Hi Steve!

TWG wrote:

and there's one man reading our forum that could answer the question: Our beloved Geoff Martin :)

Beloved? My word...

Using a loudspeaker for sound reinforcement has some different implications than when they're used for playing music in the home - or in the studio for that matter.

Regarding the "studio monitor" question: All current Bang & Olufsen loudspeakers have a "sound design" that is intended to produce the same overall timbre at the listening position in an average domestic living room as you would get from a studio monitor in a studio. This does not mean that they are modelled after studio monitors - nor do they behave like studio monitors (in terms of on-axis frequency response).

It seems to me that you have to worry about two things with respect to sound:

- can the speaker produce enough sound pressure level for the musician and the venue (and therefore the background noise)

- is its internal latency low enough to be used for live sound.

For example: BeoLab 90 can produce plenty of SPL - but in its lowest latency mode, it has a throughput delay of 25 ms, so it is unusable for live sound.

BeoLab 4 has 0 ms latency, but it might not be able to produce adequate output level...

This is all I'll say about the subject - I'm just chiming in with what I think are the two important things to consider.

Cheers

-g

Geoff Martin wrote:

Hi Steve!

 

TWG wrote:

and there's one man reading our forum that could answer the question: Our beloved Geoff Martin :)

Beloved? My word...

Dear Geoff... I'm married 😁 I've great respect for you and and you seem to be a very sympathic person, too. When I visit Denmark one day I have to visit Bang & Olufsen and hopefully meet you in person, too.

I guess here are many people on this forum that have not only respect for your work and you as a person, but simply love your contributions to the forum and your blog.

Thank you for the explanation btw.

TWG wrote:

I've great respect for you and and you seem to be a very sympathic person, too.

Both of these statements are evidence that we've never met... 😕

Have a nice weekend!

-g

Hi Geoff,

You must have better ears than me (although I could have predicted that anyway!) 😁

25mS delay in the Beolab 90s works out the same as listening to a speaker placed about 8.5m away if my maths is correct?  My brain is too slow to pick up a small delay like that, but I do notice delays above about 50-60mS (Sonos Connect) and I find that the 160mS delay within the Devialet Phantom speaker is very noticeable.

For most listeners, I guess that the Beolab 90s would work out OK for casual jam sessions with friends.  Coincidentally, I've just had a new request for a karaoke system to connect to a pair of Beolab 5s - maybe someone has been spurred on by reading this thread? 👍

I would probably place Beolab 5 as my favourite B&O speaker for live music - I certainly haven't heard any delay within the processing or amplification, but I'm guessing it must be there.  Can anyone put a figure on the latency within Beolab 5 please?

Kind regards, Steve.

Hi Steve,

I found information about delay on one site

I can send to you a link.

BR,

Mikhail

Thanks Mikhail!

The older analogue speakers are great for live use, as they don't have any delay.  The simpler digital speakers (eg. Beolabs 5, 18, etc) are also OK as the delay is minimal, however Beolab 50 and 90 are unsuited to live use as even in "low latency" mode, the 25mS delay is too high for most musicians.

Kind regards, Steve.

Hi Steve, 

I was fortunate to hear Martin Simpson playing a live acoustic set on Beolab 5's at B&o Manchester a few years back, a wonderful experience! I was looking at using a Beolab 2000 as a small practice amp for an acoustic guitar, I have your iPod mastering cable, but this is probably a non starter, your thoughts please.

Kind regards

Dave Edwards

Hi Dave,

I bet that was in incredible experience!  Yes, you can use the Beolab 2000 with the headphone output of a mixer (or direct from the guitar via a 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter), you just need a B&O remote to power on the speaker before use.  However, the results may not be as good as Martin Simpson would have got from those Beolab 5s........

Kind regards, Steve.

What do you mean by "non extstent low mid response". I am asking cause my friend once listened to my BL8000 and said to me right away there is no mid-range with my system. I have BL2 attached so he is no complaining about the bass.

Thanks!

davidr wrote:

Not sure of the wisdom of using b&o speakers for any sort of "professional" use. So getting destroyed by weather or thrown beers are not a big issue. They're very fine home/indoor sets that's for sure but for live you want high SPL and robustness. Studio use is as mentioned about true boring flat response, impulse response and, precise imagining. As much as I like listening to my BL8000s, they're terribly inaccurate, very wide but vague stereo image and nearly non existent low mid response.

For comparison I also have a pair of Klein & Hummel O300D which are about as flat as a nearfield can get. Also I've used Yamaha, Focal and PMC. Truly 'accurate' monitors are vital tools for hearing all the imperfections but horrible to "listen" to.

Live use, just get a Mackie all in one or if SPL needs are higher some combo set up from QSC, JBL, Crown or like.

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your reply 3.5mm stereo to 6.35 mono I presume...

Kindest regards

Dave :)