General Forum

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

mbee — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:35:19 GMT

Sorry Razlaw... I was a little tired... 100B is way too much! I meant more something like 75dB. (it's what I use to set up).

And second mistake in my guide : I didn't mean "speaker 2" for the first adjustment, I just meant "main volume" : turn up the volume on your set with white noise until it reach 75dB. Its just to give a good base.

I've corrected my "guide". I hope it's clear.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Razlaw — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:19:57 GMT

DrDimitris:

mbee:

That's not good.

The volume of the speakers don't have to be set "visually" to the same level, even more because 4000's and 9's are not on the same league. I think that before buying anything, you should set up properly the speaker distance and levels.

1. Measure speaker distance and put correct distance from ear to speaker for each speaker.

2. Find a sound pressure tool. The cheapest is the free iPhone app "Ultimate Ears". As we are not searching for exact absolute levels but accurate relative levels of each speaker, it's really good.

3. Find a white noise source/go to the speaker setup to have white noise.

4. Turn your TV speaker in speaker 2 mode until you reach 100dB in Ultimate Ears at the listening position.

5. Adjust individually all speaker levels to reach 100dB (front, rear, center).

6. You're done, now the speaker levels are correctly set up.

7. Try your new configuration before buying anything

It also has to be dependant on the master volume value (e.g. 55). What do you suggest as a volume value? In my setup (BL7-1 center, BL8000's fronts, BL4000's rears, BL2) is not easy to reach 100db with highest setting on the SPEAKER Adjustment menu. I have to put the Master Volume up to 74-75 to reach 95db. And my living room is 35m2.

If I set the speakers in 2 speaker mode then I will only hear two channel, wont I? I wont be hearing the rear surround portion of a movie?

What I have done is gone into the BS3 menu and made the 4000s fronts, and the 9s rears, and listened from my normal sitting position. I then have listened to the rear channels through both the 4000s and 9s sitting extremely close to one so I could focus on the sound from that speaker. I heard effects in the 9 that were absent or much more muffled in the 4000s.

Haven't I read somewhere about people listening to systems with 5 Beolab 5s and how amazing they sound?

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

DrDimitris — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:02:32 GMT

mbee:

That's not good.

The volume of the speakers don't have to be set "visually" to the same level, even more because 4000's and 9's are not on the same league. I think that before buying anything, you should set up properly the speaker distance and levels.

1. Measure speaker distance and put correct distance from ear to speaker for each speaker.

2. Find a sound pressure tool. The cheapest is the free iPhone app "Ultimate Ears". As we are not searching for exact absolute levels but accurate relative levels of each speaker, it's really good.

3. Find a white noise source/go to the speaker setup to have white noise.

4. Turn your TV speaker in speaker 2 mode until you reach 100dB in Ultimate Ears at the listening position.

5. Adjust individually all speaker levels to reach 100dB (front, rear, center).

6. You're done, now the speaker levels are correctly set up.

7. Try your new configuration before buying anything

It also has to be dependant on the master volume value (e.g. 55). What do you suggest as a volume value? In my setup (BL7-1 center, BL8000's fronts, BL4000's rears, BL2) is not easy to reach 100db with highest setting on the SPEAKER Adjustment menu. I have to put the Master Volume up to 74-75 to reach 95db. And my living room is 35m2.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Puncher — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:40:32 GMT

Razlaw:

Not sure what you mean by input signal? I had the volume on the BV7 display set to the same level.

What I mean is that the 9's will be louder than the 4000's driven from the same amplitude input signal.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

mbee — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:39:09 GMT

That's not good.

The volume of the speakers don't have to be set "visually" to the same level, even more because 4000's and 9's are not on the same league. I think that before buying anything, you should set up properly the speaker distance and levels.

1. Measure speaker distance and put correct distance from ear to speaker for each speaker.

2. Find a sound pressure tool. The cheapest is the free iPhone app "Ultimate Ears". As we are not searching for exact absolute levels but accurate relative levels of each speaker, it's really good.

3. Find a white noise source/go to the speaker setup to have white noise.

4. Turn up your TV main volume until you reach 75dB in Ultimate Ears at the listening position.

5. Go to the speaker setup and adjust individually all speaker levels to reach 75dB (front, rear, center).

6. You're done, now the speaker levels are correctly set up.

7. Try your new configuration before buying anything

[EDIT] Mistakes corrected

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Razlaw — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:04:41 GMT

Not sure what you mean by input signal? I had the volume on the BV7 display set to the same level.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Puncher — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:26:01 GMT

Did you match the actual volume (not just the input signal), the 9's are more sensitive than the 4000's and therefore will be louder with the same input signal. This will seem to sound "better".

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Razlaw — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:26:59 GMT

I have done as you suggested. I was amazed how much sound came from and how much more effects were audible from the 9s than the 4000s. Listening to the rears only made me want to upgrade more.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Puncher — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:18:01 GMT

Try listening to the rear channels in isolation, i.e. without fronts, sub or centre. You may be amazed to find how little audio bandwidth is played! Then keep this in mind as you look for new rear speakers.

If you want 9's or 8000's as rears for purely aesthetic reasons the fine, go ahead but, as already mentioned by Peter, anything 4000 or above is more than capable, while 9's are probably "audio overkill".

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

valve1 — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:16:51 GMT

Razlaw:
They are simplest upgrade for me.

That covers all debates! If the 8,s do not work for you...... put the 1,s back.

I am a big fan of lab2.s but ZERO experiance of lab9,s

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Razlaw — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:02:59 GMT

Dealer is shipping me a Beolab 2 tomorrow to try. I honestly do not think I will like it with the 9s.

My next step is to try the 8000s. They are simplest upgrade for me. Just plug in to my existing wall outlets for rears.

Part of me would like to try/consider another pair of Beolab 9s, or maybe 12s. Either would require some new wiring. A problem with the 9s is their low height and they would be placed behind furniture. I am trying to think of/find something to set them on that would increase their height.

I think I will have my dealer send me a long Mark 3 PowerLink cable so I can move my 9s to the rear and put one of my other pairs of speakers in front just to see what 9s sound like as rears.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

valve1 — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:48:27 GMT

Razlaw:
or go with the 8000s.

Go with the 8000.s, they are "next of kin " to the lab1.s. They are not as detailed as the lab1,s (imo) but as rere speakers it should work.

At least demo them ? I am not a fan of the lab3's (visually)

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

Razlaw — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:00:54 GMT

I just about had myself talked in to the Beolab 3s. Then today I learned that the wiring in my walls to the rear speaker locations is not MK3 and thus not ICE compatible. :(

Dealer is offering me a great price on a left over pair of pre-ICE 8000s.

So it seems three options are do nothing, have some major work done to run new cables, or go with the 8000s.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

akoro — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:40:55 GMT

I actually had the privilidge to listen one of the pre production Beolab 12-3's in the same place where there previously were BeoLab 1's and I would rate BeoLab 12-3 better in these areas :look, sound quality and BeoLab 1 only easier to install/facilitate.

And yeah, better than BL3. Even better than BL8002, but it depends more on placement.

Re: Beolab 8002 or 12 as rears?

mjmedlo — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:53:16 GMT

This is interesting.

I'm anxious to hear the lab12 as it sounds like they're going to be quite nice

Anyone actually heard them as compared to some others in the line?