I just brought a Cona.  Yum, that thing looks cool.  Now to find CX50s or 100s to use in my living room.  I have a few questions though:

1. Is there any benefit to pairing a Cona with speakers other than the CX range?  I currently use S45.2 and RL60.2

2. If I am using it with other speakers, is there any benefit to connecting the Cona to the speakers 2 and leaving my regular speakers on speakers 1?

3. Do I have systems that will make the most of it (Beosystem 3000 (inc. CDX), Beocenter 9000)?

4. Is there any thing I should check/service on it?

As you may have guessed from my questions, I quickly attached it to the speaker 2 out on my Beosystem 3000 + S45.2, but did not really hear much difference.  I know that is not by the book and I should run in series with CX range, but I just wanted to try it out pre CX purchase.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi Jamian, 

Guess who's cona you bought?  

Glad you got it safely and I hope you are satisfied with your purchase.  These are great forums so I will let others answer your questions.  I didn't really have the type of system appropriate for the Cona and wish I could help you more, but there are plenty of folks here who can tell you exactly how to use it best. 

Hi There!  Nice to meet someone State side on this forum. Spooky that it's you I brought it from.

What system do you have? Do you have the tweeters in your profile pic?

Perhaps you'll be the only response on this thread.  I am going to keep my eye out for some CX100s, but wonder if I can use it in the mean time.

Hi Jamian I hope someone here does chime in to help.   As of today over 100 people had viewed it but no one is posting...the forums here aren't as active as they used to be and helpful responses aren't as forthcoming.

To answer your other question yes I have the Beovox 2500s like the one's in my avatar.  I have a complete Beolab 5000 system restored by Classic Audio.  I also have a Beocenter 9500 based system and a Beosound 9000 based system as well.  Too much B&O!

Well, let's try...

The thing with the Cona is that as a passive sub it can't output much sound pressure over what the main speakers would be doing anyway, and it doesn't go very low either. So it can't improve things that much unless the main speakers are badly lacking in bass - which in B&O context is mostly the CX series.

The internal crossover in the Cona will filter out the lowest bass before passing it on to the speakers that are connected through it. Therefore you might get a bit more overall bass level if you have the Cona separately in speakers 2 and the main speakers in speakers 1, so they would still be receiving the full range. I would always connect CXs through the Cona though, as it will then relieve the CXs from the lowest bass they can't play anyway.

Whether there's any benefit in using a Cona with other speakers or systems... nobody has tried every possible combination, so experiment yourself. If you find the result better than without a Cona, that's exactly what it is then!

And no, I have never heard about anyone needing to open a Cona for whatever reason. It's apparently quite robust.

The Cona is a B&O product designed for a fairly specific use - the augmenting of bass response in small CX speakers. It is always called a sub-woofer but this will make people think that it is an alternative for speakers like the Beolab 2, which it is not. The trick is to look at the specs - the Beovox S45-2 has a +4dB -8dB frequency response of 38 - 20,000 Hz. The Cona has one of 40 - 195Hz. So the S45-2, a speaker not known for its huge bass response, actually measures lower than the Cona. Look at the response of the C30 or C40 however, and you will see that they roll off at about 80Hz. Thus the Cona will add another octave of sound. I actually have a very similar speaker set up, using BBC LS3/5A speakers which again roll off at a high frequency and use dedicated AB1 'sub-woofers' to add the missing frequencies.

The Cona can however reduce the work a stressed bass unit has to perform - add the RL60s to the Cona - but attach the RLs to the speaker outputs on the Cona rather than attaching the Cona separately - you should notice the difference - less muddy sounding!

The only other thing to add is that you have to position the cona in the middle of the other two speakers - it is quite directional because it goes so high up the frequency range.

Thanks guys, all useful information.  I also often think about P30's and wonder if the Cona might help them a little (looks like they go down to 49Hz).  Of course a Beolab 2 would be ideal; someday, maybe, hopefully.  I just can not bring myself to get an ugly, purely functional, box sub.

I read that CX 50's are not the best for music and my living room is not tiny, so now to hunt down some white CX100s - Any advice on which replacement surounds?  So many out there, but I read that some are better than others.  I'll also stop being lazy and search the forum.

Thanks again!

If you want wall speakers, the P45s are much better than P30s.

Jamian:

Thanks guys, all useful information.  I also often think about P30's and wonder if the Cona might help them a little (looks like they go down to 49Hz).  Of course a Beolab 2 would be ideal; someday, maybe, hopefully.  I just can not bring myself to get an ugly, purely functional, box sub.

I read that CX 50's are not the best for music and my living room is not tiny, so now to hunt down some white CX100s - Any advice on which replacement surounds?  So many out there, but I read that some are better than others.  I'll also stop being lazy and search the forum.

Thanks again!

Forget the cx50's !!!  The cx100's work great with the Cona.
The whole CX range of speakers suffers from failing driver surrounds, but that can be fixed fairly easy.
I can recommend  Good hifi in Holland as a good supplier for these. 

I have one running on a Beomaster 3300 system with RL 45's and I think it complements them nicely.

I have a second set of RL 35's that I intend to add as the 2nd set of speakers on this system: I just haven;t found the time or motivation to test them out vs the RL/Cona combination.

I initally had this set up in a large room and @ louder volume, you will definately notice a better sound, with the cona taking the lower bass load off of the other speakers: much more defined.

My 6 y/o daughter & 3 y/o son like to sit in it: too cute to get really annoyed at them.  My wife has always called the cona "Ken's Porta-potty".

Enjoy