General Forum

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Alex — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:21:55 GMT

Your dealer may not be aware that they are now ICE Powered, B&O didn't make a song and dance about it, they simply changed all the part numbers. That's what to ask for if they look at you quizzically when you say 'ICE Powered BeoLab 4000s', just ask for 'New part-number BeoLab 4000s'.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

soundproof — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:01:45 GMT

brendon:
Thanks everyone for your advice. So I guess I'll look for a pair of older BL4000's without ICE.
Thanks

I think you should hear the new ones, with ICE, before deciding against them. Maybe your dealer can arrange a with and without listening session for you. Someone in this thread did mention a possible problem with them together with BL8000s ... while in other threads I have read that they have very rich sound with good bass. Haven't listened to the new ones, so I can't say either way.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Dave — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 21:04:29 GMT

soundproof:
Morgan:
BL9 plus BL4000s would get my vote. There's a purity of tone in the upper register of the BL4000s that I believe goes very well with the ditto from the BL9s.
Sorry but I don´t understand "ditto", but I got the general idea.
Just that the BL9s are similarly clear and bright in the upper register, so you get a good match. If you've been to a lot of live concerts, and in good seats (or are a musician yourself) you know that it's in the rendition of the concert timbre that B&O stands out, and that's due to the clarity of the upper register.
People who don't listen that much to live acoustic music sometimes feel the B&O speakers are too bright - but that's the price B&O pays for sending the members of its Golden Ears group to at least 20 live concerts a year, I guess! They're not satisfied until they hear what they heard at the concert.

I completely agree with the 4000's as rears and also like the idea of 4000's as rears with BL9's (as opposed to BL3's as rears). The 4000's have that very full and warm but still detailed sound which would compliment the clarity of the BL9's in a live concert DVD. The concert is in front of you.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

brendon — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:33:57 GMT

Thanks everyone for your advice. So I guess I'll look for a pair of older BL4000's without ICE.

Thanks

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Morgan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:22:45 GMT

I was hooked by B&O through its audio, and nowadays I´m trying to have a complete B&O audio system.

Thanks a lot for your comments. Pleased to "speak" with you .

Re: Speaker Suggestion

soundproof — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:48:59 GMT

Morgan:
BL9 plus BL4000s would get my vote. There's a purity of tone in the upper register of the BL4000s that I believe goes very well with the ditto from the BL9s.
Sorry but I don´t understand "ditto", but I got the general idea.

Just that the BL9s are similarly clear and bright in the upper register, so you get a good match. If you've been to a lot of live concerts, and in good seats (or are a musician yourself) you know that it's in the rendition of the concert timbre that B&O stands out, and that's due to the clarity of the upper register.
People who don't listen that much to live acoustic music sometimes feel the B&O speakers are too bright - but that's the price B&O pays for sending the members of its Golden Ears group to at least 20 live concerts a year, I guess! They're not satisfied until they hear what they heard at the concert.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Morgan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:17:39 GMT

To a certain extent it depends upon the kind of music you listen to. If it's predominantly acoustic/vocal (no electronics and effects), then BL9+BL4000s is perfect.

I use to listen acoustic/vocal (Jazz, Brasilian, Cuban, Latin, Rock....) so this is a very good news for me. I love the sound of the BL4000.

BL9 plus BL4000s would get my vote. There's a purity of tone in the upper register of the BL4000s that I believe goes very well with the ditto from the BL9s.

Sorry but I don´t understand "ditto", but I got the general idea.

And I´m agree, BS9000 is a great choice.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Morgan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:38:05 GMT

Peter:

In a four speaker set up, the ideal is four identical speakers. However one has to bear in mind that in a cinema set up, the rears are used effectively for ambience as much as anything. Therefore I normally advocate spending lots on the main system and fronts and not much on the rears. If your budget is limitless, BL5s all round is best. If slightly more limited, cut your cloth to match! BL3s would match BL9s very well but I think spending £2000 on them as rear speakers is a waste of money - to me! Others will not. Of all the equipment I have bought, the BL4000s are the ones that I think are the most expensive for what I get from them. They are excellent speakers but rarely get extended. My BL2 on the other hand is worth every penny I spent on it, as are my Pentas.
What are you looking for in a CD player? No news of anything else new at present! Just had the BC2 Audio after all!

Sadly my budget is limit.

I think like you, BL3 is too much as rear. My doubt is about join labs with lens and without. I have choose BL9 as main speakers.

I have about 1000 Cds, and every week I buy someone more. There is always music at home, nowadays I´m compressing all the CDs to use them as ambient music. The CDs will be only to listen them quietly having a good rum . I love the BS9000, and I´m in doubt about buy it or buy a rear speakers and use the Avant DVD as CD player while I save more money for the BS9000.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

soundproof — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:37:38 GMT

Morgan:

What do you think about mix BL9 as front and BL4000 as rear?

To a certain extent it depends upon the kind of music you listen to. If it's predominantly acoustic/vocal (no electronics and effects), then BL9+BL4000s is perfect. If you like music that goes THUMP! in the night then you want heavyweights all around. (I know of one person who has SIX BL5s, and still feels he would like more bass ... His plate glass windows are bulging - and I think he will be deaf when he hits 50).

BL9 plus BL4000s would get my vote. There's a purity of tone in the upper register of the BL4000s that I believe goes very well with the ditto from the BL9s.

As to Christian's comment about the BeoSound 9000 being made irrelevant by the move to digital files. I think you made a wise choice, Christian, in getting one back in February. The BS9000 will be the Beogram 4000 of the future.

I'm still playing LPs, and you will be playing CDs to your heart's content for years to come - from a unique player.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Morgan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:19:50 GMT

Thanks a lot, Soundproof. Very usefull info for me.

What do you think about mix BL9 as front and BL4000 as rear?

Any news about a new B&O CD player?

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Peter — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:19:05 GMT

In a four speaker set up, the ideal is four identical speakers. However one has to bear in mind that in a cinema set up, the rears are used effectively for ambience as much as anything. Therefore I normally advocate spending lots on the main system and fronts and not much on the rears. If your budget is limitless, BL5s all round is best. If slightly more limited, cut your cloth to match! BL3s would match BL9s very well but I think spending £2000 on them as rear speakers is a waste of money - to me! Others will not. Of all the equipment I have bought, the BL4000s are the ones that I think are the most expensive for what I get from them. They are excellent speakers but rarely get extended. My BL2 on the other hand is worth every penny I spent on it, as are my Pentas.

What are you looking for in a CD player? No news of anything else new at present! Just had the BC2 Audio after all!

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Christian — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:16:20 GMT

Morgan>>

If you like CDs, and believe you will use them for the next 5 to 10 years, or so, I would get the BS9000. If you are in doubt about CDs, and/or planning on switching to N.Music I would not buy any Stereo at the moment, but instead wait for the next music solution (BeoSound 5 ??) to be launched.

I have bought the BS9000 this february, 'cause I really do like CDs. I do not download any music. If you download a lot, I think you will loose interest in the 9000 in a few years.

However, if you've got pleanty of cash to spare, the 9000 will always look good on any wall.

Christian

Re: Speaker Suggestion

soundproof — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:12:18 GMT

The people speaking of "double stereo" may mean SACD or other multi-channel playback, where the original recording is mastered for more than two stereo speakers. I agree with Peter that just spreading out a two-channel recording to four speakers muddles things up. But then I'm also a bit of a fanatic on that topic - in my cars I always "move" the sound forwards.

SACD encoding - quite common on quality Jazz and Classical recordings - will feed sound to more channels; as will Audio DVDs or concert DVDs. That's when you would like to have something behind you creating sound. But when you think about it, you don't want two orchestras - you would like to have one, in front of you, and then have the other speakers supply the ambient sound and reflections of the orchestra -- which is what good SACD recordings do.
Unfortunately, B&O do not have any players that interpret SACD. But the BC2 does read concert DVDs properly, for multi-channel playback. Those of you with BeoSys3s should experiment with the sound upscaling. BeoSys3 upscales from 2-channel to 3 and 5 using quite advanced algorithms.

I actually find that L-R-Center fixes the stereo image well. Nothing new in that, the Beolab 5000 has a Center speaker out that does the same thing, and which was supposed to feed a Beovox 3000 placed between two large Beovox 5000 and two Beovox 2500. But all of that was in front of the listener.

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Morgan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:46:27 GMT

Peter:
I never use 'double stereo' as it wrecks the stereo image. If you mean for parties, then I don't think it really matters.

I have never listen double stereo really, but many people have tell me that is great, another way to listen music, and I would to try it. I´m going to buy a pair of BL9s and in doubt about a BS9000 or rear speakers, and wait what B&O will do about CD players. What do you think?

Re: Speaker Suggestion

Peter — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:22:24 GMT

I never use 'double stereo' as it wrecks the stereo image. If you mean for parties, then I don't think it really matters.