To fill out the bottom end for Beolab 8000s, for music use, I'm thinking the newer Beolab 11 is the right sub, over the older Beolab 2. Anyone disagree with that statement?

Me. Others would agree. Take a look HERE

 

I would agree, if you want it to fill out the low-end. A BeoLab 2 will turn the low-end into a room-shaking experience. Good for hip-hop and movie lovers.

 

The BeoLab 11 is no-way near as powerful, but IMO, FAR more musical and 'un-intrusive' on the sound. Goes plenty deep and loud enough to cause issues with the neighbours, but doesn't take up much space and sounds great (IMO). Very fast, detailed and actually really quite linear in it's response too...

I borrowed a bl11 two weeks ago and the weather obliged by keeping me house bound for the week end to try it out. I have an avant, four bl4000s and a bl2 in the tv room.A bs9000 a pair of bl8000s and a bl2 in another room. Comparing them physically side by side might end the debate for some people. The bl11 is less then half the size of the bl2 and it looks great. The bl11 by the nature of its size does not have much finger/wiggle room for cables. What the bl2 looses on looks it makes up for in other ways. It has one extra switch (that the bl11 lacks) for" set up"with three positions which give you control of the output which is very considerable. They both come with position options of wall corner or free.

I have always felt with my tv set up watching a surround sound movie had to much rumble which is why i wanted to try the bl11. So I dragged out the avant from the corner and tried the bl11 through all the adjustments and placements. Now that i had the bl2 out ( from the corner behind the avant) I tried the same adjustments. This was the solution, my bl2 was now perfect for the sake of one switch.

The bl2 with my music set up was always great and again I felt the bl11 was lost.

As everyones music and room acoustics vary its very much a personal choice so its not a question of agree/disagree. Its what ever works for you and your music. All of the above in my opinion !

Valve1,

I was wondering if you please could compage the BL2/BL11 regarding speed and accuracy. Some guys always compain the BL2 would be not fast enough at the levels listeners need it to be at for music. They always insist, the BL2 is only a movie subwoofer.

Because I also struggled regarding BL2 or BL11, I`m interested in if I have had choosen the right subwoofer by ordering the BL2.

 

Another aspect I was wondering- I vaguely recall when the beolab 2 came out, it had a switch for what type of speaker was connected, i.e. Beolab 1 or 6000, but 8000 was not a choice. It seemed the purpose was to select where the cross-over occurs. Since the Beolab 1's have been out of production for awhile, what choices are on that switch now, and does it still have that switch? I would like to think it has a setting so the 8000's do all they can it the sub only does what it needs to. My worry about the 11 is that I'd still be missing the next lowest octave, which is sort of the problem with the 8000s.

hotknife:

regarding speed and accuracy.

Hello hotknife, I also saw tht remark and do not understand it. Could someone suggest what music demonstrate this effect? My speakers for music are bass enhanced 8000s. I have the base on the 8000s turned down and let the bl2 do all the work. The bl11 does not have the presence of the bl2. To me with my set up the bl11 is very subtle and subdued. My choice hands down is the bl2.

The only way you can find out is to compare them.

spthomas your vague mrmory is not bad , just selective . The bl2 has a set up switch that regulates the output. It does list the 8000s.

Position 1 beolab 1

position 2 penta 8000 60004500 4000

position 3 2500

I would recommend that you try all 3 positions in your set up. I use position 2 for my 8000s. As for octaves, they are just words like fahernheit and furlongs to me. Cannot help you there!

 

 

Valve1,

I will not be able to judge/compare BL2/BL11 against each other. Hopefully I will receive my BL2 beginning of next week of my local dealer.

 

valve1:

hotknife:

regarding speed and accuracy.

Hello hotknife, I also saw tht remark and do not understand it. Could someone suggest what music demonstrate this effect? My speakers for music are bass enhanced 8000s. I have the base on the 8000s turned down and let the bl2 do all the work. The bl11 does not have the presence of the bl2. To me with my set up the bl11 is very subtle and subdued. My choice hands down is the bl2.

The only way you can find out is to compare them.

Speed and accuracy refers to several things.

Firstly, the transient response of the speaker. How quickly can the subwoofer go from making no noise, to say a burst of noise from a kick drum? This is often heard as 'punch'. Remember a lot of bass doesn't make it punchy. The BeoLab 2 in my experience doesn't tend to give you the transient response you need to accurately represent a kick drum correctly. I personally believe this is a side-effect of the passive radiators on either side of the cabinet being tuned very lowly to allow such a small cabinet to reproduce deep bass up to a decent volume level.

Secondly, speed also refers to how much 'overhang' or 'ring' you get on notes. Take a fast-paced or articulated bassline (at the moment I'm listening to Herbie Hancock's version of 'Tea Leaf Prophecy' which has a beautiful bass part to demonstrate this well). On every bass note, the deepest 'tones' of the bass should be easily heard, and defined, with a definite beginning and end. The notes themselves being played should be easily pinpointed. On 'slow' sounding subwoofers, these notes will just turn into a poorly defined low end sound which isn't at all musical.

Thirdly, accuracy can refer to many things, but on top of those above, it refers to how evenly each note is sounded. This is very heavily affected by the acoustics in your room/lounge. With many subwoofers, there is a narrow band around which they sound notes very loudly, and other ranges of notes where not much information is reproduced.

 

The BeoLab 11 is a 'sealed' design. Ie, it is effectively a box with a speaker in it (or two boxes with two speakers in this case). When the speaker moves outwards, the air inside the cabinet pulls it back in, helping to improve the speed and accuracy of the sound reproduced.

The BeoLab 2 is a passive radiator design, very similar to a ported design with a hole in it to allow air to escape. In a ported design, the air escaping from the hole is used to re-enforce the bass from the speaker drivers. However, this 're-enforced' bass comes out of the speaker slightly later than the original sound from the driver, and also returns back into the rear of the driver itself causing it to distort on a very low level. While this may seem trivial, this has a large effect on the sound quality, particularly when it comes to the 'speed and accuracy' of the bass. A passive radiator is just another way of doing this, which offers the designer several more options.

A ported, or passive radiator design can be used to make a very small speaker make extremely deep, loud bass, which should otherwise be impossible. The price to pay for this is accuracy and speed.

The BeoLab 2 sacrifices accuracy and speed, making it a fantastic choice for movies where listeners want large amounts of bass and 'explosion-impact' without having a subwoofer which takes up lots of space in their room.

The BeoLab 11 sacrifices maximum loudness for deep bass with plenty of control, speed and accuracy which is why I think it's a much better option for music than the BeoLab 2, but not necessarily as good for movies, especially in a medium or large room.

 

Remember, your subwoofer is only there to make up for your speaker's shortcomings in the bass department, not to 'make the bass louder'!

Hotknife

hotknife:

Hopefully I will receive my BL2 beginning of next week of my local dealer.

I am sure you will enjoy it. lets know how you ger on.

Alex

Alex:

Good for hip-hop and movie lovers.

Thanks for your long and detailed responce. I had to google Herbie hancock, jazz is not my cup of tea. On that I will pass. Again I come back to the point, its your music in your environment and if that works for you...enjoy!

valve1:

Alex

Alex:

Good for hip-hop and movie lovers.

Thanks for your long and detailed responce. I had to google Herbie hancock, jazz is not my cup of tea. On that I will pass. Again I come back to the point, its your music in your environment and if that works for you...enjoy!

Indeed - and the BeoLab 2 is in no way a bad subwoofer - it has it's strengths and it's weaknesses, as do all speakers - even the BeoLab 5s!

Hi spthomas,

I actually use a BL2 combined with a set of BL8000's (front) and BL4000's (rear).

The result is very good, the subwoofer can skake my entire living room and I am not kidding.

BL2 produces great powerfull bass that are ideal for movies and music too.

BTW, if you have a small room, I would get the smaller BL11 as the BL2 would be overkill.

Now, I think that BL2 (and BL11) can be a source of issues with your neighbours if used without any limitation

Cheers,

From experience: more complaints with a BL2 then with a BL11 :-)

Yeah Karel, I guess too

GuyHui :

Hi spthomas,

I actually use a BL2 combined with a set of BL8000's (front) and BL4000's (rear).

The result is very good, the subwoofer can skake my entire living room and I am not kidding.

BL2 produces great powerfull bass that are ideal for movies and music too.

BTW, if you have a small room, I would get the smaller BL11 as the BL2 would be overkill.

Now, I think that BL2 (and BL11) can be a source of issues with your neighbours if used without any limitation

Cheers,

There's a little space to my neighbor's house, so maybe I'm OK! Years ago I brought a demo track to the B&O dealer (which I no longer have one nearby)... a 64' pedal stop on the organ came through, even though that's below the "spec". 

 

Oh my god, today my brand new BL2 was brought into service. What a piece of solid workmanship. I do not think, that there is a single subwoofer on the market, going as low as the BL2, looking so great.

I`m using it with the DSS of my BV8-40 together with a pair of BL8002. Put the new Linkin Park "A thousand suns" CD into my BS4. Was there an earthquake or a  fighter jet circling over my condo? Thank you B&O for kicking me into my balls. What a real sledgehammer.

At the moment, the setup of the DSS runs only with 40% subwoofer and 50% bass. For music something too much, for TV could be something more. Subwoofer position 3 for DSS and corner.

I`m not able to answer if the BL2 is "slow", only good enough with TV. It was not a matter of money. I took the BL2 because I like it a little loud. And yes, it is 100% for sure, BL2 is one of those that once you have tasted, theres no going back!

By the way, because the 8-40 has some problems with its DSS-modul (sound), someone found a very good setup, regardless if the are using BL8000/BL2/BL4000 and no rearspeackers.

front: Penta

distance. 10,0 m

rear: BL4000 (regardless if you do not have any rearspeaker)

distance: 0,5 m

audio: speaker 4

video: speaker 5

Even without the subwoofer it sounded much better than with my BL8002. Give it a try if you are using the BV8-40.

 

 

 

 

hotknife:

Oh my god, today my brand new BL2 was brought into service

Glad you like it , enjoy !