I absolutely agree! I think it’s ridiculous that you have to get the Google voice version to stereo pair of them. I prefer not to have always listening mics in my speakers, but would totally stereo pair the non voice version. I hope enough people complain and they add a software update to the non voice version. 

BeoAnna wrote:

As a pair or solo? I find it pretty difficult to believe that the Balance can replicate the stereo imaging of proper separates; and I don't particularly like how the Balance only supports stereo with Google and why I've never really considered it a true stereo speaker. Since the 17's are apparently on their way out though I'd love to see what B&O inserts into its "most affordable stereo speaker" price bracket.

But wouldn't it be great if they got rid of all the "social" guff in these units, put a couple of powerlink sockets (and dare say I, a SPDIF port) and call them Beolab 30?

De facto heir/replacement of the BL3 and BL17 and something many of us will use, rather than dither over an ocean of single-point music sources currently in the catalogue.

10

I absolutely agree with you. These are great sounding speakers and would be great if you could pair them and use them just like Beolabs speakers. The power, sound quality and technology is there.

Esax wrote:

[

Beolab 17 is good but balance has a better bass and a better overall sound image if you do not play too loud. As a singel balance.

The Balance’s two 5.25” bass drivers are better sounding than BL17’s single 6”? Wow, I’m surprised.

Well, IMHO, stereo pairs are a whole different league of setup, no matter how good a single standalone speaker is. Balance, BS1/2, etc. all have their place but once you start talking about stereo pairs, it’s just a different ballgame, even if you’re comparing BL17 against a single standalone with huge drivers such as Edge.

Curly wrote:

The Balance’s two 5.25” bass drivers are better sounding than BL17’s single 6”? Wow, I’m surprised.

I dont see that really matters. We have as single speaker units (excluding the P-Range)

M3, M5, BS1, BS2, Edge, A9 - plenty.

Then we have the big Beolabs:- BL90, BL50, with BL20, BL18 near to EOL I suppose in terms of tech and BL17 definitely EOL

BS Balance - evolutionary dead-end or something we have not seen yet?

I see a big gap between the Compacts and the full fat stereo range. It would seem to me to be economically reasonable to convert/make a variant of the BS Balance to be a "Beolab 30" (either with some BeoSound functionality or not), pairable to Stereo pair and intergratable to Beovisions, core etc..

Whether this is a called BL30 or a BL25 or Bert who cares? 

Curly wrote:

The Balance’s two 5.25” bass drivers are better sounding than BL17’s single 6”? Wow, I’m surprised.

Well, IMHO, stereo pairs are a whole different league of setup, no matter how good a single standalone speaker is. Balance, BS1/2, etc. all have their place but once you start talking about stereo pairs, it’s just a different ballgame, even if you’re comparing BL17 against a single standalone with huge drivers such as Edge.

Currently: BeoSound Core, BeoLab 17, BeoLab 18

Previously: BeoSound 1 non-GVA

Sw update on BS Balance.

Netradio is introduced......... for the moment no NL connection.

One can set your stations and add stations to the dots of the Balance as favorites.

Login to view image Login to view image Login to view image

Very interesting.

It looks a bit like the Netradio function on my BV11 - maybe B&O are using the same portal for the Balance.

However, it is strange that they are not using TuneIn like on the rest of the multi room speakers.