Dear forum

First of all a merry christmas to all of you out there - I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I.

I have a pair of BL4 PC which I have been using as pc speakers. However I don't get to use them that much since the computer room is right next to the room of our small children and they tend to sleep at night, when I use the computer.

Instead I am considering to make a surround setup. I'm going to buy a BV7-40 and already have a pair of BL 9 and a BC2. I was wondering if there's any way that I can use my BL4 PC's for rear speakers in a surround setup. The problem being of course, that the PC version does not have a powerlink jack, but instead a "line in" jack. I was told that the signal running through the powerlink cables are not identical to a "normal" line signal and that it has somehow been amplified in order to reduce loss of signal from the player to the active speakers.

This seems to indicate that I would need some sort of transformer sitting quite near to the BL4 PC, converting the powerlink signal to a line signal in order to avoid loss of signal.

Does anyone know if there's a solution available to this problem?

Cheers,

Moller 

To be honest, I wouldn't want to use them as rear speakers especially if BeoLab 9s are the mains! 4s don't match the sound of 9s at all (very different 'voicing') and a pair of BeoLab 3s would do a much better job.

I think Alex is right. Get a pair of Beolab 3's as rear speakers and you won't be disappointed.

Uhh - thanks. Of course that was not quite the answer, I was looking for, but if the general opinion is that it would be a bad idea to use a pair of BL4's as rear speakers, I will have to reconsider. Of course the BL3 is somewhat more expensive, too.

 Regards,

Moller

Actually I'd say the BeoLab 4 is more expensive, but the BeoLab 3 costs more!

People don't like the Beolab 4s very much but I have a pair now hooked up as my rear speakers. I think they are under rated speakers. People complain about bass and other issues, so when I bought them I was extremely surprised at how good they were.

I think the point is being missed here, this is not a question of the suitability of BL4's as rear speakers but can BL 4 PC's be used with a 7 40 in a DSS set up.  The simple answer is no, as you quite rightly point out, the power link element is not there which is exactly why they cost so much less than the standard BL 4's.

Now, I do not doubt that some clever chap on this forum can come up with a 'work around' solution but it is not for what it is intended and as already mentioned are not a good match for the BL 9's that you already own.  My advice would be to use BL 3's or BL 8000's for your rears.

More to the point why is the voicing of the BL4 different to all of the other speakers in the range, am I a cynic or is this clever marketing by B&O so that they are really only ever used on there own & not in a complete setup.

No it's nothing to do with that! It's just to do with the sonic signature of a speaker. The way the BeoLab 4s sound is just different to the BeoLab 9s. The 9s are the best speakers B&O have made with the exception of the 5s (which is really saying something), and the BeoLab 4s, well, aren't exactly. I did try using mine as rears in a surround sound setup with B&Ws at the front (which have a similar 'voicing' to the BeoLab 9s) and they just didn't work at all. They stuck out like a sore thumb. BeoLab 4000s would be better, but again, these are more suited to 'non-ALT setups' which have a softer, less detailed and smoother sound. ALT speakers (such as the BeoLab 9s) have a tendency of revealing every tiny detail in a recording and spreading the sound out into the room completely differently to other speakers. That's why it's best to have ALT speakers all around, rather than a mixture.

Dear everyone

Thanks for the many quite interesting views on the suitability of BL4's as rear speakers matched together with a pair of BL9's.

I have noted that the general opinion seems to bee that it be a rather poor match and that I should spend some money on a pair of BL3's instead.

With all due respect to all of you who were kind enough to reply to my posting, I shall allow myself to point out that the question was a technical one - rather than an aesthetic one ;-)

I visited my dealer and he told me, that he thought it was possible to order a kit of some sort consisting of the missing electronics and connections on the PC edition. You would treat it like a standard BL4 had broken down and order a repair kit and then - by adding this to the speaker - you would end up having rebuild the PC edition into a standard BL4 edition.

So there seems to be a technical and practical solution for my little problem. Another question is if I should pursue this solution or just keep the BL4's as pc speakers. Thanks to the interesting answers I have received, I shall now consider this question for a while before making a decision.

Best regards - and happy new year

Moller

If you don't mind switching your BL4s on and off, you could use an ml/mcl converter, a pair of speaker level/line level converters (from an auto stereo shop), a pair of RCA cables, and a pair of rca->mono 3.5 jacks to do the trick.  An expensive, ugly, and marginal workaround. But it will work. I would trade them in for ML version. Ray

I think in the long run you will regret getting BL4 PC's, too fussy, and won't sound too good, i think theses speakers may be poor value, but it would (in the long run) be worth patience, and saving up to get BL3's. Rears aren't a must are they? Wouldn't you rather get the best possible result for your money?

I'm sorry, i'm not good at typing concisely, what i'm trying to say is that i advise you take on the theory that many Beofans take on,buy the best, because if you skimp, you may regret it and will most probably buy another set of speakers later when you do have the cash...