Beolab 90s. Current state of Play

33 replies

Hello all.  I am new to the forum and made a post on the "Flash your B&O" thread.  I was asked some questions about my Beolab 90s. I did not want to "hijack" the theme of that thread with my answers. If I am in the wrong place with this, I hope you will forgive me.

People who have read the BL90 white paper and/or the Technical Sound Guide will note that the first page states "Note: Not all features described herein will be available at first release."  There have been software upgrades and features implemented, but there is still work to be done.

The speakers are really good and the sound staging is excellent. There are features that I look forward to...........

The ARC (room compensation) is yet to be fully implemented.  The speakers can create filters and compensate for the room acoustics so that locations in the room can receive the optimum sound.  At the moment this is PC based which requires a B&O tech to set it up and the options are limited. Eventually the speakers will do this through using the microphone (supplied). We will then select one or more "pre-set" to provide the sound in the locations we want.

The beam direction and speaker distance compensation are yet to be implemented. We are not yet able to adjust tones or many of the "advanced controls. The list of features and their state of readiness are available at Geoff Martin's Blog.

link

He instructs that he is not permitted give us the expected dates for release of features, but will keep the list updated as things change. Originally the final updates were supposed to have been released by July.

The Android App for BL90 has not been released yet (I have an Android phone and tablet). I can control the Beomusic functions ie the playlists and tracks, the source and volume, but have to borrow my wife's iPad or iPhone to change any speaker settings such as beam width.

I was asked what connections the speakers are using.  Ours are connected via Cat 6 data cable to each other (for the speakers to work together), directly to the internet (for upgrades automatically) and via an Essence Mk2 to my NAS/network and my other B&O components (see my signature below).  The installation was all organised by the B&O team in Adelaide with additional advice and help from a man that came from Melbourne. There are multiple ways to connect to these speakers, but to handle the data and speed required the data cables were the recommended solution. There is a little glitch which it being addressed tomorrow requiring a "switch" and a subnet to further speed communication through my network. The glitch is a brief stutter in the music 15-20 seconds into a track.  The speakers have only been installed for 4 days so they are a work in progress (at home and in Denmark)

Don't get the wrong impression; I am very happy and these are the best speakers I have ever heard. They will only get better with the implementation of the features.......I am an "early adopter" and I have to be prepared to wait.  It is nice to know that the upgrades are free and are not being rushed without proper testing (I hope). But like a small boy waiting for Christmas; the upgrades can't come soon enough.

If people are interested I will update this thread to let you know how things go and of my experience with these acoustic marvels.

Are there any other BL90 owners who would like to add their 2 cents?

 

Fantastic! Please keep us updated!

Thanks for the update. I know I'll likely never own a pair but I'm keenly interested in learning more. Cheers!

Fred. Thanks for starting this thread and taking the time to provide the information. It would be great if you would continue to update us. I for one am happy to share your "small boy at Christmas" excitement whenever something changes!

It's also good that early adopters know exactly where they stand with these fantastic speakers and can make the choice to go early or to wait

Fred_Nerk wrote:

If people are interested I will update this thread to let you know how things go and of my experience with these acoustic marvels.

I am sure a lot of us are interested - so please keep us updated 

Congrats on the speakers - enjoy them!

MM

Location: Flensborg————Danmark

Fred

Welcome to the Dark-side!

I hope you are as happy with your 90’s as I am?

I have found that the 90’s worked very well straight out of the box so to speak and needed very little in terms of calibration for me (guess I was lucky in positioning and the lack of variability of the room in which I use them). A few Weeks ago, I had B&O do the initial ARC calibration via PC (they were going around the UK doing ARC for all display units and those initial customers).

There is a good compendium of YouTube Training videos here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L9KAXgHZDE&list=PLRPmJ785xnMgKXR3KgtScgvPf-V4sWa08

 

The App is available on iTunes but by typing "192.local" in you Android/Mac/Windows PC/Smartphone, I think you can pull-up the Beolabs own internal app which does the same thing.

There is still some development of that App and I know B&O have released a version with will control all the cable sources (XLR/SP-dif/Line etc….) and all the pre-set/fine-tuning settings. The latest App (which released to Apples schedule – not B&O’s will address cable line priority)

USB-Audio is now implemented

Omni direction is now implemented.

I have heard some indications that Beam-Width Control, App-based ARC and multi-zoning will be rolled-out in Q3. The main bulk of the software then being fully implemented and ready for upward revision. I have also heard indication that there is a wish for the new Avant’s will incorporate a lot of Beolab90 adjustment settings – whether that happens or I cannot say.

Rgds

 

10

 

 

Hello Mr 10 Percent,

That link to the youtube videos was quite interesting. I am certain that I won't attempt disassembly, but a clue to the complexity of the speakers is revealed. I was surprised at the residual charge and how long it took to discharge the power supply.

I tried typing 192.local but only ended up with a Google search. Is there something I have not understood? I would like to get my Android device to be able to control speaker settings.

My "glitch" has been improved significantly by the network switch. We (B&O and I) have narrowed down the issue to the network and the NAS. It is possible the issue began with an update to the NAS software as reports of the same or similar problem are appearing in NAS forums. It affects other (non B&O) systems too. The issue has been escalated to "company level" by the local technical team to seek a solution.

Congratulations to both of you owners. I hope you will share some more photos of your setups in the 'Flash your...' thread. 

Have your local B&O technician where able to setup 1 custom preset for your beolab 90's?

And have they did a calibration ( Active room compensation) for the sweetspot in the location of your BL90's?

Hello zerocool143, We have not set up any ARC for my system yet. It is only available if the installer uses a PC based program. I gather there are limitations with the present(s) and the beolab 90 app.

I am waiting for the software upgrade so that the speakers can do the full APC thing with the microphone that is supplied. This is something I really look forward to.

As it stands now, the sound produced is optimised if using narrow beam and sitting in the geometric sweet spot. There will be many improvements as the software gets released.

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