Beolab 18&19 2.1 setup

18 replies
R(
Offline
RickOZ (archived2)
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 08:06 GMT
#2054774

Hi guys this is my first post in this forum.

I recently purchased A pair of Beolab 18 and the 19  subwoofer, I primarily use the system as a music system using Bluetooth and airplay.  I’m using a Essence mk2  and a Transmitter1 to connect the speakers.

I’ve had a few problems with the setup, and I don’t have so much confidence in my local B&O dealer as they sent me the wrong cabling to connect the Essence and Transmitter causing days of frustration and in the end I had to return everything to the shop just for them to tell me I was using the wrong cat6 cable which they had ordered for me. 

The problem I had at the beginning is that when the subwoofer was connected it would remove the bass from the 18s but send very little sound to the subwoofer.  

I now believe I have the correct cable however I don’t know if I have the correct setup, the guys in the shop assure me I should have the 2.1  switch set to on however when I do this I have a very similar problem as  before very little Bass. 

When I connect only the 18s  they sound awesome and I’m very happy with them however soon as I connect the 19 the base becomes very underwhelming and a bit disappointing,  I’ve tried pretty much every setting on the underside of the  subwoofer which seems to have a nominal effect.  the only thing which  makes a difference is if I switch 2.1 setting to the off position but the shop assures me this is incorrect. 

The only other thing I’ve thought of trying is using two powerlink  cables instead of one, again the shoppers said this isn’t necessary and am reluctant to buy a second Powerlink cable just to try it.

I greatly appreciate it if anyone out there is had a similar problem and found a solution to let me know

The other question I had for the B&O shop was can I connect my PlayStation4 optical output (toslink) directly to the optical input on the transmitter1 and be able to control the volume using the essence remote. The shop didn’t know the answer to this.

Again I’d greatly appreciate any help anyone can give me  setting up this system

 

 Thanks Rick  :-)

Severed_hand_of_skywalker
Offline
Severed_hand_of_skywalker
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 08:09 GMT
#2054775

Strange. I was at my dealer last week where they had a pair of BL 18's and Sub hooked up to the moment. The whole time I was thinking how incredibly wimpy and light on bass the setup sounded. I knew something was wrong as I have BL 3's that sound 100x better than the setup they had.

Don't have a solution just interesting that I noticed it too.

Location: Toronto, Canada

EL
Offline
elephant
BronzeFounder
Posted December 13, 2015 at 08:35 GMT
#2054776
In another thread I saw today Moxxey was not convinced the BL19 would be of value with BL 18s.

On the other hand, I love my BL 19 but it is driven as a subwoofer by the BV8-40 that is also driving BL 3s and BL 4s.

I believe all the other configurations are using a daisy chain approach. That is how I have my Essence connected to its BL11 and then the BL 6000s. However volume and bass-wise this is nothing like the BV8-40 setup. Nonetheless I believe the family is happy (if not even happier 😜) with it.

EM
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Emilos88
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 09:12 GMT
#2054777

So you can assure your self with using B&O guide: 

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/sound/loudspeakers/beolab-transmitter-1

They have a pretty good interactive guide for the transmitter. If I follow that it will also say only one powerlink cable.

And 2,1 set to on, and B&O Equipment on.

 

About your Q about Playstation, this is not possible, put tell us what your setup is and I will be able to provide a setup solution.

Sadly many dealers are not aware of the possibilities of connecting 3rd party equipment.

M(
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mickhoog (archived2)
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 10:11 GMT
#2054778

G'day Rick

Welcome to the forum.

I was reluctant to reply to your post because although I have 2 18s and 1 19 i don't use them with an essence.  I use them with an Avant and as rears, and at first I had what I thought not much bass, so i changed the settings via the Avant.  I don't know how you can do that with the essence, hence me feeling a bit reluctant.  I changed the db settings.

I haven't tried plugging them in directly to a PS4 - I don't think this would work PS4 to BL18 because there is no volume regulation (i think), however if it is via the essence then i reckon it should.

I'm in Melb if you wanted to borrow a spare power link cable to test.

Cheers and good luck

EL
Offline
elephant
BronzeFounder
Posted December 13, 2015 at 11:24 GMT
#2054779
Aussie Michael wrote:

I use them with an Avant and as rears, and at first I had what I thought not much bass, so i changed the settings via the Avant.  I don't know how you can do that with the essence, hence me feeling a bit reluctant.  I changed the db settings.

At first the BL19 seemed tame - not much better than the BL 11 it replaced.

So I changed to BV8's setting to bias the BL 19's volume to be few notches ahead of the group.

After a while my family complained so now all 6 speakers are treated equally / unbiased.

I am more than happy with the BL 19 after some 3 months of use: perhaps it's loosened up or perhaps my ears have :)

I think it was Jeff in another thread who was talking about our ears/ brains make subtle adjustments on our behalf over time.

For example I enjoyed playing this lot today ...

R(
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RickOZ (archived2)
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 11:31 GMT
#2054780

Wow thanks for your responses is really appreciated.

 I'm starting to think the only way to get the system to perform properly is to go through B&O TV  but unfortunately I'm not really prepared to spend this amount of money on a TV,  so I'll be doing a little bit of research into quality AV receiver which I can connect  all my devices PlayStation, TV etc  and then daisy chain  the speakers together but I guess this will make the essence and transmitter redundant.

 I would consider getting a beosystem 4  but this does not support 4K passthrough.

 I've also emailed B&O  directly about the lack of base, and I will let you guys know what they say when they get back to me.

Thanks again

 Rick

 PS I managed to try a second Powerlink (cat7) cable today everything connected properly but made no difference.  but thank you very much for your offer to borrow a cable ( Aussie Michael) (-:

L(
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L1NO (archived2)
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 11:56 GMT
#2054781

In stereo mode you should turn the LPF filter to ON and turn the dial to left (:45). Turn the gain up as you wish, and for extra bass put the position switch to Free and lower to desired level.

S(
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SHEFFIELD (archived2)
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 13:39 GMT
#2054782

Something definitely wrong there - in the store I have 18 & 19 connected to an Avant, and when listening to music switching the 19 in and out makes a huge difference, like the bass player has just turned up!

EM
Offline
Emilos88
Bronze
Posted December 13, 2015 at 16:06 GMT
#2054783

I just bought the Marantz SR5010, so far I am very happy.

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