Wooooo for that kind of money you should expect perfection in every way man!

Very surprised - the Beolab 5 has always amazed me - there are two particular tricks it has:

1. The bass is immense but doesn't soiund as if it is. This is because it is so accurate and detailed - the problem with this is you play them  louder than you mean.

2. They disappear - with your eyes closed it really is difficult to place them. This is the bit I find particularly impressive.

Peter wrote:

Very surprised - the Beolab 5 has always amazed me - there are two particular tricks it has:

1. The bass is immense but doesn't soiund as if it is. This is because it is so accurate and detailed - the problem with this is you play them  louder than you mean.

2. They disappear - with your eyes closed it really is difficult to place them. This is the bit I find particularly impressive.

Agreed. I've owned a pair for two months now and they are hugely impressive. They have a third characteristic that's worth mentioning: Transparency. If you have a bad recording to begin with, it will not sound that hot on Beolab 5's. 

It's probably the room. As a shop owner I know that the BeoTheater room my BeoLab 5's are in is not ideal. The same is true in a lot of B&O shops. They were designed to look good, not sound good, sadly. The best thing to do is have an in home demo. I'm always amazed how much better they sound outside of the shop.

If your dealer has the BeoLiving set up it creates a very bright room, what with the wood floor and wood front wall. The BeoLab 5's are amazing but no speaker can completely overcome a bad room.

You need have no concern on the bass - be assured they are an immensely powerful speaker

With the BL9 someone is able to change the bass volume with the 3 position switch wall/corner/free. If you have placed your BL9 e.g. close to a wall/corner and have switched to free standing, you will receive a very strong bass. The BL5 has not such a switch because of its selfcalibrating system. And maybe the pair of BL5 in the showroom was not retracted/plugged in comparison to your BL9? Were your adjustments (DSS of your BeoVision, or Beosound) roughly the same as in the shop?

Give the BL5 a try in your living room. I do not think your BL9 will outperform the BL5 in the same environment.

Dixon Langeman wrote:

They were designed to look good, not sound good, sadly. 

For a moment I thought you meant the BL5s, but yes - the B&O store designers have done what they can to ensure bad sound and video demonstrations. The bright walls make it hard to get good images on screens, and the hard wood for the beoliving is far from ideal.

BL5s should be away from the back wall, preferably symmetrically placed relative to side-walls - and do check the setup, as well as the bass and treble settings at the dealers (and for that sake, that both speakers aren't set to left or right signal, which I've actually experienced at a dealer. At least you get good one-channel mono).

Razlaw wrote:

Lack of bass is certainly one of the things I noticed. Watching scenes from a BluRay that I can feel the bass from my 9s as well as hear it, i neither heard nor felt the bass from the 5s.

on the other hand I have felt BL5s in my chest cavity

doof doof

:)