Hi there,

    I have a small plan to update my sound system in order to enjoy my favourite songs , but need some advice from the experienced users of this great forum :)

    Preveaously owned Beolab 4000s & Beolab 6000s by now and wanted to try something higher - like BL 9s.

    I'm a big fan of House & Trance music and appreciate a lot the non -disorted low frequencies (clear bass) . The 4000s and 6000s are fantastic speakers , but have their limitations when we speak about bass above a certain sound level. (ABL and stuff...don't want to get into details.)

    I didn't listen to a Beolab 2 by now because my dealer didn't have one on the stock when I went by (strange ...) , but I red a lot that it's not so recommended for music . It is better for movies or home theater setups.

    I listened a few mins the Beolab 9s , but couldn't figure out the bass capability for them since the dealer had only one cd with strange filarmonic songs (no bass , not even mids :) ).

    What do you think ? Should I invest in a Beolab 2 to add it to Beolab 6000 s ? or buy a pair of second  Beolab 9s ?  (I know there is a price difference , but I reserved the money for the 9s by now)

    I plan to use them in a 25 square meters livingroom (so not huge) . What do you think ?

Waiting for your opinion

Thx a lot,

Stefan

The BL9 are fantastic speakers, no doubt! However, every room is different so I strongly recommend a home demo. Not sure if your dealer is suportive in this regard, but this is the only way to find out if the speaker will meet your needs.

Furthermore, some members of the forum (including me) had challenging expirences with in store demos of the BL 9 or BL5. Quite often they are not setup in the right way to perform in the lows on the high end level they could be. So be careful (the sub must be switched off in the speaker settings of the TV/BS3, just the "speaker 2" mode  is sometimes   not good enough)

Karsten 

Thx a lot Karsten.

Your feedback is much appreciated.

I will try to go with my own cd and request a demo .

The dealer is ok with that and I will ask him to calibrate the BL9s for the full bass power

Best Regards

Stef

Beolab 9s are good speakers - much better than the 1s they replaced. However if you are thinking of buying new 9s, consider used 5s. These are a considerable step up in every way.

does the beolab 5 make really sense for rooms of just 25 m²? aren't the beolab 9 much more than enough for a room of that size?

Beolab 5s will work fine in small rooms and of course can be moved to larger ones should that be necessary. The bass calibration will optimise the sound - and probably better than the Beolab 9 in my opinion.

advise:try them both at your home!!!!

of course are the beolab 5 even in small rooms better than the beolab 9 but as I am standing at the same decision I am not sure if it makes really sense....? 2 new beolab 9 cost about 7000 euros and I have never seen 2 used beolab 5 under 12 000 euros....

of course are the beolab 5 even in small rooms better than the beolab 9 but as I am standing at the same decision I am not sure if the beolab 5 make really sense....?

2 new beolab 9 cost around 7000 euros and I have never seen 2 used beolab 5 under around 12 000 euros....

I believe your namesake has a pair about to hit the market at a fair bit less!

I do agree with what your sentiments are but Beolab 5s are simply so good - we were chatting to a chap in marketing at B&O who has beolab 9s and 3s who then had a listen to a friend's system of just Beolab 5s - he thinks he has the wrong system!

sounds interesting but I can't find them at their homepage?

thanks peter, i didn't know that there is a so big difference between beolab 9 + beolab 3 and beolab 5!

Peter :

I believe your namesake has a pair about to hit the market at a fair bit less!

I do agree with what your sentiments are but Beolab 5s are simply so good - we were chatting to a chap in marketing at B&O who has beolab 9s and 3s who then had a listen to a friend's system of just Beolab 5s - he thinks he has the wrong system!

I disagree, in an odd way. I owned the BL5s, BL9s and BL3s. The BL9s can sounds better than the BL5s in certain situations - if you can't calibrate the BL5s properly, it seriously affects the bass. The BL9s doesn't have this problem. If you set them to freestanding, my BL9s were more impressive than the BL5s.

BL5s are amazing, but in the right environment.

Can't disagree with this - but I suppose it is down to situation. Shows why a good demo is important.

The Lifestyle BL5s are waiting for a replacement disc I believe but will no doubt fly out of the salesroom! Tempted but simply don't listen enough to justify them!

my new speaker should stand one freestanding and one in the corner slight behind a commode so what do you think....?

slight behind a commode?

be careful! 

These loudspeakers need free space otherwise the bass will be to much.

Listen at your home before you buy them!

so I should better take the beolab 9 behind the commode?

Do you have a picture of your livingroom.

Thx a lot to all of you that replied in this post

I 'm pretty sure that Beolab 5 is a fantastic speaker , but I can't aford them right now. 

I was thinking of buying BL 9s in second for about 5000 - 6000 eur... 

As I've seen your opinions , I'll forget about Beolab 2 and will go for BL 9s

Regards,

Stefan

Hi

I'm sure you wont regret the b 9's. They are a lovely speaker, they sound and look great (I'm quite fond of them in white!)

Certainly the bass is better integrated than having b8000 as an example and b2.

I had B&O (David Jones, Sydney) come out with speakers to try in my living room and the b9's were the stand out. Admittedly I didnt try the B5's as at 25,000 AUD I didnt trust myself!

My only comment would be that now im listening to music through a good system Im often disappointed by the quality of recordings of a lot of the dance music i listen to! MP 3's are generally dreadful, though can be improved by by passing your computers sound card and using a DAC. Jazz and acoustic music, electro pop sound fabulous on the 9's though.

Good luck!

David Coyne

Sydney, Australia

Frankly, I would save some more and go for the second-hand BL5s – at the right price/place as Peter hinted in his (as usual) flawless comments! Even if the price of “surviving” until then is adding BL2 to your current speakers ( - you can always use it later).

Preaching, de facto, a bit more patience in your case I can assure you that I can still really and quite frequently do enjoy listening to the combo BL6000 + BL2 in my link room (with a PC with BeoPort – and sometimes trance) while the rest of the family enjoy a movie through the 5s in the main room (– or is there more to it? ). I also think that BL6000s (from the current range), and not least BL3s of course, visually go much better with the BL2 (BL2 with BL8000 is sort of the “uglier” combination, btw). I don’t share the disappointment of some with using BL2 for music listening, as a matter of fact.

Admittedly, I’ve listened to BL9s at a dealer’s only, but … you just MIGHT want the 5s quickly/eventually and your 25m2 is not necessarily little at all. - Here I disagree a bit on saying that even in small rooms BL5s are best though: I had them setup impromptu in a small hard-floored room for some time, where they sadly had to face the wrong, ie longer, side of its rectangular footprint, and well, it was worse (I can imagine) than driving an Aston Martin on a bumpy highway with 30mph speed limit with plenty of policemen around - who surely admired its looks though … but that room was slightly above half size of yours and I think it would be challenging even for the 9s!

Btw, some might say I perversely enjoy the looks of BL8000s as rear speakers with the 5s – to my eye this combination looks most pleasing and is “reasonably” functionally balanced as well, as far as floor standing speakers go in a surround setup! Of course, there is always the “minimalist” 4xBL3 and BL2 …

BeoLab 9s are excellent IMO. If you listen to a lot of poorly recorded material, then I would choose them over BeoLab 5s. 9s do a very good job of sounding detailed and transparent without revealing every flaw in the recording. Very good for electronica due to the powerful/extended/detailed bass.

BeoLab 5s are IMO much better, as long as you don't spend most of your time listening to poor recordings. They present the recording as it exists and are completely unforgiving when it comes to reproduction. If your recording sound awful - the speakers will make it sound awful! For a lot of electronica though, you don't need to worry, and almost all the electronica I've heard on BeoLab 5s has been undoubtedly better than 9s.

Only a home demo can really tell you which will sound better in your space...

Thanks a lot again to all of you for the detailed answers