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ARCHIVED FORUM -- April 2007 to March 2012
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This is the first Archived Forum which was active between 17th April 2007 and 1st March February 2012

 

Latest post 07-09-2011 7:16 AM by thavn. 61 replies.
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  • 05-29-2011 9:30 AM

    Beolab 5 disappointed

    I was thinking of upgrading my 9s to 5s. I went the dealer with my favorite cds/bluray prepared to be amazed at the sound and buy a pair. I was not amazed. I was actually disappointed. I don't get it. I am returning to the dealer today to listen again. If theystill do not amaze me maybe I will have a listen at another dealer to see if it is something about the way they are set up.>

    Beovision 7-55 with Beolab 7-4, 9s and 4000s

    Beovision 10-40 with Beolab 1s and 6000s

    Beosound 1, 5, 2000, and 3000

    Beotime, Beotalk, Beocoms

  • 05-29-2011 10:57 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Wooooo for that kind of money you should expect perfection in every way man!

  • 05-29-2011 11:05 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Very surprised - the Beolab 5 has always amazed me - there are two particular tricks it has:

    1. The bass is immense but doesn't soiund as if it is. This is because it is so accurate and detailed - the problem with this is you play them  louder than you mean.

    2. They disappear - with your eyes closed it really is difficult to place them. This is the bit I find particularly impressive.

  • 05-29-2011 11:18 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Peter :

    Very surprised - the Beolab 5 has always amazed me - there are two particular tricks it has:

    1. The bass is immense but doesn't soiund as if it is. This is because it is so accurate and detailed - the problem with this is you play them  louder than you mean.

    2. They disappear - with your eyes closed it really is difficult to place them. This is the bit I find particularly impressive.

    Agreed. I've owned a pair for two months now and they are hugely impressive. They have a third characteristic that's worth mentioning: Transparency. If you have a bad recording to begin with, it will not sound that hot on Beolab 5's. 

    Beoworld's twenty-eighth ninth prize winner and fifty-first second prize winner. Best £30 I've ever spent!

  • 05-29-2011 11:21 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Lack of bass is certainly one of the things I noticed. Watching scenes from a BluRay that I can feel the bass from my 9s as well as hear it, i neither heard nor felt the bass from the 5s.

    Beovision 7-55 with Beolab 7-4, 9s and 4000s

    Beovision 10-40 with Beolab 1s and 6000s

    Beosound 1, 5, 2000, and 3000

    Beotime, Beotalk, Beocoms

  • 05-29-2011 11:55 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    It's probably the room. As a shop owner I know that the BeoTheater room my BeoLab 5's are in is not ideal. The same is true in a lot of B&O shops. They were designed to look good, not sound good, sadly. The best thing to do is have an in home demo. I'm always amazed how much better they sound outside of the shop.

    If your dealer has the BeoLiving set up it creates a very bright room, what with the wood floor and wood front wall. The BeoLab 5's are amazing but no speaker can completely overcome a bad room.

     

     

  • 05-29-2011 1:06 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    You need have no concern on the bass - be assured they are an immensely powerful speaker

  • 05-29-2011 1:27 PM In reply to

    • hotknife
    • Top 150 Contributor
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    • Joined on 02-03-2008
    • Solingen/Germany
    • Posts 552
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    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    With the BL9 someone is able to change the bass volume with the 3 position switch wall/corner/free. If you have placed your BL9 e.g. close to a wall/corner and have switched to free standing, you will receive a very strong bass. The BL5 has not such a switch because of its selfcalibrating system. And maybe the pair of BL5 in the showroom was not retracted/plugged in comparison to your BL9? Were your adjustments (DSS of your BeoVision, or Beosound) roughly the same as in the shop?

    Give the BL5 a try in your living room. I do not think your BL9 will outperform the BL5 in the same environment.

     

    BeoVision 8-40, ATV2, BeoSound 4, Front BeoLab 9, Rear Beolab 4000 MKII, Beo 4

  • 05-29-2011 1:39 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Dixon Langeman:

    They were designed to look good, not sound good, sadly. 

     

    For a moment I thought you meant the BL5s, but yes - the B&O store designers have done what they can to ensure bad sound and video demonstrations. The bright walls make it hard to get good images on screens, and the hard wood for the beoliving is far from ideal.

    BL5s should be away from the back wall, preferably symmetrically placed relative to side-walls - and do check the setup, as well as the bass and treble settings at the dealers (and for that sake, that both speakers aren't set to left or right signal, which I've actually experienced at a dealer. At least you get good one-channel mono).

     

     

     

  • 05-29-2011 2:41 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Razlaw:
    Lack of bass is certainly one of the things I noticed. Watching scenes from a BluRay that I can feel the bass from my 9s as well as hear it, i neither heard nor felt the bass from the 5s.

    on the other hand I have felt BL5s in my chest cavity

    doof doof

    :)

    First B&O (1976) was a Beogram 1500 ... latest (2011) change has been to couple the BL11 with the BL6Ks *sounds superb*

  • 05-29-2011 3:11 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Something really wrong about the setup, then. It's a mystery why dealers don't check this. My BL5s literally move the downstairs neighbour's porcelain during some movies. Haven't broken anything yet.

  • 05-29-2011 3:22 PM In reply to

    • Jez
    • Top 500 Contributor
    • Joined on 06-13-2007
    • Posts 150
    • Bronze Member

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    I highly recommend trying them at various dealers before parting with that amount of money. The dealer should be doing everything he/she can to convince you that the BL5's are worth every penny. Product knowledge is a must in the A/V field.

    I've had my BL5's for 4 years now and they amaze me everytime I sit in front of them.

  • 05-29-2011 3:38 PM In reply to

    • jc
    • Top 500 Contributor
    • Joined on 11-06-2007
    • The Netherlands
    • Posts 145
    • Bronze Member

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    @topic-starter:  what was missing with the 9's in the first place? What was the reason to desire an upgrade?

  • 05-29-2011 4:41 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Never have I had a complaint about the BL5 lacking bass. Never. I would check the setup and configuration with the dealer. Also ask the dealer to calibrate them while in the shop, it takes but a few minutes.  

    BV7-40 MKIV, BeoVision Avant 32, BeoVision 8-32, BeoLab Penta MKIII, BeoLab 6000 x 3, BeoSound 9000 MKIII, BeoLab 7-4, BeoSound 4000, BeoPort, BeoVox S45-2, ML/MCL Convertors, A8's & Form 2's. 

  • 05-29-2011 5:29 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    I have had my BL5 for four months now. I too experience a lack of bass. When listening to music they sound really thin and not very involving.

    On the other hand when I put on a blu-ray I am assured that they have a huge bass potential. They indeed can make anything in the building rattle.

    In pursuit of more bass when listening to music I have rearranged my entire living room. Not playing across the room generally had a positive effect but did not help on bass.

    I bought some Fat Dots from Herbie Audio Lab to decouple the speakers from the wooden floor. That didn't help at all. I tried resetting the speakers to factory preset  to get an arbitrary setting on the Adaptive Bass Ccalibration. This is done by pressing and holding the calibration area on top until the speakers shuts down. It was not substantially different from the calibration done in my room.

    Moving the speakers around and moving yourself around in relation to the speakers have an effect.

    I bought a Behringer ECM8000 measurement microphone to get an indication on the room reasponse using the free REW software. I struggle a bit to make it all work and have no results so far.

    Next step for me is to try and install some carpets and heavy molton fabric instead of my thin curtains. I hope that will release the full potential of the speakers by dampening the room.

    Looking back I have already spent countless hours on my BL5s, sadly too few actually listening to music. So in my experince they can be really demanding if you want to release their full potential.

  • 05-29-2011 6:22 PM In reply to

    • moxxey
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 04-14-2007
    • South West, UK
    • Posts 2,360
    • Bronze Member

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Razlaw:

    I was thinking of upgrading my 9s to 5s. I went the dealer with my favorite cds/bluray prepared to be amazed at the sound and buy a pair. I was not amazed. I was actually disappointed. I don't get it.

    I was also disappointed with my BL5s (I owned BL9s, too). But there was a reason...

    I bought my BL5s second hand. At first, they sounded fantastic. Clearly calibrated in a large room with a solid floor. Bass powerful. However, for a reason I still can't explain (curiosity?), I decided to re-calibrate and that's where things went wrong. Room too small, wooden flooring etc. The bass never sounded the same again. There was a distinct change.

    The BL9s don't need to be calibrated and they remain "as is" whatever the environment. For me, in my environment, the BL9s always performed better than the BL5s.

    Perhaps this is the reason why the BL5s sounded so poor when you're used to the more rounded BL9s?

     

  • 05-29-2011 6:25 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    kimchr - something doesn't sound right - though it does depend upon how much bass you want, of course.

    What are you using as a source? Are you certain the speakers are getting the low frequency signal? 

  • 05-29-2011 6:27 PM In reply to

    • moxxey
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 04-14-2007
    • South West, UK
    • Posts 2,360
    • Bronze Member

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    soundproof:

    kimchr - something doesn't sound right - though it does depend upon how much bass you want, of course.

    As I said above, it depends on the room/furniture/calibration.

    IMHO they should come caibrated for a huge room and concrete floor and they'd be very much setup like the BL9s :)

  • 05-29-2011 7:49 PM In reply to

    • Michael
    • Top 200 Contributor
    • Joined on 05-23-2007
    • Atlanta, USA
    • Posts 318
    • Founder

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Also remember that the BL5s are extremely accurate "professional" monitors by original design and therefore will tend to be very neutral "out of the box" compared to other speakers that might have a more "hi-fi" sound. Professional monitors are not designed to sound good as much as sound accurate. They don't "flatter" music that doesn't already have excellent mastering. Not that they sound bad but they have the ability to reveal imperfections more than other speakers. I'm not the expert that some here are with setting up the BL5 but I have considered them seriously for my studio and I do believe, with a little tweaking they can have as much of a hi-fi sound as the Bl9 can (and I Do Not mean that in a derogatory manner as they are very close sonically). You simply have to ask for a little more "oomph" I know there was a similar thread a while back but don't recall the final solution. If I was going for a speaker that naturally "flattered" my music I'd probably choose the BL9 first but having the BL5s in a space big enough to let them breathe would certainly be top stuff;) I'd try a side-by-side comparison or maybe an in-home demo so you can hear them in relationship to each other in your space.

    -Michael

  • 05-29-2011 8:53 PM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Thanks for all of the input. I had a chance to listen today, but just for a few minutes. They did sound a little better. I am going to try to listen to them at another dealer tomorrow.

    Beovision 7-55 with Beolab 7-4, 9s and 4000s

    Beovision 10-40 with Beolab 1s and 6000s

    Beosound 1, 5, 2000, and 3000

    Beotime, Beotalk, Beocoms

  • 05-30-2011 5:16 AM In reply to

    • BeoGreg
    • Top 500 Contributor
    • Joined on 07-24-2008
    • South of France
    • Posts 139
    • Gold Member

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Well, a few months ago I've done a speaker test with a friend at my dealer (he wanted a pair of Beolab 3).

    He came with it's "best" cds and we played a live AC/DC.

    After testing the 8000 vs BL3, we played with the BL9 and finally of course the BL5 (after I made a lot of bla-bla to my friend about how good they will sound).

    What a surprise for my ears, the BL9 sounded much better than the BL5.

    So I also was very disappointed with the BL5.

    The best thing you can do is ask for a test at home so you can compare easily.

    Cheers,

    Gregory

     

     

     

     

    Since 1995 : Beosound Century, Beolink 1000, Beocom 2400, Beovision MX 6000, Beocord VX 7000, Beo 4, LC2, Beosound Ouverture, Beolab 2500, Beocom 6000, Beolab 8000, Beosound 9000, Beovision Avant 32, Keyring, Bottle opener, Beosound 2, A8, Beosound 3, Beovision 10-40, Beo 4 Navigation, BeoTime, Beocom 5, Form 2...  

  • 05-30-2011 5:30 AM In reply to

    • Michael
    • Top 500 Contributor
      Male
    • Joined on 05-20-2009
    • Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia
    • Posts 245
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    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    I'm so glad that you are pleased with the BL9's, you don't read much about them.  I think the BL9's look waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy better than the BL5's and I would love to be able to have a set.

    Perhaps if you're really keen on the BL5's to the point where you can't stop thinking about them and you think that you will do yourself a dis-service by not having them lol, perhaps try and organise a home demonstration - that way they can be connected to your existing equipment.

    What a fabulous dilema: BL5's or 9's.

  • 05-30-2011 5:35 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    I think this shows that speakers are very personal choices. The Beolab 5 offers a very flat response and can be fooled in its auto set up by poor surroundings. The Beolab 9 allows manual set up of the bass response. Every time I have heard them in a dealership, they have been set to sound 'impressive' with the bass set to the highest setting and the loudness set on at the audio device. Personally I find that horrible but whilst resetting it to what I would regard as a proper setting, the salesman said that he always set them to emphasise bass as this is what sold them.

    I like S45.2s which have a super top end and midrange but I fully admit have a rolled off bass. Therefore I always recommend that buyers try to listen to speakers themselves rather than rely on the opinion of another.

  • 05-30-2011 5:36 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    BeoGreg:

    (...) The best thing you can do is ask for a test at home so you can compare easily.

    Cheers,

    Gregory 

    Like this. Whistle


    BS 1, BeoCom 2, 2x LC 2, Form 2,  BS 2, BS 3, 2x Beo 4, BS 5, BM 5, BL 5,Beo 6, BS 6, 2x A8, BV 8-40, BL 8000, 3x A9 Keyring, Serenata, BeoTime, BeoTalk 400

  • 05-30-2011 7:52 AM In reply to

    Re: Beolab 5 disappointed

    Ah - the heavy bass squadron.

    Someone I know put a "balloon" on the mike of his BL5. Recalibrated. Claimed it made the speaker get a very attenuated return signal, making it "think" the room was very large.


    Have fun.

     

    (If going for the factory reset described above, remember you have to reenter the codes. With me, that gives a wildly exaggerated bass. Guess that in some stores, they have the audiomasters set up with separate subwoofers - and the BL5s aren't getting a bass signal. Big Smile )

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