General Forum

Re: Newbie question: how to connect a B&W PV1 to a BC9500 + BL8000 setup?

Beobird — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:21:24 GMT

He can buy 2 pv1's or 1 bl2 . bl2 is good for movies with his great slam, but for music I would prefer the pv1 over the bl2...

Re: Newbie question: how to connect a B&W PV1 to a BC9500 + BL8000 setup?

Peter — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:11:42 GMT

I think the best way is to use a Powerlink socket. You will need a bespoke cable and if you are using both Powerlink sockets, a Y splitter but a good dealer should be able to sort this for you.

However a couple of points:

1. One of the benefits of a subwoofer is that it reduces the low signals sent to the other speakers leaving them free to concentrate on the other frequencies. This is donw by having an active cross over in the subwoofer - in the case of the BL2, one runs a single Powerlink cable to the BL2 and then Powerlink from the BL2 to the BL8000s. This does improve the sound of the 8000s. With the PV1, you lose this advantage.

2. Have you heard the BL2? Go and have a listen for yourself first. Never base a buying judgment on the word of others - even me!! I must confess, I don't like the BL2 for listening to music loud - just too much bass. Wonderful for films though. I have not heard the PV1 so have a listen to that too.

Newbie question: how to connect a B&W PV1 to a BC9500 + BL8000 setup?

js — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:28:43 GMT

Dear all,

Sorry to come with a newbie question again...

I know BL9s and BL5s are much better than the BL8000 + subwoofer option, but I love the design of my BL8000s and I am ready to experiment this compromise. So, it appears that most of you recommend the B&W PV1 above the BL2, as it is faster and less boomy (despite that it does not relieve the BL8000 from playing the bass like the BL2 does). Right, let's go for the PV1.

I would use a single PV1, so this one has to process both the left and right channels. For this setup, the audio master would be a Beocenter 9500 (I have a Beosound 9000 in another room, but I don't need a subwoofer there), which has no dedicated subwoofer output. Now, how would I best connect a PV1, which has two input options:

- through the Speaker input (which is stereo and is supposed to be connected to an amplified speaker-level output): it is stereo for sure but (i) it is not the very same line signal as the PowerLink one which feeds the BL8000s (but is it an issue?); and (ii) it requires a double SpeakerLink cable which is thicker (i.e. more visible and less aesthetic) than a PowerLink cable; or

- through the Line input (which I think is mono and is supposed to be connected to a dedicated non-amplified line-level subwoofer output): this solves the issues mentioned above, but how do I mix the left and right signals? Is there any special cable to do that?

Thanks again for your help.

Kind regards,

Jean-Sebastien