dad wants to buy B&O beolab3 speakers

[vshah]

dad's obsessed with these, he likes the design more than anything else i think. he wants it for a bedroom system.

just for reference, our main stereo is a NAD 1700 tuner/reciever, NAD 5000 cd player, and a NAD 2600A power amp driving 2 B&W Matrix 802 series 2 loudspeakers.

from what i've heard, the B&O systems prioritize design over sound quality, and come at a price premium. your thoughts??

-Vivan

 

[Amorphus]

Bose forever.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: Amorphus
Bose forever.

curse you

 

[glen]

There can be no question about it:
The main weakness in speakers is almost always the sub-woofer.
Another HUGE problem is the room.People spend hours listenign to different speakers, and close to zero time on room treatment.
There is no way to know if B&W are going to sound more natural in that room or if Legacys are.
If you are really serious, you will buy or rent the best RTA you can get your hands on, and the start auditioning speakers. Set them up using a 1/3, 1/6, or 1/12 octave EQ; use soem cheap corning 501 panels to treat the room, build a dedicated subwoofer.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: glen
There can be no question about it:
The main weakness in speakers is almost always the sub-woofer.
Another HUGE problem is the room.People spend hours listenign to different speakers, and close to zero time on room treatment.
There is no way to know if B&W are going to sound more natural in that room or if Legacys are.
If you are really serious, you will buy or rent the best RTA you can get your hands on, and the start auditioning speakers. Set them up using a 1/3, 1/6, or 1/12 octave EQ; use soem cheap corning 501 panels to treat the room, build a dedicated subwoofer.

my dad used to be really serious, now he just likes spending money :-/

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: glen
There can be no question about it:
The main weakness in speakers is almost always the sub-woofer.
Another HUGE problem is the room.People spend hours listenign to different speakers, and close to zero time on room treatment.
There is no way to know if B&W are going to sound more natural in that room or if Legacys are.
If you are really serious, you will buy or rent the best RTA you can get your hands on, and the start auditioning speakers. Set them up using a 1/3, 1/6, or 1/12 octave EQ; use soem cheap corning 501 panels to treat the room, build a dedicated subwoofer.

B&O and B&W are different companies...

 

[Howard]

Bang & Olufsen != Bowers & Wilkins

 

[EvilYoda]

Well yeah, as with all B&O things, the design and aesthetic appeal is very important...however, that's not to say that the speakers downright suck.

Glen is right (although a tad bit demanding ) in that you should just get as many speakers you can and take them home and test them.

The theory behind the design of the BL3s is not anything new, but B&O really likes it, as you can see in their BL5 system...although that one is far more robust in that it has drivers to cover the entire freq range, all powered by an individual amp on the inside, and it also has an internal mic and calibration system.

In the end, his money could get better speakers, but they might not appeal to him as much since they won't look so "cool".

 

[fyleow]

How can someone who owns B&W speakers even consider B&O crap? Has he heard it in person? That should change his mind

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: Howard
Bang & Olufsen != Bowers & Wilkins

yeah, i think he misunderstood...

Originally posted by: fyleow
How can someone who owns B&W speakers even consider B&O crap? Has he heard it in person? That should change his mind

well, he bought those 15 years ago, when he had more time to care about this kinda stuff....

he hasn't heard it in person, just seen pictures/ads. we're going to the b&o store here tomorrow, i hope it dissuades him...

-Vivan

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Bang & Olfusen products are awesome. My dad and I always lusted after them.

They have awesome pencil-style speakers that have the tip of the pencil on the ground...

and their cd-players are awesome, you just place your hand in front of it and the cover opens up revealing butons and stuff.

Very nice equipment.

 

[Apex]

Folks, have any of you actually auditioned these? The Beolab3 are actually very good sounding speakers. I personally can't stand any of the rest of B&O's stuff, but I do have to (grudgingly) admit, they did right with these.

Now, performance for the price is another matter.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
Bang & Olfusen products are awesome. My dad and I always lusted after them.

They have awesome pencil-style speakers that have the tip of the pencil on the ground...

and their cd-players are awesome, you just place your hand in front of it and the cover opens up revealing butons and stuff.

Very nice equipment.

but how does it sound?? that is what i'm more interested in....
-Vivan

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: vshah

Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
Bang & Olfusen products are awesome. My dad and I always lusted after them.

They have awesome pencil-style speakers that have the tip of the pencil on the ground...

and their cd-players are awesome, you just place your hand in front of it and the cover opens up revealing butons and stuff.

Very nice equipment.

but how does it sound?? that is what i'm more interested in....
-Vivan

who cares? All I did was play around with the reciever my putting my hand in front and watching it open!

With gadgets like that, there's no time for sound analysis!

Seriously though, I haven't spent a lot of time listneing to them carefully..from what I have heard...they sounded great for music that I heard on it (indian classical).