Hi,

I want some advice in choosing rear speakers for my living room.

About a month ago I treated myself to a new tv for the living room. I replaced my aging Avant with a BV9 and I LOVE IT! I did some modifications to the way the PUC handles my settop boxes (having my own decoder files installed in the BV3 when my dealer did a software update) and now it is near to perfect.

I have two BL8000 as front speakers and a BL2. For the moment I move over my BL4000 speakers from the dining room for watching movies. In the long run I want dedicated rear speakers. On my radar are BL4000 and BL3 at the moment. The BL4000 sound ok, but they are sitting on the floor and the arm rests of sofa and chairs get in the way. So I was thinking about BL3s in a stand. What do you think?

I am in no real hurry to buy the new speakers, because money runs low since my current aquisitions. I even had to settle for some quite old used speakers for the bedroom. Around Chrismas I got a pair of BL5000.

 

Greetings

msinn

With BL8000s I would get BL4000s and use either floor stands or wall mount them. With the BV9 I would however think of other ALT speakers - probably BL9s front and BL3s rear. However I think that too much emphasis is probably given to having all ALT speakers and the first set up would be perfectly good.

I got a pair of BL5000s before Christmas as well! Thanks Darren! 

I agree with Peter. First choice will be BL5/9 as front, BL3 rear. Second keeping BL8000 front, BL4000 (6000 with wall brackets?) as rears.

.....Less expensive.

My BL5000s with BC9500 and BL7000 are in my wife`s office. Really great speakers.

Stefan 

I have to join Peter here, because the BL5 or 9 would suit the BV9's center-speaker best. If you don't want to go all ALT, BL4000 or 6000 would be a great choice. I have BL7-1 as center and BL8000 as fronts, and the BL6000 do the job of rears very well.

I think aesthetically with the BV9, if you are keeping the 8000's, the 4000's will be perfect for this setup, get some black frets for them and it will look perfect! (in fact i have a mint pair of black frets i no longer need - if your interested)

If you want to buy BL3's, they'd be nice dining room speakers... 

While acoustically I prefer the BL4000 speakers, I agree that the BL6000 speakers are sufficient for the rear channels. The BL6000 speakers are easier to place and virtually disappear in the room.

FYI: If you should ever choose to wall-mount your BL4000 speakers, I highly recommend buying a second pair of powerlink cables and leaving the existing powerlink cables in the BL4000 stands. The cables are extremely difficult to thread though the stands without damage to the cables.

The problem with BeoLab 6000s as rears is that due to the height of the drivers, they usually end up firing into the back of a sofa! BeoLab 8000s are a little higher which helps lift them to just the right height (usually).

How about moving your BeoLab 8000s to the back and getting some BeoLab 9s to go at the front? In terms of the money you'll be spending on the system, you'll get a much more noticeable increase in performance per-pound than simply buying some rears.

As someone who has BL3, BL8000 and BL6000 I can tell you that BL3 will be completely wasted as rear speakers. And I agree with Alex that BL6000 sound will hit mainly the back of a sofa and not your ears (certainly depends on the design of your sofa and and its distance from the speakers). I have the same problem with BL6000 as rear speakers because my sofa has a high back and stands around 4 m from the BL6000 and so I have to shift the speaker balance more towards rear in most cases.

I think BL4000 mounted on the wall closer to the ceiling would be the best solution as rear speakers.

Beodim, I am thinking of getting the BeoLab 9s for front speakers and it then felt natural to have the 3s as back speakers. Why do you think it is a waste to use the 3s as rear speakers ?

Regards

Hans

beojeff:

 

FYI: If you should ever choose to wall-mount your BL4000 speakers, I highly recommend buying a second pair of powerlink cables and leaving the existing powerlink cables in the BL4000 stands. The cables are extremely difficult to thread though the stands without damage to the cables.

No they're not  

How have you been doing it? Your meant to undo the two screws on the 'wall plate with the 4 hooks' on the stand which then allows the cables to pass through the pole... no tears

halid:

Beodim, I am thinking of getting the BeoLab 9s for front speakers and it then felt natural to have the 3s as back speakers. Why do you think it is a waste to use the 3s as rear speakers ?

Regards

Hans

Because he has 8000's and 6000's which aren't anywhere near as fidel as the BL3's, but if you have BL9's the BL3's couldn't be a better choice (bar BL9's) 

halid:

Beodim, I am thinking of getting the BeoLab 9s for front speakers and it then felt natural to have the 3s as back speakers. Why do you think it is a waste to use the 3s as rear speakers ?

Regards

Hans

What I mean by "wasted" is that BL3s are just too good to be deployed as a rear speaker only, given a typically limited aural use of rear speakers, especially with BL8000 as front. I am not sure whether a set-up with BL9 would be much different to require BL3 as rear speakers.

OK, thanks Dave and Beodim. Got a bit worried there...

Regards

Hans

I use a pair of beolab 4000 as rear speakers. I have them wall mounted, and am extremely happy with them. They disappear on the wall and they sound really good. The only little consern I have about this is that they sound "different" than the BL5 I have in front. Nothing to do with the power, but there is a little difference in the way they produce the sound. Not noticeble in a sorround setup, only when you play for instance a cd with 4 speakers activated.

I would choose BL 4000 again. They are great.