I Bought a pair from Lifestyle AV without knowing what they sounded like, and it took me a while to adjust to the sound, because yes they have an amazing sound stage but their tone is a little out of whack compared to the amazing balance of the Beolab 4000. I now have Beolab 9's and now no longer miss the beolab 1's, but i had alot of fun with turning up live recordings on the BL1's they have A MASSIVE physical impact aurally, they are so punchy! Great fun, and if your room is relatively small, the bass will be sufficient in most cases.

Lee, I really appreciate your opinion, when you said "albeit slight" that's the thing that concern me, and because of that I'm that hesitant  🙁 Thanks for your support 🙂

Dave,

I remember when you bought them, you ware really satisfied and, as I remember, you compare them to yours BL4000. At that time you had BV3, if I'm not wrong. Also I remember you were not that satisfied with mid range on BL9 compare to BL1 ?

I had a pair of 1s that I liked very much. Then brought home a pair of 9s to compare. The difference was amazing and the 9s stayed. Interestingly, however, I then moved the 1s into another room. I now find myself choosing the 1s to listen to more than the 9s as something about the acoustics in the room they are now in makes them sound much better than they did in the first room. The room they are in now is smaller but with a taller ceiling.

Evan wrote:

I really want to hear a set of these! Anyone want to send me a set?! Haha

I am first on the list 🙂

I think you'll love them, go ahead, get a pair, there is a set at lifestyle! Your place isn't too big is it nmartin? Go for it!

Probably one of the best piece of craftmanship from B&O with the massive one piece light alloy body, iconic design, great performance with some tweaking of bass setting and BL2 (large rooms), excellent in smaller rooms without BL2 supplement. Also very nice for easy low volume listening (N.Radio or TV sound).
They are not aging at all, very robust technology.

For me, true B&O. They may look imposing at first in a room however, you get used to them quickly ... like the pillars of Efesus...

Never regret to buy them.

I think I'm in a position to comment on this.  I just purchased a pair of Lab1s from Lee to replace my Mrk1 8000s.

Like a number of people I hadn't actually heard the 1s before buying - I just liked the idea of the awesome design and tbh, how bad could they be compared to 8000s.. after all they were produced as a B&O top of the range speaker originally (pre Lab5s)

The sound and clarity of the 1s is absolutely unbelievable compared to 8000s. I don't think you can even compare them.. the 1s are just at a much much higher level.  Think BMW 520i compared to 540i. Vast reserves and no need to labour the engine uphill..  

The Lab1s quite honestly do things very very well.  I use a Lab2 for movies but tbh I don't think it is needed for music. 

Now, getting SWMBO to agree is an altogether different matter - I managed it by ordering the speakers and casually dropping into conversation one evening that Matt/Lee was coming round on Friday to swap speakers and that they looked 'pretty much the same' expect a little taller...  as much as I have tried, Lab5s appear to be out of the question style wise (watch this space) so I went for the next best thing (she doesn't like those little Pinguin (lab9) speakers either!

Finally, what I can say is, I've had complaints from neighbours after the 1s were installed (my fault obviously for using them properly!) and I never got even one complaint with the 8000s...  enough said I think  ;o)

On the end ..... I ordered BL 9 😐

Now, waiting, waiting, waiting ........