Beolab 3 VS emerge

[Lavie]

Hi guys,

I was thinking about some small stereo speakers for music listening, and was wondering how a stereo pair of the beolab 3 (connected to a core for instance) stacks up against for instance an emerge. The lab 3 may be old but has the ALT, 1 active and 2 passive drivers and a DSP, whereas the emerge has room calibration and much newer tech onboard. Many people praise the clarity of the emerge as well. Prices are similar for a second hand bl3 with core vs new emerges.

Anyone?

 

 

[Millemissen]

Personally – if someone is only interested in having a stereo setup – I’d go for a BL3/Core combination.
That will always work!
And I’d add a Beoremote ONE/BT in order to have easy remote control.

MM

[Ravsted]

Agree.

BL3 offers many placement options as well.

-Rubber ring.

-Low stands.

-High stands.

-Wall mount.

I got them on low stands and set the placement switch to ‘free’ (despite it should be wall/corner) which gives pretty decent bass especially at low listening levels where ABL does it’s thing.

[Lavie]

Thanks both of you! Both heavily leaning towards the beolab 3 I see! Any experience with the emerges? Their footprint is a lot smaller.

[Ravsted]

Hi,

I listened to the ‘Emerge’ in a B&O store.

I was not impressed by the performance at all. I felt the speaker was ‘struggling’ if the volume was just slightly above what I would define as ‘background music’ listening level.

But, I don’t know what settings where applied in B&O app. So, changing those settings could probably improve the performance.

As single, stand alone speaker, I can understand that some people find the ‘Emerge’ sufficient.

As stereo pair I would never consider the ‘Emerge’. And design wise I can ‘kind of’ understand the ‘design language’. As stereo pair they would look very odd to me.

Steve, Sounds Heavenly, has reviewed the speaker on YouTube. Have a look…..

[Lavie]

Thanks Ravsted! As the Americans say; “There’s no substitute for cubic inches” – I’d say that the internal volume of he bl3 is bigger, the drivers are bigger and the amps are more powerful. I can’t easily try them somewhere since they’re say – oldtimers – but I can do so with the emerges. I see that Steve indeed reviewed them and was quite happy with it.

[Author]

Posts