I had a listen the other day and I think they’re excellent.

In the press shots there was a limited initial release of silver with dark covers, does any one know what that colour was called on the limited release 1/28

Thanks

Beolab 28 ARC broken?

I received my Beolab 28 pair on monday. They have quite elevated bass 100hz region. Anyway have done now calibration 26 times and factory reset two times and could not hear or see room correction working at all.

When streaming airplay directly to speakers cannot hear any difference room correction ON/OFF even in good will. Tested this with Level and it is night and day difference. I will notice clearly if my bl 50's calibration point is 1,5 meter away from listening point. Have tried totally off and that demo mode "press this to see without correction). Demo mode will make some short higher frequency sound from speakers when you press it but thats all and there is no delay like in Level. When you press demo mode on Level there is 2-3second delay on playback.

Trying to run Anthem ARC Genesis room correction quick measure and bl28 room correction ON/OFF and there is basicly zero difference in response graphs. Bass is really elevated. Wide/Narrow mode seems to affect midrange response.

So I cannot hear any difference or measure any difference? Is this isolated case or affecting more speakers? Or just some user error.

Maybe silly question but are their mics on? And have you let them run the tuning properly? There is a switch inside near the wiring to turn the mic off fully and vice versa

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Yesterday right arc on/off.

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Swapped speakers today right arc on/off.

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Left speaker arc on/off and same on physically different speaker yesterday.

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Left narrow vs wide.

Just to be clear when talkin ”arc” meaning bl28 arc/room correction not anthem arc genesis which is off on all measurements.

Speakers will refuse to do room correction if microphone switch is in off position. Room correction process is as fast as in level per speaker.

So physically both speakers are doing corrections on right corner position both hearable and measurable. On left "wall" I cannot hear or measure any difference. Playing on stereo I cannot tell any difference room correction on/off. So maybe it is working as intended at least both speakers are performing similarly on both locations. Same room with Level there is BIG change in sound arc on/off.

28's will make 50's sound like a pussies on most of the songs. 50's go down with force if song demands it but 28's are max attack on bass side all the time. 28's have enjoyable strong tight bass but they are not pressurizing room same way. If these work like intended generally I like 28's sound profile but still bit confused how they sound compared to other B&O speakers and how there are no hearable difference on arc on off when playing stereo or just left speaker. Maybe ARC is not yet complete on software side.

Edit: Maybe hearing a littlebit difference on stereo also on different parts in my room. Takes away bass boominess but effect just is so mild in my listening point and Level etc makes so much bigger change. Maybe I was just expecting bigger difference.

Have tried everything different master speaker, wired/wireless, many factory reset, power off from wall. Pairing these speakers especially when wired together can be painful operation and let the speakers need another factory reset. They can get really confused how to work at all.

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The midrange/woofer part is located in the upper part of the BL7.4.

That home theater is insane!!! I had the joy of being demoed it several times 😁

Initial one week ownership feelings from Beolab 28.

Background: I received my 50's late spring and those beast's teached me something about front speaker authority. In smaller case my old 20's showed that also. You cannot just compensate something with subwoofers how big they are wont matter. 20's were much more musical than 18's with 2x svs 16 ultra even on bass heavy songs and produced a lot better experience.

50's have funny way showing how good they are (at least for me). In some way when you are listening those they are "not" sounding amazing or yaw dropping. 50's just sound natural and "good", just like you would expect to hear music. There is nothing wrong. Everything is just so smooth and natural your attention is in music not in speakers. After you are used to listen 50's and go listen your other good setups 17+19 and 18+ultra subs you have been enjoying years. They just sound so tinny, weak and wrong. Contrast is so huge and your old speakers are not worse than they were before. 50's are just so much better. You can still enjoy older speakers they are still amazing. Just don't try to do it directly after listening 50's.

Back to the front authority. Before 50's I thinked that big subs would compensate what 18's are missing and been using those 80hz crossover. Nope they are not. It is clearly evident and hearable I am missing a lot authority in front stage. I had listened 28's few times before and with these findings got really tempted to replace 18's to 28's. After 2 day thinking ordered my 28's.

Listening 28's in shop and comparing to 18/20's there made me think that 28's are much closer to 50's in sound design and they are. But now having those a week it is also evident that they definately are not smaller 50's with lesser resource and probably were never aimed to be. 28's might be closest to 50's in current range but gap in sound signature is really big and I am not talking about ultimate performance/sound pressure. 28's are their own segment/league/sound profile.

I think 28's are clear upgrade for everything from older generation speakers. Maybe not the 5's but I personally have no experience on those. 20's might pressurize room better and are more capable lowest movie rumbles. But 28's would have better tighter bass for music and a lot better midrange/highs. So overall 28 is big upgrade for 20.

Biggest weakness in bl28? Altought bass is really amazing in most of music 28 is not at it's best making long low rumbles or pressurizing room. "No *** sherlok" what you would expect from 6,5 inch bass units. I think these are already breaking laws of physics what they are capable doing. Example Hans Zimmer Time is really demanding song from apple music or even more demanding from blu-ray. Trying to run 28's full band fronts will bring speakers on their knees. It starts to sound bad from bluray they are clearly trying to produce sound they are not designed to do. From apple music version it is not sounding bad but compared other music bass performance you might have expected more.Change crossover to 40hz and you will be rewarded. Music directly to speakers and blu-ray trough avr. At least Denon x4500 with pure direct mode will have negative effect for soundquality compared bl28 internal platform. 50's have no such problems, your house might have.

A lot of people are thinking 4x 28's or 2x50's and maybe lesser surrounds. In my opinion these should not be considered as rivals. If we are talking pure b&o setup how you are gonna produce enough proper bass for movies with 4x28's? I can tell you you cannot. Then how about adding 19? Nope, it is really nice sub but it is not for pressure or lowest rumbles and would not do any good if mixed with 28's. You would need something like svs 3000 to complement 28's lowest end. Knowing most subwoofer designs and size you probably wont want to do it. I confess I am bass freak. Maybe 28's bass would be enough for you but for me it is not. No amount will help to achieve this. One pair of 50's will be more than enough to hande all bass you ever need. I still have svs 3000 with 50's for movies. That has nothing to do capability in 50's. It is bass management problem. I have small satellites for atmos and no way direct lfe to 50's. You would need b&o tv (no atmos available) or trinnov processor. Just trying to say 28's are not 50's and should not directly compared to them or if you are comparing then it is hands down 50's they are totally different league. If you have option to get 50's you should just do it.

So much complaint for 28's am I happy? Are they bad speakers?

Yes I am really HAPPY. No they are not bad speakers in anyway. Now listening 28's directly after 50's they won't sound just thin and weak like older generation. They sound really GOOD full band speakers but just different. 28's might not be as neutral and have elevated upper bass but that can sound good. You have nice and full sounding experience. You have really punchy tight bass. Lets say it directly you will have more "hearable" bass than from calibrated 50's on most of music. I am not using subs for music with 28's. There is clear difference between wide and narrow modes just like 50's. Have been really enjoying especially narrow mode with music. And for movies these 28's delivered just what I was missing. A lot more authority and fullness in front of my cinema. More I am watching these more I like the design even the fabric parts. And I really like motorized curtains. 😎

Earlier posts about ARC. I like sound but it is so different from 50's I just wanted to be shore that these are working as intended and not broken etc. ARC effect is just so much milder than on Level or 50s made me really suspicious. Maybe it will get more pronounced via updates in future.

Just few findings in short time period. Feel free to disagree. My initial feelings not the absolute truth.🙂

Really interesting review Allianz. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Thanks for the great review!