonk the BL5s down wherever you want, and get a very satisfactory sound - but if you want audioeuphoria, you should really consider the listening room, the furnishing of it, the placement of the speakers and your listening position -- then the BL5s can transport you to the audio equivalent of the El Bulli restaurant. 

If it was my listening room, I would sell the BL1s and keep two BL4000s as rears ... (or even go for side and rear surrounds with the four BL4000s if that's possible, in addition to the BL5s in front).

Mr10Percent:

Personally, I can't stand the sound from the BL1's.

 I find it very shrill and hard on the ears. Playing around with a pair once on the end of the BS9000, I had to push the base right up and the treble right down to get an almost listenable sound.

The worst speaker set in the range IMHO.

However, it may be my ears and not to my taste. You have to decide for yourself.

10%

If others have the same feeling  with beoLab 1 , its just meens that the speakere adjustment are wrong!

 Adjust and modified the speaker like this, as  Glenn Guillot. discribe in 

 http://www.beoworld.org/beotech/beolab1.htm 

 

New and Improved Sound on BeoLab 1

After purchasing a pair of brand new Beolab 1,  I was dissatisfied with the sound (as I expressed in the BeoWorld Forum). Bang & Olufsen seemed to be unhelpful and a little arrogant in the matter, as to helping me resolve the issue.

In my opinion these big “pillar” speakers sounded razor sharp, ice-cold and screamy when playing CDs of good dynamic qualities.

As a technician I refused to accept this. I started researching everything I could about these speakers.

After having spent some time researching, I discovered three potentiometers on the active X–over located behind the covers (at the bottom), which controls each of the amplifier units with 3-4 Db. I started experimenting with these.

I quickly discovered that, when turning a potentiometer left, an element played less, and when turned right it played louder. I wrote down all the original values and continued experimenting.

After a little while I was able to localise each screw and what element it symbolised:

I have now customised the values on the screws and the result: a little more bass and less ice-cold and screamy sound from the mid-range element!

These customised changes have allowed me now to enjoy a little more listening, instead of getting worn out by the continuous metallic, cold, surgical and artificial sharp sound (especially at high volumes 50-56).

New and Improved Sound on BeoLab 1 Part II

Warning: Before attempting any form of modifications, please be aware that modifications carried out by none B&O personnel could result in loss of warranty (as posted by our moderator). Further more, if you make the modifications be sure to “mark” the positions of the “damping bricks” as to where they are located in the cabinet. The following modifications are based on previous modifications made to my BeoLab 1s (where I changed all three potentiometer values).

Modifications carried out with the following setup: BeoSound 3000 and BeoLab 2.

Even with my previous modifications (to the potentiometers) I was never 100% satisfied with the outcome. Though the modifications (in my opinion) were a great improvement, I decided to see if any other modifications could be carried out (as to improve the sound).

So, in my quest for perfection, I recently decided to disassemble my BeoLab 1s.

The first thing I noticed was that very little damping material had been used to damp the reflection of the inner-waves. As illustrated on the picture below, only four small “damping” bricks and one very thin sheet of damping material (at the bottom) are used.

As you can see on the picture, no damping material has been used on the upper part of the speakers (where the upper woofer is located), which seems very odd to me.

Now if you disassemble other speakers of high-end brands like B&W, Tannoy etc you would see that the speakers are filled with damping material. And even as insignificant that this may seem to many of you, I can assure you that it has a great impact on the “sound experience” from a speaker.

So I decided to modify the BeoLab1 with high-quality damping material, enough for 30 – 40 litres. And filled the whole cabinet with it (as illustrated on the bottom picture):

Before assembly, I moved the “bricks placement” to maximum width to see how the woofers sounded. When placed far apart, the woofers sounded softer (much more like the Pentas) and when placed close together (like originally mounted), it sounded punchier! So I decided to experiment with the placement of the “bricks”, and eventually found a satisfying position for them.

With the original placement of the “bricks” the woofers theoretically only had about 2-3 litres of volume.

These customised changes, have made my BeoLab 1s much smoother and I think I’m nearing pure perfection.

As provided for BeoTech by Glenn Guillot.

Please be aware that any modifications to any Bang & Olufsen product is done so at your own risk - BeoWorld/BeoTech will not be liable for damage caused by following suggestions given on this site.

 

 

 

I can't comment on th Beolab 5 as I have only listened to it briefly. However, everybody seems to think the 5 is better than the 9 and I can comment on the 9 compared to the 1.

Our dealer allows us 30 days to try out new products in our home. I was thus was able to set up the 9s next to our 1s and switch back and forth for an extended period.  The 9s are much much better than the 1s. We moved the 1s to the rear to replace the 4000s in the surround set up and placed the 9s in the front.

 

Razlaw:

I can't comment on th Beolab 5 as I have only listened to it briefly. However, everybody seems to think the 5 is better than the 9 and I can comment on the 9 compared to the 1.

Our dealer allows us 30 days to try out new products in our home. I was thus was able to set up the 9s next to our 1s and switch back and forth for an extended period.  The 9s are much much better than the 1s. We moved the 1s to the rear to replace the 4000s in the surround set up and placed the 9s in the front.

So the "best" set-up would be : BL5 as front and BL9 as rear speakers ? no BL2 needed, just a big chunk outof your [money]savings........

I think that BeoLab 9 as rears is overkill - also rarely advisable, as the speakers are quite low, and would be sending the sound into the back of your furniture? Rear surrounds should ideally be up on the wall. (The BL9s low height can be compensated with furniture that is low-backed, keeping your head/ears free to receive the soundwaves.)
Decorative, though.

Best way of determining what you need for your rear speakers is to take a movie with a lot of surround effects and place it in your player. Then disconnect the front speakers and sub (with B&O that's easy, just unplug them from the mains.)

Now listen to what's coming out of your rear speakers. If you determine that the sound information there is such that you want to use large speakers on it, then you should do so. I think you'll be surprised at how low and phase-distorted that information is. BeoLab 4000s or BL3s will do nicely (with the latter being borderline too good, IMO).

But that's just my opinion. Try it! 

soundproof:

I think that BeoLab 9 as rears is overkill - also rarely advisable, as the speakers are quite low, and would be sending the sound into the back of your furniture? Rear surrounds should ideally be up on the wall. (The BL9s low height can be compensated with furniture that is low-backed, keeping your head/ears free to receive the soundwaves.)
Decorative, though.

Best way of determining what you need for your rear speakers is to take a movie with a lot of surround effects and place it in your player. Then disconnect the front speakers and sub (with B&O that's easy, just unplug them from the mains.)

Now listen to what's coming out of your rear speakers. If you determine that the sound information there is such that you want to use large speakers on it, then you should do so. I think you'll be surprised at how low and phase-distorted that information is. BeoLab 4000s or BL3s will do nicely (with the latter being borderline too good, IMO).

But that's just my opinion. Try it! 

You're quite right about the BL9 as rears is overkill, but will look nice, won't it ? I really like the good looks of the BL4000 but for sound the BL3 will do better [despite the less goodlooking factor, I would prefer them over the BL4000] But what are your thoughts upon our new set up then in surround?  I've replaced our rear BL4500's for BL5000's to match our front-penta's and although the sound is huge from behind ; I really love it !!! 

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

 

After a really good sleep and a 30 min. brainstorming in the morning, we decided that BL 5 is not worth for the moment. We are really satisfied with our BL1 and BL4000 (all black), and 'coté' design my wife prefer BL1 in our living room to BL5.  Maybe we’ll buy the Beolab3 in red color but we are still thinking on this matter!

Thanks again!

Constantin

Mr10Percent:

Personally, I can't stand the sound from the BL1's. I find it very shrill and hard on the ears. Playing around with a pair once on the end of the BS9000, I had to push the base right up and the treble right down to get an almost listenable sound. The worst speaker set in the range IMHO.

10%

I would not be so critical toward the BL1 and the quote that this speaker is ‘The worst speaker set in the range IMHO’ is a little bit tough. We could mention here speakers that are really the winners: BeoLab4, Beolab 6000…,

BL1  is a wonderful speaker and IMHO has a better design than the  BL5… I had the following speakers in the past: Beolab4, Beovox 3000, Beolab Penta, Beovox Penta, Beolab 8000, Beolab 2500 and for few days only Beolab 6000. However, Beolab1 is a winner and better that all speakers I had since now.

 

 regards,

constantin

 

 

 

The BeoLab 1 is a very good speaker, although I believe the BeoLab 9 is in a league above, let alone the BeoLab 5s.

BL1s vs BL5s is like comparing a very nice BMW 5 series to a Bugatti Veyron. You won't just see improvements in the bass (which is incomparably better than BL1s), but the upper frequencies also are taken onto a whole new level.

There's then the way they appear much smaller than the BL1s, and IMO look better. They also play a lot louder too...

I agree the 9s are too low for rear speakers. That is one of the reasons I like the 1s so much as rear speakers. I have tried the experiment of turning off the front speakers and was surprised how much sound came out of the rears, more than I thought there would be.

Concur with a lot that has been said ... enjoying BL 1s in two rooms with different settings.

BL1 with BL2 are an excellent combination

BL1 are excellent as rear speakers in a surround setting

BL 1 are very sensitive to room placement and wall - corner - free setting. One may need to play a bit.

IMHO, an excellent speaker, with outstanding craftmanship and quality - reflected in good resale value. Properly used makes a lot of fun. Clearly BL5 is in a different league, but also with prices.

BL1 in my opinion is the most elegant speaker ever made by Bang Olufsen. Probably depends a bit on what music preferences one has to make a final judgement on its suitability.

Hi,did you think about buying Beolab9?

In my opinion they sound much better than Beolab1 but at a reasonable price (compared to the BL5s). 

 

Andy 

No doubt, the BL9 are outstanding with an excellent price/performance relationship.

Just bought some BL3 for a smaller room (via Beolink wireless) but will consider the BL9 in the future for further enhancements....as I am getting used to their penguin look. 

Holy Moly I never would have guessed the Beolab 1's had so little dampening material inside, especially considering that as a metal column it would be especially prone to resonance.