Hi Chris,

the BL9 is atill an amazing speaker.

But do consider that it also is an older one - repairs can be expensive and maybe difficult.

As with any speaker you must consider the room and also your needs - best do some testing before buying, if possible.

You definitely won’t need a sub with these - you already have two of them built-in.

The bas management in the BV11/audio engine however, gives you the opportunity to override the default settings using the BL9 and e.g. a BL2,

But I am pretty sure that you won’t benefit from this.

P.S. If you could afford byuing the BL20’es - do so instead........they are a different breed.

MM

I would assume that the second hand market for BL9s are simply because not many are being sold because they're still good. Though in their day the jump from BL8000/8002 to BL9 or BL5 was large.

Recently I considered upgrading from my BL9 to BL5 and as of last year only a handful of BL5 were available used. Only recently have owners of BL5 started to sell, probably because they're EoL and repairs become impossible. As you probably know the BL5 not only have a lot of power amps but also a DSP and microcomputer - lots to go wrong. Compared with the all analogue of BL3,9,8000,there's much less to break.

Now the newer Beolabs like 20, 18s etc are seldom seen on the second hand market because I assume there's simply less of them sold no begin with.

davidr wrote:

I would assume that the second hand market for BL9s are simply because not many are being sold because they're still good. Though in their day the jump from BL8000/8002 to BL9 or BL5 was large.

Recently I considered upgrading from my BL9 to BL5 and as of last year only a handful of BL5 were available used. Only recently have owners of BL5 started to sell, probably because they're EoL and repairs become impossible. As you probably know the BL5 not only have a lot of power amps but also a DSP and microcomputer - lots to go wrong. Compared with the all analogue of BL3,9,8000,there's much less to break.

Now the newer Beolabs like 20, 18s etc are seldom seen on the second hand market because I assume there's simply less of them sold no begin with.

You've hit on why I've not seriously considered upgrading to the 5's, even though their bass is without equal in depth and quality. I read a lot more about problems, repairs, etc. with them than I do with the much simpler Beolab 9s. And, to be honest, the main improvement to my ear, the largest anyway, is bass, and I'm happy with my 9's and how smooth and involving they are. I think the 5s are a bit better everywhere, but not much, except in the bass.

To paraphrase a saying over here, you'll get my BL9's when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers. Truly an outstanding speaker.

Ok, that all makes sense. Thank you all.

I suppose that in keeping a Beolab 9, it can also always be later recommissioned to say, a garage, (the definition of garages these days being differentt o what they used to be) or bedroom stereo. Iv seen the longevity of the Beolab 8000 in this way, whereby no matter how old it becomes, it would still make a more than ample secondary, or tertiary speaker set to enjoy in other rooms.

I hadn't had thought about the electrical-logic complexity that is added as these speakers reach the top end models, and how that factors-in as longevity/cost of ownership/repairs transitions them into their golden days.

I agree 110%.  Love my Beolab 9's.. :-)

I always thought BL9 were cool, especially in gray, and so much total sound quality than 8000. Less extreme than BL 5 but still got some comments on BeoWorld calling them PENGUINS. But even used they were a financial "Bridge Too Far" for me.

I watched a tech friend work on a broken one. It blew out the tweeter amp from (supposedly) extreme volume level for long periods of time. Though the parts were very precious (and I cannot remember if the tweeter and amp were separate) the construction was simple, even elegant. I think the time from getting the tools out to taping the shipper label to the box shut was less than 3/4 hour!

Thinking way back it might be early part of the B&O transition to oval and rounded edge design sensibility of 2000s, acoustic lens with ICE tweeter, no anodized metal, and far cheaper manufacturing cost. Being low production probably made relatively common parts very expensive...

So maybe it IS the penguin, seemingly neither fish nor fowl in the B&O world.     

Don't meant to hijack the thread but what kind of problems with the BL5? I am seriously waiting for price to come down further to get one. Thanks!