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Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

Steve at Sounds Heavenly — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:41:14 GMT

Hello Stefan,

I think you may not always get a good sound when using Beolab 4000 and 6000 together as stereo pairs, but why not try it and see? So much depends on your listening room that sometimes you will find speaker positions that work even when logic says it shouldn't!

Maybe a good starting point would be to try the 4000's directly above the 6000's? Try moving the 6000's forwards and backwards and see how it affects the sound at your listening position. B&O used similar drivers in both these types of speaker, so with careful adjustment, they could work quite well. Then try moving the 6000's outwards towards the edges of the room, with the 4000's above them towards the centre of the front wall. In some rooms, this can create the effect of a lead vocalist standing on stage, with the other voices and instruments behind them. However, this depends on both the room and your preferred types of music, so my best advice is to try it and see what works for you!

Please post and let us know how you get on.

Best regards,

Steve.

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

slupascu — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:31:27 GMT

Image link : http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?8d72832e19.jpg

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

slupascu — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:30:45 GMT

Hi All,

Steve , you really made me laugh with the problems about your wife. My girlfriend always starts bubbling up when i receive a parcel from the post office. She knows that I bought another set of speakers and she realizes that the week end is compromised :)

I have the same problems as you all with that :).

Getting back to the room size and placement. I have a 20 square meters room (quite small) and I have the walls and speakers positioned like in the image below .

I thought of moving the 6000s back on the sides of the sofa, but I will only here them when laying on it and the 4000s won't make any difference.

Thx,

Stefan

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

tournedos — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:34:52 GMT

I have RL60.2's at the office, hanging from the ceiling with the original pole mounts (on both sides of the 90" screen ). They sound incredibly sweet - perhaps a little light on the bass though since they are about 50 cm away from all walls - but that's the way I like them. Good speakers and not at all offensive to my eyes. But if I were to re-cloth them, I'd use something else than dark grey... I'd post a picture but the amount of assorted crap piled all around is repulsive

A funny idea which I never saw in practise, though: the guy I bought the poles from actually had them mounted on the floor! I had to turn the mounting brackets around... These could be adjusted quite a bit higher than the genuine floor stands.

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

Puncher — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:04:34 GMT

I too had RL60's wall mounted for many years. I've always liked the shape and styling, it was quite radical when I bought them - certainly more "wow factor" than your typical wooden box. Sadly now the speakers are on floor stands and don't have the same visual impact or sound performance - I agree with Steve I really preferred their sound when wall mounted.

Why change then, I hear you ask - I can only say the balance of power has changed

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

wirralsimon — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:58:55 GMT

Steve at Sounds Heavenly:
Two RedLine 60 speakers mounted on the front wall of the living room, either side of the fireplace, at a height (measured at the middle where the tweeters are) of 165cm (5 feet 5), with the speakers pointing inwards to a point about 30cm in front of my listening position. The effect is simply AWESOME! I can now close my eyes and the second favourite lady in my life (just in case my wife reads this ) appears in the room in front of me........

I am hugely impressed you are still married! Redlines are not exactly the prettiest speakers B&O ever made, if I was to do what you have done I would be sleeping in the spare room!

I think this underlines this is about speaker placement in combination with the room you are in, and the importance of trial and error. Ultimately the 'right' speaker placement is the one that the listener likes best.

Simon

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

Steve at Sounds Heavenly — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:42:50 GMT

Hi Stefan, hope you are well?

I agree that the generally accepted hi-fi view is to have 2 speakers in front of you, with the tweeters at ear height, about the same distance apart as they are away from you.

However, I've been doing some experiments to try to challenge this, and I would encourage you to do the same! I asked myself some time ago what effect I wanted to create from my speakers and I decided it was this:- I want the effect of a solo female vocalist (OK, I admit it, Marie Fredriksson from Roxette!) standing in my living room near the fireplace singing to me as I sit on the sofa.

However, conventional stereo wisdom won't give me this, not convincingly. Hence, after many weekends of trial and error, numerous holes in the wall and (almost) a divorce, I settled on the following setup:-

Two RedLine 60 speakers mounted on the front wall of the living room, either side of the fireplace, at a height (measured at the middle where the tweeters are) of 165cm (5 feet 5), with the speakers pointing inwards to a point about 30cm in front of my listening position. The effect is simply AWESOME! I can now close my eyes and the second favourite lady in my life (just in case my wife reads this ) appears in the room in front of me........

This doesn't work for all types of music, but for solo vocals with beat-driven backing, it is the best setup I've ever found.

To address the issue of bass; yes, you do lose quite a bit of bass weight and extension by wall-mounting your speakers, however the RedLine's I chose (which I have extensively modified and upgraded, by the way) have way too much bass when on the floor. Lift them up and they start to sing! Depending on the room you are listening in, the 4000's can behave in a similar way. IMHO Beolab 6000's seem to be best on the floor in "free space", but again, this is room-dependant.

Anyone in the Leicestershire area who wants to come and have a listen to my system is welcome to do so; I do tend to get obsessed with my music but I think I've finally found a setup to rival the best, using fairly "low tech" equipment......

If I've learnt one thing from this, it would be:- ASK YOUR WIFE BEFORE YOU START WRECKING THE LIVING ROOM!

Steve.

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

slupascu — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Thank You very much for your guidelines.

I am using the speakers with a Beosound Ouverture. I will plan using them with my TV also after I'll buy an adaptor and maybe a sub to match them.

I thought the BL 4000s sounded better as bass because of the cabinet size(I know they have the exact same specs)

Thinking of mounting the 6000s to the walls and coming down with the 4000s .

I don't know if this is the best option , but worth trying at least for a test.

Thx,
Stefan

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

BeoSoto — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:24:59 GMT

Hello, what sources are you using with the speakers? (i.e. television, music system) Also, are you looking for a 5.1 (or 5.0) set-up? When using music only, the best configuration is SPEAKER 4. When watching television, SPEAKER 5. As far as placement, I totally agree with Christian. Another strong recommendation is to place the BeoLab 6000`s in FRONT, and the BeoLab 4000`s in the rear. Although the watts are very similar in both models, you will find a large difference by doing this.

Regards!

Paul

Re: B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

ChrDH — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:47:58 GMT

Generally, I think the speakers should be in a height so that the treble units are in the same height as your ears when listening (sitting in a couch most often). I have wall-mounted Beovox 5000 panels, and the treble units are in the exact same height as my ears when i am sitting in the sofa, they sound differently when i am standing up. This may explain why the BL6000 sound louder when sitting, simply because you are in the direct line of fire from the speaker-units, i hope this makes sense.

Placing a speaker close to the wall or in a corner brings more bass in to the soundpicture, that is why some beolabs has different settings for the ABL depending on the placement.

Using 4 speakers at the same time is not the best idea for a perfect stereo-picture imo. I would suggest using only one pair at the time.

I suppose there are many other oppinions on this subject, it is a great question, and often a bit overlooked if you want to make the best (sound) of your speakers.

best regards

Christian

B&O speaker placement in the room in order to get the best of it !

slupascu — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:54:01 GMT

Hello Dear friends,

I just posted a few times on this forum now and I dicovered that this is the best place to get info about B&O and relate to other B&O lovers.

I need your opinion before moving the speakers in my living room. I own a pair of Beolab 4000 and a pair of Beolab 6000 speakers.

I have the 4000s wall mounted at 1,5 meters above the ground and I observed that the bass they produce is not the same as when they were placed on the ground. That's normal ? I am trying to think that I was mistaken to mount them so high over the TV

For the 6000s I had the same feeling. If I stay on the couch and listen to them , the bass can be heard more clearly .If I stand up I don't hear the bass at all and I'm not touchning the volume key (I know that on high volumes the bass practically disappears on these speakers due to the ABL) .

How do you think I should place these 4 speakers in order to get the best sound experinece from them ?

I am looking forward to see your replies :)

Cheers,
Stefan