General Forum

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:06:34 GMT

The big Beosound3 negative for me is being unable to listen my favorite radio station talkSPORT on DAB & AM only.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Peter — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:16:47 GMT

The Stig - ver. 1.27:
Peter:
Alex:

And of course 'distortion free' at full volume because of the use of ICE Power! All you get is dynamic compression, rather than the normal fuzzy distortion which sounds terrible on other portable systems.
I take it that that is ice in the alcohol that is making you forget that the BS3 has an class AB amplifier ! And stop imagining that Class D amplification is all good and Class AB is bad! I would be most interested in a competition between the ICE powered Beolab 4000s and say a Beolab 5000 amplifier and some decent speakers - my LS3/5As for instance. The latter will be cheaper and I wonder who will distort first! I know which is better made and which I would prefer.
BS 3 has ICE POWER

No it doesn't!! There was an incorrect posting on the official site about this when the BS3 was first released. We checked! It is an AB unit. Class D was not working with batteries at the time of release.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

ipaul — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 19:12:59 GMT

Well, according to B&O's own specs: http://www.bang-olufsen.com/UserFiles/File/Products/Technical%20Specifications/BeoSound3_en.pdf it's a class AB amp, actually i don't think there's a 'small' (low power) version of the ICE amp for these purposes....

To go back to the thread's topic: what you can do to 'extend' the aerial (as they put it on the BS3 panel) is twist a thin wire around the aerial, the only downside is that it goes down by itself once the radio is switched off.

In any case you can always buy one, test it at home and if you don't like it for whatever reason bring it back (of course in the same condition you got it, with the packaging etc) within 10 days, this is EU law no matter what shops try to tell people these days....

About the auto switch off: i'm not so sure if it doesn't work with the sd card player: the manual says you set it from 'radio' position but you can switch to cardplayer before it switches off (but what they mean with that ??).

What i find rather weak from it so far (i mentioned it already in another thread) is the charger connection, should have been some sort of magnetic 'dock' or base thing, also it seems you can't get the display to show the time when the system is not in stand-by and, on itself not that important but being familiar with the always nice looking manuals from B&O i was rather dissapointed by the quality of the manual: in looks and content.

As mentioned above: some descriptions are not clear (to kind of correct one unclear description there's a separate sheet of paper with an explanation which is already in the manual) and it looks like a pile of photocopied papers, the addition of some nice colour brochures about products which don't matter to this one making the contrast even worse.....very un-B&O that is: i have the original nice set of papers/booklet coming with the 1968 beolit 800 and these look much nicer.

Part of it may have gone wrong with the translation (the 'booklet' is in Dutch), but a separate leaflet with some 'addition'....???

Also it doesn't contain any (!) technical specs.

Neither on the radio nor in the booklet it says where the thing is made btw !! (as far as i know also this should be mentioned by law...it has some, i think. Japanese symbols on the label....)

The good side: it's made out of nice material instead of nowadays thin plastic, because of it's small 'footprint' it's easy to place anywhere, it has quite some nice features like lots of presets, display turning off when battery operated, automatic aerial, stereo on headphones (radio and sd-card), no knobs and buttons to break off (like the old beolits) and, once you get used to the un-usual shape for a radio it is 'inviting' to bring it along with this big handle and they also sell a nice cover for it so it is protected for transport.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Alex — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:13:45 GMT

Either way, the BeoSound 3 still doesn't distort with 'hard clipping', it simply pushes all the dynamics together. Class D would seem a logical choice for the BeoSound 3 was due to it's higher efficiency and much lower heat output than Class AB amps .

Of course, there is now way you can compare 4000s and the BeoLab 5000 amplifier. The 400s are second from entry level loudspeakers, and while the 5000 is getting on quite a bit, it was still the BeoLab 5 of it's day, and a serviced one will be just as good as the day it was bought.

To be honest, I don't think amplification has moved along that much when it comes to performance. My old Sugden A48 is still a fantastic amplifier, and although it was built like a cardboard box and looked more like an accident than a commercial product, it still sounds absolutely fantastic and can drive hefty speakers (such as my DM7s) up to serious volumes without distorting.

The area it cannot be denied amplifiers have moved along is their practicality and reliability. The latest amplifiers from today produce far less heat than those from 30 or even 20 years ago, and take up considerably less space.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

The Stig - ver. 1.7 — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:07:54 GMT

Peter:
Alex:

And of course 'distortion free' at full volume because of the use of ICE Power! All you get is dynamic compression, rather than the normal fuzzy distortion which sounds terrible on other portable systems.
I take it that that is ice in the alcohol that is making you forget that the BS3 has an class AB amplifier ! And stop imagining that Class D amplification is all good and Class AB is bad! I would be most interested in a competition between the ICE powered Beolab 4000s and say a Beolab 5000 amplifier and some decent speakers - my LS3/5As for instance. The latter will be cheaper and I wonder who will distort first! I know which is better made and which I would prefer.

BS 3 has ICE POWER Why not just compare BL4000 mrk 1 : 120 W class AB with mrk 2 : Ice power 56 W Class D ?

Master unit:
Cabinet finish	Aluminium
Close-up operation panels	contact-less touch keyboard
Display type	4 character LED
Power supply, EU, GB, US, KOR, AUS, LAT, CHK, JPN, US, TWN	110-240 VAC
Power consumption	Typical 12,5 watts/stand-by 0,5 watts (Charger connected, no charging, standby, no clock)
Battery type	Ni-MH batterypack / 8 pcs. 1500mAh with built in NTC og PTC heat protection components.
Contains	FM, SD/MMC card reader, power supply,
Audio Performance:
Frequency range	20 Hz to 15 kHz (FM)
Signal to noise ratio	FM: >62dB, SD: >76dB, A weighted
Radio programs	99 presets
Radio, FM	87.5 MHz – 108 MHz (USA/Europe/Aus) 76 MHz – 90 MHz (Japan)
Card specification	SD card (2.1mm) MMC card (1.4mm)
Features	Random, low power indicator
Folders Max numbers of folders Max numbers of tracks in each folder	Abel to play music stored in root and 1 level 99 99
Tuner:	Build in
Radio programs	99 radio presets
Radio system	Portable FM
Timer:	Wake-up timer, sleep timer (one shot)
Power amplifier:	Built in, 1 unit, classe D
Loudspeaker system:	Build in, closed box, mono
System frequency range	60 - 20,000 Hz
Audio compressing	MP3 32 kbps to max. 320 kbps WMA 32 kbps to max. 192 kbps
MMC card types	16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512Mb, 1Gb, 2 Gb
SD card types	16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512Mb, 1Gb, 2 Gb
Features	Random

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Peter — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:37:37 GMT

Alex:
And of course 'distortion free' at full volume because of the use of ICE Power! All you get is dynamic compression, rather than the normal fuzzy distortion which sounds terrible on other portable systems.

I take it that that is ice in the alcohol that is making you forget that the BS3 has an class AB amplifier ! And stop imagining that Class D amplification is all good and Class AB is bad! I would be most interested in a competition between the ICE powered Beolab 4000s and say a Beolab 5000 amplifier and some decent speakers - my LS3/5As for instance. The latter will be cheaper and I wonder who will distort first! I know which is better made and which I would prefer.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Alex — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:55:40 GMT

And of course 'distortion free' at full volume because of the use of ICE Power! All you get is dynamic compression, rather than the normal fuzzy distortion which sounds terrible on other portable systems.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Craig — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:52:41 GMT

Had a listen to the BS3 when it first came out. Have to admit I did not expect it to sound as good as it did. Very loud for it's size too.

Craig

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Alex — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:56:49 GMT

Can't say I've compared them directly, but logic would say one higher quality speaker/amp would sound better than two lower quality ones! Also, the Bose wave system is not true stereo, the left hand channel doesn't reproduce any bass, and the right hand channel produces very little treble. Cheap and dirty quick option to make a vaguely good sound, although once you start listening properly, you realise how it doesn't really sound that great!

BeoSound 3, while mono, is very very good mono! Much better build, and I can tell you that the reception on the BeoSound 3 will be at least as good as the Bose, if not better.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

stevnp — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:41:14 GMT

Hi britops, I'll contact my local dealer and try the BS3 out if they'll let me.

I'd rather buy B&O than Bose if I can.

Does anyone have any experience of the Bose Wave Radio/cd II versus the BS3?

Many thanks,

Steve.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:03:22 GMT

Sure, they do it often.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

stevnp — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 08:31:41 GMT

Would they let me have a home trial?

Steve.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 06:06:25 GMT

Why not ask your dealer for a home trial of a BS3?

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

Beo — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 06:03:44 GMT

well, I am sorry that beosound 3 does not satisfy you. Good luck to your BOSE then

actually, in my mind, BOSE cannot compare with B&O for similar level products. I feel B&O gives much better sound and design.

For radio reception, I understand shops usually perform bad, but actually in home, it is excellent. Clear and no audible noise. Well... B&O has been producing radio since 1920's, I believe in them. But of course the missing FM aerial socket must improve a lot.

I can say although I have beosound 1 now, I really love beosound 3.

Re: Beosound 3 radio tuner stereo or mono?

stevnp — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 05:47:59 GMT

Hi thanks for your replies.

I tried a BS3 at a B&O shop.

The radio reception in the shop was poor, unacceptable in fact, and I doubt whether it would be any better at home.

I also can't understand why it can be set to sleep from the radio but not the SD card, although you can set the alarm for both.

All in all, horror of horrors, I'm going to get a Bose Wave Radio/CD II for my bedside table as I think it has more of the functionality I require, and an FM aerial socket.

Steve.