General Forum

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

John — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:35:22 GMT

Chris:

Hi there, some advice please.

I have a Beovision 7-40 Mk3 with a Beolab 7.4, driving a pair of front Beolab 8000's and a Beolab 2. At the rear of what is a square are a pair of Beolab 6000's.

When i select speaker setup 4 i get all 4 main speakers working, with the 6000's which are normally relatively muted in surround mode 5, boxing above their weight and sounding fantastic. But in setup 4 i don't get the benefit of the 7.4. When i select mode 5 i get the 7.4 and the 8000's as usual but rather timid 6000's. I prefer listening to music in mode 4, but try and watch movies in 5 to ge the benefit of the 7.4. I always have to put the volume up in mode 5 to say 59 from 51 which i don't like doing.

In short how do i get the Beolab 7.4 to chip in when in speaker setup selection 4?

I dont know how much my advice will help, as I don't own a B&O TV or speakers..... yet..

However, as I understand it your B&O TV has an inbuilt surround sound decoder/preamp, whereby you can select which combinations of speakers you wish to use.

I would assume that in your mode 5 seting, which is for DD movies etc, that you will have the option to send test tones (pink noise) to each individual speaker in turn, to balance them as regards levels, and also an input setting for loudspeaker to listening seat for distance, which will tell the decoder what delay to set for the different speaker distances from the listening seat, so the sound signals all arrive at the same time to your ears.

These days, most current AV receivers use a small supplied microphone, and the setting of levels and distances is done automatically.

However, you will have to do this manually, for which you need a tape measure, and an SPL level meter - Tandy/Radioshack one will do nicely.

The Dolby specs call for a test tone of 75db on all channels, OR you can also buy test DVD's to send the test tones, in which case the level is 85db.

Either way, once you have set your individual speaker to listening seat distances, run the test tones one at a time, with the SPL level meter preferably mounted on a tripod or similar, at the listening position, AND pointing the microphone up towards the celing. You need to match each speaker so that they all will show 75db on the meter, assuming you are using the internal test tones, or 85db if using a calibration test CD/DVD.

Then you are done. Note the volume setting that you are using on your B&O - this is your reference level. By reference, Dolby specs call for 105Db C weighted PER Channel for reference playback levels. For sound considerations, the test tones are - 30dB down, hence the 75db level.

105db is very loud in a home environment unless you are in a very large room; most AV enthusaists would listen around -6, -10, or even -15db below reference level.

The point of this excercise is that a SPL level meter and tape measure are both more accurate than guessing and IMV essential if you want the best results - differences of even 1db in the rear surround channels can spoil the effect, so you need to get it right. Once done it is set unless you change things around re your placement of speakers etc, and it is not an onerous task to do.

Properly set up and calibrated, I would expect thrilling results from your system - it really is just a matter of calibrating it according to Dolby specs for movies -using the test tones that will be built into the inbuilt surround sound decoder, which are there as part of the licence requirements for a Dolby Digital surround sound encoder, as supplied by B&O or their OEM suppliers as regards the SS module.

Trust that this is of assistance

Kind Regard

John...

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

quader — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:35:31 GMT

I have a Beo 4 and 5 , not sure how much the software update would cost to get the AST enabled and whether the functions would benefit in light of what richu says about the centre speaker.

Maybe a cheaper solution would be another amp like onkyo as some of you are using but then you end up with cluttering with third party devices.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

richu — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:17:16 GMT

B&O recommends a Beo5/6, but it works with the Beo4 also.

The setup can be done with Beo4 easy.

To change a profile manually, it is not so easy as with Beo5/6. But in fact it is usually not necessary to change a profile, since you define a default for Video and another default for Audio.

Go for it. You can always disable it.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Raeuber — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:59:23 GMT

But for AST you need a Beo 5/6, with a Beo 4 it doesn't work.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

richu — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:21:45 GMT

AST allows to finetune speakers.

Center is the reference. Center is in default and cannot be changed, but all others. ....when I remember correctly.

You may download the AST user /reference Guide in the B&O download section.

To enable AST, you just can enable on the menu. If your menu doesn't show up AST, you have to install the latest SW update.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

quader — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:28:45 GMT

Would the AST allow settings for the centre speaker as well as others ?

My AST on BV7 Mk3 is disabled

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Chris — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:41:19 GMT

I'm the same with 60 being the only level for getting a clear sound. The problem then is that the 8000's then start erupting at the first hint of any action.. What i want is setup 4 with the BL7.4 giving a sound clear vocal reproduction. I was always sold the 7.4 as the "nearly 400 watt ultimate centre speaker" It could be 40 watts for all i know.

Is it as good as grannies Avant?

Nope.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Oasis — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:30:11 GMT

I find the same problem with the rear speakers but I've always just accepted that. Never tried speaker 4 for video tho.

What annoys me the most is that the centre speaker in speaker 5 seems to be too soft in comparison to the front speakers (BL5s in my case) and with the BV9 you can't change the volume setting for the centre speaker. As a result, I have to increase the volume to 60 to get decent sound from the centre speaker. I have previously had a BV4 setup with BL7.2 and notice the same problem.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Tod Daniel — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:21:32 GMT

Wo Chris,

You have my FAVOURITE B&O speakers there - perfect design! nice!!!

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

richu — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:46:54 GMT

Don't know if I understood you correctly.

SPEAKER 4 will never bring the BeoLab 7-4. 4 is without Center

SPEAKER 3 or 5 will bring in the BL 7-4.

The BL 2 Subwoofer is always in. See also the picture in the BV7 owners manual.

In the settings, I select VIDEO SPEAKER 5, AUDIO SPEAKER 4 (or 2). VIDEO PROFILE TV, AUDIO PROFILE x. With AST I am able to setup different functions for the different loudspeaker in the PROFILEs. There you may tweak the volumes and setup according your placement.

You probably have to install the latest SW (see the thread http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/t/31193.aspx ) to get AST woth all its features.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Chris — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:44:19 GMT

Yes thanks, i have already turned up the rear speakers but it only makes a modest difference in mode 5.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

DrDimitris — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:37:54 GMT

I have quite the same setup and what i have found useful is that i tweeked the level of the rears a bit up from the Sound Setting Menu. This helped a lot when using Speaker 5 mode. But there is no way AFAIK to use the center speaker when in Speaker 4 Mode.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Large48 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:21:14 GMT

I think its a design feature.............. :-(

Could always try running the 7.4 off of a speaker as opposed to the TV, although you would lose it as a separate channel.

Either that or buy rear speakers that match the front.

Or use another set of speakers to be 'mid' to boost the TV sound. This is the setup I use.

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

Nickyg63 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:02:16 GMT

Same for me also, in a surround sound setup the rears don't do a lot! in speaker mode 4 they are quad stereo. i just left mine as is, i know what you mean about the rears hardly getting used seems a waste!

Re: Speaker selection on a 7-40 setup

quader — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:56:05 GMT

this is a problem i have aswell, i have 2 different setups (tv and Projector) and yet i still end up using speaker 4

as yet not found a solution