I beg you to read this replay from Dave Moulton (look him up; deeply involved in the development of the 5s)

oli wrote:

I am pretty sure that BL50 and BL90 will have exactly the same "reliability" issue in comparaison to more simple speakers like a BL1 or BL8000, or of course a Penta, even more than the BL5 probably with the amount of embedded software which is not really a B&O strength...

I agree. Also, when using your Beolab 5s in the year 2035 you don't have to think "hmm, where did I put that 20 year old cell phone that I need to be able to configure my speakers?"

No, I don't like that schematics aren't available for the bl5, but I like that it's not depending on network capabilties and apps for phones and such. Donät get me wrong, I think that the bl50 is terrific, but I find it problematic in the long run that it has a dependency to the app.

I bought a pair of BeoLab 5s about 2 years ago from my 'local' (4 hours away) dealer and as I am writing this the technicians are here replacing the chassis in the second speaker.  The chassis went out on the other speaker last year and had to be replaced.  So in terms of reliability, I am not impressed.  The issue was the same other people have reported, the speakers started making a crackling/hissing sound.

BTW, I too have a pair of Penta 3s, which I love.  The BeoLab 5s lack the realism of the Pentas.  they are great speakers, but I find them fatiguing to listen to for any length of time.  They are unsurpassed in a home theater surround sound set up, but for listening to music I feel that they lack any personality, they are very 2 dimensional.  For music, I much prefer my Pentas.

Out of interest. Do you know what causes the chassis faults? Is it the (massive) base drivers when playing very loud?

I am considering replacing my BL9's with newer BL5's, and I only very seldom play very loud music. I love the rumble i movies though.

Kent wrote:

I bought a pair of BeoLab 5s about 2 years ago from my 'local' (4 hours away) dealer and as I am writing this the technicians are here replacing the chassis in the second speaker. The chassis went out on the other speaker last year and had to be replaced. So in terms of reliability, I am not impressed. The issue was the same other people have reported, the speakers started making a crackling/hissing sound.

BTW, I too have a pair of Penta 3s, which I love. The BeoLab 5s lack the realism of the Pentas. they are great speakers, but I find them fatiguing to listen to for any length of time. They are unsurpassed in a home theater surround sound set up, but for listening to music I feel that they lack any personality, they are very 2 dimensional. For music, I much prefer my Pentas.

I was initially impressed with the BL5’s clarity, detail and tight bass, however they sounded shrill and harsh at higher volumes with an unnatural tonality. I concur with your observations. Great speakers for films.

I have been using my BL5 since 2013 without any issues. Until now they have been very reliable. But I have to admit that I have used these only for stereo playback and at low to moderate volume levels (wife & kid…). Indeed I have never noticed the subs. But hey, no problems here (fingers 🤞). I also avoid software updates. I have calibrated them in my garden in 2015. Perhaps I should recalibrate these again to avoid that the mechanism gets broke (the B&O dealer told me once this issue can arrive if not used for years)?

Now recently I have bought a Beosystem 4 to build a surround sound system. I am not worried. If the chassis would ever break down I will replace these in a heartbeat. The cost is very acceptable, certainly if you compare this with prices of newer high end speakers.

Hi Steve

Got a pair secondhand from 2005 in 2010. One has an issue. When I use it for a long time, for a movie for example, the led stay green. I have to unplugged it and then it works again. The calibration doesn't work on it. I have this issue since 3 years now at least.

The other one works perfectly.

I am going to buy another pair from 2006, the chassis has been already replaced by the previous owner one years and a half ago. He pushed them too hard during a party.

They are amazing for movies but as said previously at high volume in a closed place, the sound quality can decline at high volume for music listening.

I have bought a pair of  secondhand devialet gold speakers recently and the deviated have really good bass but nothing will replace the clarity, detail of the acoustic lens and the power of the bass woofer (on concrete floor). For price between 5000 7000 depending their age and chassis replacement, it is an excellent purchase even considering the price of a new chassis. The design. ... timeless

Their main default (that shouldn't be one) is that they are not gentle with bad recordings, new speakers are less dependent to the environment and dsp are correcting more things.

Bought my BL5 in 2010 and they are getting excessive use since then ... running at least 6 hours daily. Few months ago, the left speaker began to develop drop outs of the bass chassis ... few months later the bass stopped working completely. Had to replace a complete electronics unit in the speaker (chassis?). Was 700 Euros, labour included. Was done by a B&O service partner. Parts were < 500 Euro. Had to wait for the part for quite a while ... 2-3 months or so. 

Now everyting is working again. Although i'd say, that the speaker with the new chassis sounds a bit different than the "old" one ... it also has a totally different software built (3.5?) ...the old one has SW 2.4(?) or something like that ...can't be updated to SW 3.5. I think i'll gonna buy another new chassis, as long as there are parts ... 500 Euro is o.k for me. It worked perfectly for the last 11 years ...every single day. 

 

BR

Tom