Hi, I'm a 50 year old B&O virgin but have admired and desired a system for many, many years.  Now is the time.........

I'm looking at buying a Beosound 9000 (new or excellent used) and would like some advice on the best speakers (Beolab 8000 ?) and the best turntable to complement the set up.  I'd appreciate any advice.

 ps - are Lifesyle AV in the UK as good as they say they are.

Hi Scotty and welcome to Beoworld

The best advice I can give for speakers is to go down to your nearest dealer and audition some for yourself. Speaker choice is a very personal matter and will often depend on what type of music appeals to you so take along some of your favourite CD's to test. Beolab 8000's are often paired with this machine but aren't to everyones taste as they are often accused of being bass light. Most of the current range can be found 2nd hand on either ebay or from LifestyleAV who I would highly recommend - not just because the owner of the store is also extremely highly profiled on this forum (frankly he bought this site and funds it from his own pocket at present) and goes under the name of 9Lee.

For an independent view of LifestyleAV I would suggest checking out his ebay feedback - seller "lifestyleav" funnily enough . They generally also offer some warranty from store sales which you don't normally find from ebay sellers. All of their items are in excellent condition (they don't trade tat) and come very well packaged which I can personally vouch for. You'll be very very hard pressed to find any negative comments from anyone who has bought from them.

EDIT- oops nearly forgot. Any turntable with a fitted RIAA (preamp) will work via the aux socket. The B&O beograms with this installed are the following - Beogram 3500/4500/6500 & 7000. There is also the early beogram 6000 quad which is probably the finest of the the lot but now aging and very rare and possibly not the best cosmetic match due to the wooden trim. You won't have any remote control capabilty though as the BS9000 isn't datalink compatible. Of course you can use any turntable but will then need to fit an external RIAA between it and your beosound and riquires a bit more cabling and adaptor leads, all pretty straightforward though and of course feel free to ask for advice here.

Chris.

Hi Scotty, Welcome to beoworld.

I have a 9000 with beolab4000 speakers, but im desperate for a set of 8000s. Problem is im skint with young kids, and the rest of my house to do up. Anyway, you cant go wrong with your choice of BS9000 and BL8000. Sorry cant give you advice on the turntable, infact its something i would like to know myself.

As for Lifestyle AV, you cant go wrong.

.

Hi Scotty,

I used a pair of BeoLab 8000s with my BeoSound 2300 (earlier version of the BeoSound 3200) for a number of years. I was extremely happy with the 8000s. They are arguably the most famous speakers in the B&O range and have certainly stood the test of time both in terms of design and performance. I found the bass levels to be fine but then I mostly listen to Jazz, Classical, 60s 70s and 80s pop so Queen tracks were about as bassy as it got ... Another One Bites the Dust for example. They perfomed superbly.

I do agree with the earlier post about conducting your own listening test. I did that at the time. I heard the 8000s, the 6000s and the 4000s. It was a difficult choice but the 8000s definitely had a clearer, crisper and pure sound than the others. The 4000s were a very close second. I especially loved the design of the 4000s, particularly the LEDs at the bottom.

I think with B&O it really is all about personal taste and preference. If your budget allows, do have a listen to the BeoLab 3000s. I was very impressed with these speakers from a sound point of view. The acoustic lens technology is amazing and very noticeable against those that aren't ALT. However, aesthetically, they didn't do a lot for me, however mounted. In terms of performance, and based on my own personal listening tests, I would put the speakers in the following order:

1. BeoLab 3 - very very slightly have the edge over the 8000s but it really is very slight in my opinion

2. BeoLab 8000 - a wonderful speaker that is difficult to find fault with

3. BeoLab 4000 - again, a great speaker matching performance to size, also a design classic, I love it

4. BeoLab 6000 - a lovely looking speaker and good at low volumes with little bass, but often regarded as a weaker performing speaker in the range

I hope my response has been useful in some way to you Scotty. Best of luck and remember that choosing a speaker that compliments your room and your house is also significant when choosing. All of them will look good with the BeoSound 9000 but which ones will best compliment the environment? Keep us informed of your deicision.

Simon.

Hey Scotty....welcome to your new addiction....jajajajajaja...

 You'll really want to keep an open mind and read all that is here first. You'll gain so much knowledge. I started with the Beosound 9000 and a pair of 8000's....it's a great set up...lacking in the bass...(no problem..you can add an outboard non BnO sub) and it sounds like a completley different system....

Look at Pentas''...(in my opinion the best deal in a used BnO speaker)....

Look at converting your signal to RCA's driving a good quality amp and a set of RL 140's....driving them with say 160 RMS of clean power from a hidden AMP in the closet...

Look at Beolab 5000's (big but great style with a wall mounted BS 9000)...(again you can drive a outboard SUB if you need more bass)...I just missed a pair of these on Ebay...

I'd take my time on the first buy....make sure you get what you want......

Agree with all comments above. Listen with your music. Definately consider the BL3's. I think they are superior to the BL8000's but thats because i'm very taken by the lens technology.

As for turntables. You don't need a turntable with a built in pre amp. You can buy seperate phono pre's that work really well.

jazz