I would concur.  I've heard BL5's setup with BL9's as surrounds and BL3's as back surrounds, on Bluray, and without doubt the sound was amongst the very finest, if not THE finest home theatre sound I've ever heard.

I particularly agree with the dynamite analogy... 😎

Best Regards

John....🙂

I can absolutely empathize with Nisrani's quest here, though. I have had a number of strange experiences in B&O stores, with equipment that was not correctly set up. My "favourite" being the store where a pair of BL5s had pride of place, and both were playing the left channel signal.

If B&O wasn't so busy covering all the bases, and therefore ending up indistinct, it would have plugged and plugged the advantages of acoustic lens playback in home movies, in a setup as that described by Beoboiinoz (though BL9s are probably overkill for the side surrounds, BL3s will do). But because B&O probably still makes a lot of money from their column speakers, they haven't gone the distance on the advantages of active amplification/acoustic lenses/integrated subwoofers in front speakers.

B&O could have stood out from the competition by stating that their acoustic lens/active speakers solution reduces clutter and the number of units you require, while significantly improving the sound, and providing encompassing and involving, realistic surround sound experiences. B&O could even have created a setting in their processors where you could eliminate the center speaker, if you had BL5s left and right, because the acoustic lenses of those do such a good job of creating a phantom centre.

But probably the greatest benefit is that you get two integrated subwoofers, without having to have one or more additional boxes in the room, and that these subwoofers add to the perspective of the experiences. While it's true that we can't precisely tell where a subwoofer is located in the room, for its frequencies alone, the other speakers also contain information relevant to the subwoofer's sound (a percussionist in a symphony orchestra will produce a Whump on the kettle drums, but there's also information in the upper frequencies, coming through the other speaker drivers, and that helps us locate the sound. With two subwoofers (as in the BL5s/BL9s) you get added realism, as the subwoofer signal seems to come from different locations in the room, as the perspective is described by the mid/upper frequencies, and the subwoofer adds a wallop below. Very nice.

So, Nisrani - I feel you should shop with your ears, and go with the experience that you are the most comfortable with, but do tell your dealer that something is wrong in the setup, because it shouldn't even be a competition between the two alternatives.

You talk of creating a Phantom Centre, this is something I'm hoping AST will be able to do, and that includes for off-axis listening (although you wouldn't be able to have more than one listening position at a time in theory).

soundproof wrote:

The BL5s, when correctly set up, accept and handle the .1 signal excellently, and in a far superior way from the BL2.

They are specifically designed to precisely respond to every little flutter in an LFE signal.
In my setup, I have movies where the walls are literally breathing when the ooomphs and explosions go off. While the BL2 is a good sub, the BL5s are outstanding subs.
I believe the driver in the BL2 is a 9" unit, the sub-drivers in the BL5s are 2x15", propelled by 1000W amp's, with a throw that moves 1,8l of air with each pulse, and because of the design, the woofer is cracking sharp and distinct.

So, it's a setup issue, and the dealer should sit down with the manual and get it fixed. (BTW - this isn't the first time in here that people report "liking the BL2 better" so I guess this isn't the only dealer getting it wrong.

I'm not familiar with the BeoSystem 3 LFE assignment, but pretty certain that's where the problem is.

what do you mean by LFE signal

nisrani wrote:

soundproof wrote:

The BL5s, when correctly set up, accept and handle the .1 signal excellently, and in a far superior way from the BL2.

They are specifically designed to precisely respond to every little flutter in an LFE signal.
In my setup, I have movies where the walls are literally breathing when the ooomphs and explosions go off. While the BL2 is a good sub, the BL5s are outstanding subs.
I believe the driver in the BL2 is a 9" unit, the sub-drivers in the BL5s are 2x15", propelled by 1000W amp's, with a throw that moves 1,8l of air with each pulse, and because of the design, the woofer is cracking sharp and distinct.

So, it's a setup issue, and the dealer should sit down with the manual and get it fixed. (BTW - this isn't the first time in here that people report "liking the BL2 better" so I guess this isn't the only dealer getting it wrong.

I'm not familiar with the BeoSystem 3 LFE assignment, but pretty certain that's where the problem is.

 

 

what do you mean by LFE signal

LFE = Low Frequency Effects

link

The article linked above distinguishes between the LFE channel and the subwoofer output from your decoder (they are not necessarily the same) - it says -

It is possible for a program to contain an LFE channel, but a decoder may provide no subwoofer output because all of the bass information in the program,

including the LFE channel, can be reproduced by the main speakers.

This is the case with the BL5's.

hello

could it be that the bl5 when calibrating itselfs that the sub is not so explosive as

the bl2 they have the power to do it better but maybe they get a difrent signal

to be not so explosive.

punisher

thanks

nisrani wrote:

punisher

 

thanks

I may well change my username to Punisher - it sounds much better!😂

nisrani wrote:

hello

could it be that the bl5 when calibrating itselfs that the sub is not so explosive as

the bl2 they have the power to do it better but maybe they get a difrent signal

to be not so explosive.

Hi nisrani - most here are absolutely convinced that a properly set up BL5 front pair will outperform a BL2 and by some considerable margin. All I can suggest is that you audition a properly setup BL5 surround system and, as Soundproof said, judge with your own ears.

Puncher wrote:

nisrani wrote:

punisher

 

thanks

 

I may well change my username to Punisher - it sounds much better!😂

Do it Pouncher!