Dave,

I'm sure somebody somewhere would love to trade their set of BL1's for your newer BL9's... Why not see if you can do that? It'd be worth a shot if you could find a nice clean pair, and then mod them like you did your old pair. Just a thought.

Jon

Dave,

I'd happily buy you a pair of Beolab 1s and swap them for the Lab 9s.... 😁

Haha!! Yeah, no i do not think that makes any sense, i could sell them for $10k and do whatever the heck i like with money to spare.

Thing is, i am growing attatched to them... it's the same story with anything B&O, can anyone really say they don't miss an item they used to own? Only one i don't miss is DVD1, the rest, devastating to part with!

Hi Dave and everyone else,

I've been following your discussion about the Beolab 9's, since I've been thinking about buying them for some time. I hadn't heard them, but I really love the design. 

Yesterday I borrowed at pair of BL9 from my nearbye B&O dealers, and I have them till tuesday, so I can really test them.

I've been following your discussions here in this thread, but didn't think that you all were being fair to the BL9's.
So that's why this hurst for me to say... these speakers really have NO MIDRANGE. I was so madly in love with these speakers from the looks of them, but they really disappointed me.

The tweeter is great - accurate, but maybe a little too strong for my taste. 

I don't think these speakers are all bad - they are great for films, but not for listening to music. Not according to my ears anyway. 😎

But thanks for at great thread.

Now that I'm not going to buy the BL9's, then what will you guys recommend? I have a BV8-40, which is connected to a BS4 - the speakers will be connected to the BV8-40.

ClausMikkelsen wrote:

 

Now that I'm not going to buy the BL9's, then what will you guys recommend? I have a BV8-40, which is connected to a BS4 - the speakers will be connected to the BV8-40.

Keep listening to them, play with the setting and the placement, listen to all of your music, and turn them up if you can...

I would certainly recommend that you save up a bit more money and buy a pair of BeoLab 5. You may be lucky enough to find a second hand pair... sometimes they pop up at Lifestyle AV and Iconic AV...

I am liking the sound of the BeoLab 9 more and more, i have the bass and treble setting set quite low and have played with placement, alot. They are VERY good for classical music and live recordings. It will be hard to let them go (but, i need the money, and personally don't feel that they are worth the money with my current lifestyle).

Not convinced by 'no' midrange.  The frequency response curves show they're more or less totally flat, apart from a rise above 10kHz - so the treble is a bit strong.

I think I notice the supposed 'lack of midrange' only on badly produced CDs.  A lot of modern stuff is produced with a huge 'smile' EQ curve to push up the treble and the bass, as most crap soundsystems the majority of the music buying public use only really produce midrange, or have a massive peak around that area.  If I pick something done well (nearly any Pink Floyd album, for example), the BL9's sound totally amazing.  I could sit there all day listening.

I'd be interested if Dave Moulton could do any further scientific testing as suggested above...

Hi Dave and csmager

I have been playing with placement, and listening to them a lot. Placement has a big thing to say.

I totally agree that Classical and live recordings sound amazing. I have the Coldplay's LeftRightLeftRightLeft livealbum on the BS4 with the BL9's and it sounds amazing!!! But I have tried with a lot of cd's... A LOT!! But most of them sound flat. Not bad, but flat. Like the sound is hold back.

csmager: You're very right in the assumption that many new cd's are "over produced", to make them sound amazing. But in many cases the over producing makes the music sound very bad.

I must atmit the speakers sound better then they did the other day, but I'm still not convinced. But my god they're beautiful... 😎

ClausMikkelsen wrote:

 But most of them sound flat. Not bad, but flat. Like the sound is hold back.

 

I must atmit the speakers sound better then they did the other day, but I'm still not convinced. But my god they're beautiful... 😎

Ah now we're getting somewhere, i've heard someone say that when listening to the BL5's too, coldplay, throw it in the bin, their recordings are a joke, rubbish.

Pink Floyd is a favourite of mine and it does sound very surprising, considering it is synth from over 30 years ago! There certainly is a gap in the midrange csmager, even with brilliant classical recordings, there is an imbalance in the top end... but, it's not THAT bad once you adjust the settings, placement and get used to it... just still a bit of a shock when you get home from a live performance and hear such a different sound

I'm looking forward to Dave Moulton's thought's on this thread. While I have listened to Lab 9's, it's only been at a Dealers, however I can only say that I've been mightily impressed every time I've heard them (albeit for a fairly limited spells, certainly no more than 1/2 an hour at a time).

I've linked

I'd like to apologize for not having followed up on this thread.  I caught the Mother of All Colds, got behind, acquired some new projects suddenly, and have also been traveling. Next week: Texas!  

I promise to get back to you all with thoughts on this when I get back from that trip.  The thread is actually quite interesting, and I think it raises some important issues.  

Thanks for your patience!

Best regards,