Hello all,

I'm relatively new to the world of B&O but have quickly become a big fan.  I recently went into my local BO dealer to have a listen and they offered me a pair of Beolab 5 floor models for around 15%off the list price.  He says the labs are mint and only 2 months old.  My question is what kind of discount should I expenct on floor models?  Am I being riped off?

Thanks!

Hi,

  That is a good price if he is giving you a full warrenty.  There is no harm in maybe a counter offer to test the water!

Good luck

Seems a decent offer to me. Fantastic speakers - well worth the money.

Only 2 months old?? wow that's a good deal really...

Agreed - a very good deal considering how new they are.

The other thing to think about is, what are you going to connect them to?

Thanks to all the great advice!  I have a modest system of BS3200, with BL6000 and a BL2.  

I've done some reading and now I have another question.  I know the BL5s are digital so am I loosing alot by hooking them up to a BS3200? I really don't want to drop another chunk to upgrade to a BS4 or BS9000.  

Thanks!

That is a good question.  I didn't ask.  I'm thinking of countering with 20% off...hahah...and see what they say.  

You are lucky to be offered a discount at all. Here its just not available.

Go to the table with a figure that you are prepared to pay. 15% would close a deal with most people intent on purchasing Beolab 5's. Make sure delivery and install is included...

Good luck, beoaus...

I wouldn't say you're losing a lot, but you do get a step up in performance if you use the digital connection as you're effectively 'bypassing' the sound circuitry in the BeoSound 3200 (most of which has a superior-quality equivalent within the BeoLab 5 itself, so becomes relatively pointless).

I wouldn't look for 20% discount TBH, 15% for a speaker that new is very good indeed!

Alex:

I wouldn't say you're losing a lot, but you do get a step up in performance if you use the digital connection as you're effectively 'bypassing' the sound circuitry in the BeoSound 3200 (most of which has a superior-quality equivalent within the BeoLab 5 itself, so becomes relatively pointless).

 

Alex could you please possibly re iterate this sentence? It isn't making any sense to me, or am i going daft! I think i get it...

I know i wouldn't buy BL5 only to run them from an crummy and inferior source like a BS3200 (especially that god awful hard drive). Am i the only one who has the conspiracy theory about the difference between sound quality from powerlink in different B&o products?

Essentially, the BeoLab 5 is an entire hifi system contained within itself, with the exception of the bit which gets the 1s and 0s off the CD and into a wire.

I'll outline what happens when you connect the speakers via PowerLink, and then Digital.

With PowerLink:

CD data > DAC in BeoSound > Tone Controls in BeoSound > Volume Control in BeoSound > ADC converter in BeoLab 5 > DSP circuitry in BeoLab 5 > DAC converter in BeoLab 5 > Volume Control in BeoLab 5 > Amplifiers.

Here, the signal is being converted from digital into analogue, back into digital and then back into analogue at the end. While this may seem like a bad thing, the converters in the BeoLab 5 are of such high quality, that you don't really need to worry about the re-conversion within the BeoLab 5. The big advantage of the BeoLab 5 when using digital connections is that you take the information directly off the CD, and the BeoLab 5 handles all the sound processing.

CD data > DSP circuitry in BeoLab 5 > DAC converter in BeoLab 5 > Volume Control in BeoLab 5 > Amplifiers.

There is only one conversion from digital to analogue here (that's 1 conversion step as opposed to the 3 above) and you also bypass the volume control, tone controls and any other sound-effecting circuitry in the source.

The end result is a cleaner, more transparent (detailed) sound. You may consider it to be largely pointless, but when spending ~£12,000 on a pair of speakers, you would want to get the best sound out of them possible.

Thanks for the great explaination!  So in the end we are questioning the BS3200's DAC quality.  The question is is there really an audible difference.   I've actually listened to full digital setups before by Meridian and found them actually very "sharp" or "clinical".  Not that the BL5's will be like that.  

But in the end it will be heads above my bl6000 +bl2 setup.  

It's not just the DAC quality, but also the tone controls and volume control. Now while the BeoSound 3200 contains a very good DAC etc... as do all the BeoSounds, it's arguable that for speakers like the BeoLab 5s, you may want something of even higher quality, which is what the BeoLab 5 contains...

Nobody ever answers when i ask about the difference in sound between different powerlink products. (the proper term i think is pre-amp)

Thanks for all the info.  I'm 90% sure I will go for them.  I will go in this weekend for a final listen with some of my music and then decide.   I'll wait a bit to upgrade to a digital beosound....

Wish me luck!