Beolab 5 low Frequency Effects

24 replies
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pauliander (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 08:00 GMT
#1998494

Hi everybody,

Since a couple of weeks I am the happy owner of beolab 5's which I have installed in my living room.

As I use Sonos - digitally connected - for streaming music a marriage with my beocenter 2 did not offer a good solution because of the "CD repeat" problem. As an alternative I now use a Music Hall 15.2 DAC with spdif output  which serves as a digital bridge between on the input side a Sonos, Blue Ray player and the usb input from my laptop and on the other side the beolab 5.

This works fine  but I have a question relating to the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) when playing a Blue Ray movie. When I connect the DAC digitally to the beolab 5 beautiful sound with clear dialogues is played but not really any LFE which kick me out of my seat when the subs of BL 5 are activated. However, when I connect the analog outputs from the DAC to my 150 euro Logitech 2.1 speakers system with a fairly powerful little subwoofer I am really kicked out of my seat with almost a heart attack (as it should for that scene in the movie). The Blue ray player outputs 2 channel stereo (PCM I believe).

Could somebody explain what happens and if comparable LFE can be get out of the beolab 5? I wouldn't have thought that a seperate sub would be needed for a comparable movie experience with the beolab 5?

Your comments or feedback are much appreciated!

Thanks

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

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bayerische (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 09:02 GMT
#1998495

Well... It's hard to say because of your setup. 

 

My BL5's are connected to my Beovision 9, and it's the best home theater sound I've heard.

IMHO most subs and surround sound receivers on the market over-emphazise the low end signals, resulting in very blurry sounds, and too much "effect-bass". With the BL5's I get a very balanced sound that is easy to listen to even at higher volumes.  

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pauliander (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 12:27 GMT
#1998496

I agree that too much low bass is not desirable in all situations. But here we are in a movie so I don't understand why the subs of the BL 5 are not activated (or very little) in an action scene while the sub of my silly 2.1 system - based on an analog signal - is really active?

Would a surround preamp which redirects all LFE to the BL 5 solve the solution? I cannot imagine that a BL 2 is needed for movies?

Thanks

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olvisab (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 12:35 GMT
#1998497

Hi

I don't own bl5 but I heard them with a bv 12 65 in a b&o store with the iron man 2 movie.

The LFE effects was impressiv.I had the impression to have 2 beolab 2 in front of me.

I can't explain why you didn't notice these powerfull bass. Surely a problem of configuration.

Ps: if you can't find any solution to your problem, I have place in my home for them ;)

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Bv7Mk3 (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 13:08 GMT
#1998498
Maybe the rooms little small when you calibrated the lab 5's and not getting full bass? as some people say not enough bass from them. they need a little space.

One way to max the caIibration on the 5's is to calibrate them in a open space like a garden,them move back inside!
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Tompasten (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 13:39 GMT
#1998499

Make sure that the player is setup to output 2 channel via Spdif and not 2.1 or 5.1.

And if there is a possibility to set the speaker size make sure that they are setup as large.

And make sure that the LFE (.1) channel is mixed down to the main speakers.

 

Besides that I don't know?

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bayerische (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 14:39 GMT
#1998500

One thing is sure though, you don't need a BL2, as my BL5's eat BL2's for breakfast. 😁

M(
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MartinW (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 14:48 GMT
#1998501
Have you done the calibration of the speakers by holding down the button on the top of the speaker when in standby? You have to do each speaker individually. If you have then like others here I think you setup is not sending the subwoofer channel to the BeoLab5's - they have 2 x 1000w sub bass amplifiers and 2 x 1000w mid bass amplifiers so they should be able to tear the house down!
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soundproof (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 15:23 GMT
#1998502

When I had BL5s set up for movie playback, the bass moved walls, and was such that B&O's country reps, when visiting my listening room, wondered whether the speakers would create structural damage to the building.

So - BL5s can deliver a mighty helping of subwoofer info.

Which means something is wrong with your set-up. Let me suggest a test:

It could be that you have set up your movie processor to send the LFE signal to a separate subwoofer, which makes sense, if you have a small separate subwoofer that responds to the analog signal. Once set up right (with the LFE going to the FRONT SPEAKERS (on most processors) and separate SUBWOOFER OFF, you should be ok.

Does your processor send 5.1 over the SPDIF? Probably not - which means that the multichannel info is left out.

I set my home movie up with analog out from the processor to the front and surround speakers, and reserved SPDIF to the BL5s for two-channel music playback only. When watching 5.1 television or movies, the analog signal was active, and went to the speakers (BL5s front, BL3s side and back).

Since the BL5s autodetect SPDIF and give priority to that, whenever I wanted to listen to two-channel music, the BL5s handled that signal, without my having to switch between analog and SPDIF, other than sending the respective signal(s) to the speakers.

Very likely, your SPDIF doesn't contain multichannel, and is therefore lacking the subwoofer LFE info.

Just connect analog out from your processor to your speakers, and make certain that you have checked off the right boxes for surround set-up.

I can assure you, it's not the speakers, it's the signal. 

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pauliander (archived2)
Bronze
Posted July 20, 2013 at 17:08 GMT
#1998503
Hi guys, thanks a lot for your helpful comments. Just to be clear I currently don't have a multichannel processor. It's a simple Panasonic blue ray player attached to a DAC which outputs a 2 channel signal (analog or digital) to the BL5. So I believe Soundproof could have a point in the sense that the LFE info is not sent through via the digital output. It is a bit strange that low bass is being sent through the analog output..

Regarding calibration, I have done it for both speakers in my living room. It's quite a large room of 45m2 but in the middle there is pillar next to my seat (should not be a problem).

As suggested I will connect the blue ray directly to the bL5 with analog cables to see if the LFE is sent through. I do fear poor audio quality as it was a cheap player. Reading all your remarks on the extraordinary ability of the beolab 5 to play LFE the real solution of my problem is then a multichannel processor. If I am reading you correctly, even with only the BL5 connected to a multichannel processor (no surround, center or sub) sending all LFE info to the BL5 instead of to the sub output should change my movie experience with some real bass! I will see if I cannot get one to test it out!

Thanks a lot for your help!
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