General Forum

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

Stephan — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:15:09 GMT

It´2 also a question how you set up the bass today. On your setup as on the BL9 you can set the switches on the back and manipulate the bass. Some tend to give more bass here, for example set the switch so wall, but placing the speaker in the corner, so you get more bass. If you like that, and are used to this, you better go to BL9. You can´t cheat the BL5 that easy. There is no real booming in movies like with the BL2, the BL5 have good bass, but it´s not that spectacular. You will not have the impression, that it´s too much bass. If you like to have a little bit too much bass, it´s easier to go for speakers with switches than with automatic calibration.

Regards

Stephan

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

9 LEE — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:55:48 GMT

You won't need a BeoLab 2 with the 5's or the 9's.

You won't be disappointed with either i guarantee - and i would personally lean towards BeoLab 9 given your room size.

Lee

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

wirralsimon — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:07:21 GMT

It sounds to me like you should ask your dealer to come round with a pair of Lab9's and a pait of Lab 5's for you to audition as otherwise you will only ever be guessing about how they might sound in your room!

Simon

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

Beology — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:35:22 GMT

Thanks very much Soundproof. Unfortunately I may be limited in the degree of separation of the speakers. We will have to see... I am having a large TV/bookcase made - which may or may not accommodate the speakers. As far as aesthetics go I prefer the speakers at either end of the cabinet, unenclosed and hopefully the 5s can make up for their proximity to walls....

Materials are relatively sound quality favourable. Wood floors and timber frame with half the floor covered in rug and plenty of soft furnishings.

Thanks for the link. Excellent info.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

soundproof — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:56:05 GMT

Quite ideal dimensions, in fact. Enviably so.

The golden ratio is much used in establishing ideal room dimensions, it turns out that this ratio adheres closely to room proportions that assist soundwaves, while reducing the problems that result when they interact. As you do not mention what materials the room is constructed of, I would claim you have something to look forward to, unless the walls are concrete and the floor is tile.

If the materials used in the room are adequate sound energy absorbents, then you should be able to play to your heart's content, at any level, and with an excellent result.

The golden ratio is expressed by 1.618 -- you will find that the relationship between your height to width, and the width to length, closely adheres to this ratio.

I would experiment with the final placement of the speakers, when they arrive, ensuring they have good separation from the side and front wall, with respect to the listening position. I think your planned placement is possibly too wide.

Cardas of Cardas audio would love your room.

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=26&pagestring=Room+Setup

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

Beology — Sat, 16 May 2009 07:39:30 GMT

Forgive me for encroaching on this thread. I am also wanting some reassurance in an intended purchase of Lab 5s for TV and music. My room size is 5m x 8m with ceiling height of 3m. Listeners distance from the speakers would be approx 3.3m with the speakers 4.5m apart. Would these speakers be too much for such a room size?

Thanks for your input.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

soundproof — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:36:32 GMT

martin01:

Ceiling height: 2,6 meter

I will sit 3,3 meter from the speakers.

There will be 3 meter between the speakers. There is 1 meter between the speakers and the left and right wall.

I understand from the description that you want to have the speakers placed against the long wall of the room?

Will you be seated with a wall directly behind you, or is there an open door behind you?

Your room is not far from quite good proportions - if the ceiling had been a little higher, it would have worked out nicely. Though ideally you should sit aligned with the longest axis in your room. If you plan on an arrangement along the width axis, then I would probably opt for BL9s - particularly if your head is up against a back wall.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

Razlaw — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:33:59 GMT

The difference we noticed when switching from 1s to 9s is hard to explain. The sound fills the room in a completely different way. The way I describe it is with the 1s I always had the impression I was listening to 2 very good speakers but there was no doubt where the sound was coming from. With the 9s all I hear is music with no sense of where it is coming from. When I look at the 9s I have this strange fealing that they are just sitting there doing nothing and have to remind myself that they are where the sound is coming from. The overall sound quality is much better in my opinion in all respects.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

martin01 — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:27:52 GMT

Thank you guys for your reply. It sounds that i should go for the lab9 instead of the lab 5. Maybe my room-size is to small for the lab5:s.

Is there a large improvement with lab9 vs lab1? (Bass, midrange, treble)

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

Razlaw — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:26:13 GMT

We have a room very similiar in size to yours. Our original setup was an Avant with Beolab 1s in front, Beolab 6000s in rear and a Velodyne subwoofer. We brought home a pair of 9s to try out and set them up next to the 1s so we could compare them. The 9s sounded much much better and thus we kept the 9s. We now have a BV7 MKIII with 7-4 and use the 1s as rear speakers. They may be a bit much but the added height is a benefit. They also seem to sound much better as rears than the 6000s did. As for the subwoofer, I do not think it is needed with the 9s. I find the bass tighter without a sub but there is not quite as much of it. My wife likes more bass than I do and believes very strongly that the 9s need a sub. I have suggested moving the 1s to a link room and reinstalling the 6000s as rears but again my wife does not like that idea as the 1s sound so much better than the 6000s as rears.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

PhilLondon — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:16:05 GMT

If you leave close to a dealer, ask him if you can borrow a pair of BL9, and you can compare them in situ with your BL1/2, and you can decide for yourself.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

soundchoice70 — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:10:23 GMT

Hi Martin,

Whilst I am in no way an expert on the BL 5 and BL 9 speakers, I would like to offer the following as it seems relevant to my evening.

Coincidently, this evening I was just at a client's home which I designed about a year ago, who has just recently acquired their BL9 we discussed. Their living room is similar dimensions to yours in terms of floor area. The BL9 sound wonderful, rich and clear with a deep base note. I also think that they are the perfect size aesthetically for this size space.

Compared to this, another client has the same setup as yours (BL1 / BL2), and while it sounds amazing also, I feel the bass is not as deep and rich as the BL9 in my opinion. This however, is in a much larger space.

BL5 is of course is considered the best, although I have no direct experience (performance wise) in an actual installation outside of a showroom. But my personal opinion firstly would be they are aesthetically little large for your room, and I' m sure some of our more experience members can advise on their performance in a similar space.

All being said I'm sure you would not regret either purchase.

Good luck with it.

Laurence.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

bayerische — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:05:26 GMT

I think you should buy BL5's. They are superb. I'm more than happy with mine.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

beobeo — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:00:20 GMT

martin01:

Hi, Thank you for your advice. Do you think that I should sell both lab1+2 and invest in lab9? or should I just sell the labs1 and keep the lab2 with lab9?

Regards
Martin

It's better if you hear them yourself. I personally think that BL2 is not needed with BL9.

What would be the distance between your BL5's? Seems like they will be less than 3m apart.

Re: Should I buy Beolab 5???

martin01 — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:39:31 GMT

Ceiling height: 2,6 meter

I will sit 3,3 meter from the speakers.

There will be 3 meter between the speakers. There is 1 meter between the speakers and the left and right wall.