Hi all, i thought it'd be great to sit down and type a little about my thoughts and experience on the BeoLab 1 (without subwoofer) > possibly to clear up some confusion...

I have pined over owning a pair for years, and i finally bought these from the magnificent team at Lifestyle-AV who have gone above and beyond for me despite the geometrical distance.

I've had the twins for a few weeks now, and have been listening to them basically every minute of being home. Churning all sorts of different types of music through them. My first impression when i set them up was wow - very open with deep and gruff bass (but that was a bit of a fluke, the recording was very sweet, with little mid-bass)

I would describe the sound this way ; the mids and highs are magic. Astonishing detail and power. I've fiddled with them a fair bit to see what makes them sound the way they do, and the problem everyone talks about with the sound being harsh and un-natural is not in the upper ranges! It is indeed the woofers > their sound is flawed (assuming that is the compromise one must accept with having a long slender aluminium and plastic cabinet with two 6.5" drivers pumping 500w of lower midrage and bass). This imposes on the overall sound experience. Also, to my surprise, they are very bassy! It is a small room so that helps, but WOW they really reach down and deliver a sweet bottom end.

I've achieved this sound, by ultimately backing them up against the wall, swtiching them both to 'corner' setting the potentiometers for the woofers from 4, to zero and adjusting the bass setting on the beosound to approximately +3. I also tweaked the midrage from 6 to zero and taking down the treble setting on the beosound to approximately -3.

I did also carefully open them up to explore the speaker cabinets (this can be done safely and quickly by simply taking out the woofers, rather then un do-ing and re-doing the 20 thousand screws that hold the entire baffle onto the cabinet), and experimented with the foam bricks. The conclusion i came to was; the position they were designed to be in, sound best. They deaden the harsh vibrations from the rest of the cabinet but still allow the drivers to take advantage of the size of the cabinet re the lower frequencies as the air passes through the foam easily.

{i'm curious if BeoLab 5 has any sound deaning material inside, i suspect it may not} can somebody answer that?

The way they sounded when the bricks were apart, was sloppy, and there was alot of vibration from the baffle and the rest of the body in fact.  Awful stuff, i tried the most intense sound deadening material in different places (dynamat), and it made no difference that i could perceive. The modification by Glenn G in my opinion not a good idea. But hey he was using a BeoLab 2. Sound deadening really benefits, and is essential for a speaker with bass ports/ standing waves. The Beolab 1 doesn't have too many standing waves, it's a rigid and curved aluminium cabinet. The BeoLab1's sound bricks should not be touched.

*cracks knuckles* I am very very happy with the twins now, it has taken a fair bit of tweaking back and forth and i tweaked them according to the tone of BeoLab 4000 which in my opinion have sensational  tone.

I now have a tone closer to BeoLab 4000 (which i identify still as being remarkably close to the BL5's) but still keeping the openness, detail, dynamism and power of BeoLab 1.

I am yet to have turned them up past 75 LOL I have neighbours. The thing that blows me away is their bass in my house, they don't relent! Such a sound from delicate slender columns that i can physically feel throughout the room. The louder i've turned them up, the louder they have gotten, they really keep up with themselves but they stop on a 5 cent piece. They are very very very senistive to the environment they're placed in and i believe the sound in the lower register depends almost entirely on placement.

These speakers can not be compared to BeoLab 8000 or BeoLab 3 in terms of performance. In my opinion they sit below the BeoLab 9 in the current range. They're great value as a second hand buy!

I look forward to adding Bang & Olufsens upcoming subwoofer to the twins if it's good enough> apologies for the length ~ i am not much of an author!!

Dave, nothing wrong with your writing.

I found your post very interesting, and therefore decided to see who had given it  the 4 stars. Unfortunately, I double-clicked by mistake on the stars , and inadvertantly gave it a low rating!
I swear this was accidental, and I am not just being a westlander. Please accept my humble apologies

Andy T.

HAHA! Thanks Andy, i think 3 stars is still awesome, it was i who rated it at 4 stars! This is a post i personally have been waiting for from somebody, and it never came. I love reviews ~ reviews of products by those who OWN them and have lived with them to understand the product completely on al, of the important levels.

The 1 star was for my slack typing. I don't believe in picking all the grammer to be perfect, i write to get information across, that's it! :)

I also rated it four stars :-) I normally don't rate threads, but I made an exception to compensate for Andy's mistake, haha. And yes, the post was worthy of the four star rating, interesting read!

Very interesting read Dave!

I'm really happy for you finally got these beauties at your home! I know how much you wanted them and considering to buy ....

I felt same excitement when I was got my BL8000, they sound totally different ( better ) then in the shop. IMHO best speakers for my taste !

I hope you will enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine 8000

Which color you buy ?

 

Enjoy the Beolab 1's. I love mine and after nearly three years I still find myself listening to them as often as I can. But then agian thats what I do wih all of our B&O.

I did eventually purchase a BL 2 after my dealer loaned me one for a week.  I was reluctant to add the BL 2 for purely aesthetic reasons, but it's addition  has allowed the BL 1's to "relax" and bring out even more detailed layers to my 49 year old ears.  The room I have them in is about 14 feet by 20 feet with 9 foot ceilings and I find that the farther back I am in the room the better they sound.

Congratulations and enjoy your music collection all over again!

Roger

 

 

For me that was a very interesting review!

I love it when people go into the deep materials and explore and/or modify products to see how they work, how well they work etc.

What I can't understand is the "sound tuning" (Bass + 3, Treble -3 etc.).

I personaly prefer neutral sound as this is the reason a good speaker was constructed for!

If a speaker does NOT sound good to my ears without any soundtuning (bass or treble correction) it is not a good speaker for me - very simple!

I've never heard the Beolab 1 live but it looks realy impressive!

(I think my wife will kill me very very slowly if I buy even more B&O stuff) ;-)

TWG:

 

(I think my wife will kill me very very slowly if I buy even more B&O stuff) ;-)

Looks very familiar to me ....

 

Dave, excellent post. I have a setup with 4 BL1 and a BL2 in one room (admit a bit of an overkill) and a pair in a second room (link room). I fully agree on their sensitivity to setup. With the BL2 I took Bass setting to neutral in the room with 4 of them. Mostly I listen to Speaker 2 setting (with 2 of them and BL2) and when watching movies on the Avant with Speaker 4 setting. Mine have wall setting. Took some tweaking as well. In terms of poweroutput, I am hardly going to the edge, or above 70. At high volume settings, they sound great with good music source, however somehow harsh with poor and ill quality (MP3 type) input. In terms of quality they are absolutely top workmanship - one of the reasons I bought them, I think I will enjoy them for many more years...I am looking forward to testing the new, announced subwoofer. Would certainly like to test it in the link room when it becomes available, will be a nice comparison to the BL2.

Congratulation Dave for the speakers!!

 

They are the black or silver version? As you know I have the black version and I really love them.

Would you please put some pictures of your new setup?

 

Thanks,

constantine

just waited for you to have the Bl1 speakers . Just ordered 2 days ago BL5 speakers. They should be in their new home by 7-8 may..

 

regards!

Oh thanks for the positive feedback guys. Yes they do sounds better, the further back in the room your listening position is.

Tweaking the treble and bass compensated for the change i made with the potentiometers on the BL1's cross overs. It's rolled off some of the attack from the midrange, and eased off the hard midd bass.

Constantine, i am totally confused. You have been tryin gto sell yours for a long time, if you love them why are you selling them? And i remember that you already bought BL5 but sold them straightaway because you couldn't live with their aesthetics>?

Mine are silver, the safe choice, i plan to re-trim the frets in a white material. - i'll try and post a shot (from my imacs camera, unfortunatly the only camera i have).

 

 

as you can see, this is my house, and it's 3 metres x 5 metres > very small room, but they are still harmonius in my living space.

hey dave,

sorry for the late post... been crazy busy!

congrats on you bl1's! i know you have been after them a long time. very happy that you found a pair! i am sure it is very satisfying to have reached your goal!!!

enjoy!

Hi Dave,

Agreed, congratulations.... I'm sure you'll definitely enjoy them, I visited one of my old clients last week and we had BL1 in their set up and it sounds amazing.

By the way your room looks great! The set up looks perfect ...

Laurence.

 

Dave:

as you can see, this is my house, and it's 3 metres x 5 metres > very small room, but they are still harmonius in my living space.

 

Congratulation Dave !!!

I can tell you it is looking like picture from a good architectural magazine (I'm an architect)

If you don't mind I will have one suggestion for you, this space need one good lamp and my suggestion is

 

 

I haven't come across too many reviews on the BL1 so I have to say a big thank you.  I'd love to know how much the costs added up to from getting the equipment from Lifestyle AV to Adelaide, I've never thought it would be price competitive but it looks like i'm totally wrong.

 

Look at it this way - they cost me less than a brand new pair of BL8000's, and they are 2005 in pretty fine condition besides some marks which i was re-imbursed for by LSAV by 100 pounds, as they were infact descibed as mint condition. It was a good choice price-wise. The exchange rate was in my favour.

Martin i might disagree with you there, a lamp like that may look really ridiculous here. I'd trip over it. It would upset the soft look the entire set-up has (see the picture - E.G. the combination of these B&O pieces -the BV3 is a really easy TV to live with, size and shape, if placed in a good spot- the couch design and the soft rug. The energy of the room is very comfortable and relaxing. I'll sleep on the idea though, if i can find a HUGE round lamp that can reach from behind (dining room) and over the couch and table... that might work... :)

PentaIII:

I haven't come across too many reviews on the BL1 so I have to say a big thank you.  I'd love to know how much the costs added up to from getting the equipment from Lifestyle AV to Adelaide, I've never thought it would be price competitive but it looks like i'm totally wrong.

No, thank you. That's precisely why i put the effort in to do it. Making my decision to buy them, I was at my wits end with a serious lack of information (only a few inconsistent & mostly heresay opinions) of the BL1. They are so rare here and there was no real way i could test them myself --- even then --- you can't experience the speakers properly without a considerable amout of time to explore them and put all kinds of music through them. BL5's are an exception to that rule though... ;)

Cheers for the well wishes everybody and i'm so glad you don't mind my writing  i'm very young still! My goal though is not related to obtaining material goods. My ultimate goal is a greater consciousness with a wealth of experiences behind me and true love.

 

Dave:

 

 

 I'll sleep on the idea though, if i can find a HUGE round lamp that can reach from behind (dining room) and over the couch and table... that might work... :)

 

 

Actually this was my idea , with this lamp. Any nice lamp that you choose will fit great in your interior , it will bring little bit more life in this really minimalistic look ( which I really like ) .... anyway I know when you playing music from your BL1 they sound that good and fill the room with "color" !

 

 

 

Dave:

 

 

Cheers for the well wishes everybody and i'm so glad you don't mind my writing  i'm very young still! My goal though is not related to obtaining material goods. My ultimate goal is a greater consciousness with a wealth of experiences behind me and true love.

 

I'm really glad that I have chance to meet young well educated and intelligent people !

And I'm very happy that you have thought's like that at your age ! this is really important ....

 

 

Dave:

as you can see, this is my house, and it's 3 metres x 5 metres > very small room, but they are still harmonius in my living space.

 

Wow. This looks fantastic. I never realised how big they are !!

Yeah that's why i thought it would be clever to take a shot with me standing next to them i'm 5 ft 11" They still look good in a smaller space even though they are massive.

Hi Dave,

I am a Melbourne based  Beolab 1 owner. I also wrote an article on the old forum on the speaker. Focusing on careful placement and setup without which you miss the best of the speakers.

They are great speakers hope you enjoy.

beoaus.

Question!

Why are the BL1 "cheap" when compared to BL3s for example?

Used BL3 = 1600, Used BL1 = 2200.

Approx figures here, but around 600GBP isn't a huge difference for the speakers you get?

You are right. Not "cheap" though sir, "better value".

I think this is like asking why is a beautiful older mercedes is around the same price as a newer hatchback.