I have 9s as fronts and 4000s as rears. Have thought of a second pair of 9s or a pair of 5s with 9s as rears. I have had 5s in my house twice for demos, once for a couple of weeks. Partly because in my house I did not notice an improvement with the 5s (different sound but not necessarily better) and partly because 9s as rears seemed too short, and partly because of indecision, I could not justify spending the money on either upgrade. The choice you have is a tough one. My guess is most people will say go with the 5s.

Any chance you can demo both sets in your house ?

 

I'd trade the Lab 3's and Lab 2 for a pair of BL5, then put the 9's at the rear.

I'd then get a bigger screen as you'd have quite a system there!!

Lee 

Hi lee,the screen will be the next upgrade...im defiantly swaying lab 5's and the lab 3's....just on here the 5's dont get great reviews

I am not a lab5 owner but they really do get rave reviews and are probably just about the best speaker you can get for the money.

i read somewhere else (article about unintended consequences in technology but I can't find it again) that the owners of lab5’s like to demonstrate how the speaker calibrates itself for room positioning and that they frequently show off this feature to friends and visitors. The same article said that B&O had not anticipated this playing around or demonstrating and that the chip or software involved only had a life of about 200 uses after which the calibration would no longer function, so buying a used set has its risks.

Can you add to this story Lee?

Graham

Mdjolly1973 wrote:

Hi lee,the screen will be the next upgrade...im defiantly swaying lab 5's and the lab 3's....just on here the 5's dont get great reviews

They are awesome. I had a pair. Well, they were awesome until I calibrated them! They are the best speakers I've owned, but living in an apartment made them difficult to use as they like to be pushed hard. When the business required some investment back in 2008, I sold them along with a second pair of BL9s.

The BL9s are easier to control as they don't need to be calibrated. For movies, BL9s were superb. No need for a BL2. However, if you have the space and the finances, I'd go for the BL5s.

moxxey wrote:

Mdjolly1973 wrote:

Hi lee,the screen will be the next upgrade...im defiantly swaying lab 5's and the lab 3's....just on here the 5's dont get great reviews

They are awesome. I had a pair. *snip* They are the best speakers I've owned,

I was listening to a pair of 5s just before Christmas ... and they were effortless in handling the dynamics of "Les Mis." ... perfection.

I am taking the plunge and gone for the 5's in white....

Being installed this friday woo woo!

I will post my thoughts

Cheers everyone for helping me make my mind up