SharpPencil wrote:

Hi guys,

I have always had an attraction to this brand. And as I'm going to be moving to my new place soon, I am thinking of going for something that allows me to enjoy movies. Currently I am running a traditional 5.1.2 setup. However as my new place is gonna be much smaller, I will be looking either just a set of Beolab or just the Stage.

For someone who is 90% movies and 10% music, what do you guys recommend ? 

I've used B&O speakers connected to a BV7, BV11, Avant and BV12-65 for years. I've had BL5s, BL9s, BL3s, BL6000s an a BL2 sub and a BL11.

I'd safely say that the Stage can hold its own compared to most speakers for everyday TV watching. ie. connecting BL9s don't really improve watching regular TV. But for movies:

1) Deep bass would be hugely improved with a speaker setup using a sub. The BL2 would rock my entire room, for example. And annoy the neighbours!

2) You don't get surround sound with the Stage. In fact, the one-directional sound takes some getting used to after using a 2.1 BL3+sub setup. I found that the Stage offered a narrow sound. But, once you get used to that, it really does sound fantastic.

However, there's another caveat. The audio from streamed movies is generally fairly poor compared to that you'd find on a Blu-ray or 4K DVD, so if you do spend some big bucks on a decent speaker setup, don't stream compressed audio via a movie hired on iTunes, as it sort of defeats the object of the speaker setup, imho.

[quote user="

SharpPencil wrote:

Hi guys,

I have always had an attraction to this brand. And as I'm going to be moving to my new place soon, I am thinking of going for something that allows me to enjoy movies. Currently I am running a traditional 5.1.2 setup. However as my new place is gonna be much smaller, I will be looking either just a set of Beolab or just the Stage.

For someone who is 90% movies and 10% music, what do you guys recommend ? 

Unfortunately you don’t tell us which tv you use or intend to use in the new place.

Setting up a system with a set of Beolabs (or as a 2.1 combination) with a non-B&O can be a hard task and will maybe require additional hardware (some kind of preprocessor) and a second remote.

However combining a Stage with a modern non-B&O tv is fairly easy.

So.....hard to advice - although a Stage obviously could be a good choice, when you are going to use the setup 90% for movies in a smallish room.

IMO - movies with a 2 channel setup is kinda contradicting - movies need multichannel (or the virtual version from a soundbar like the Stage).

MM

Sandyb wrote:

The Stage is an excellent simple solution, but vs 18’s , even alone, it’s not close

Bit of an exaggeration Sandyb. I've owned most of the older combination of speakers and the Stage is beyond 'simple solution'. It's pretty fantastic, all things considered. With movies you do get the low rumbles and, besides, what's the point of recommending really expensive speakers for movies, only to then go off an stream low-quality audio via an iTunes or similar movie.

Like I said, the biggest difference is more the one-directional sound, lack of surround and lack of a sub, but the Stage does a far better job than, say, 2 BL6000s, 2 BL3s or similar, which I've owned.

There's also a huge difference in price between BL18s + sub and a Stage. Two BL18s + BL20 = £13000 of speaker.

Perhaps, but the poster is a 90% movies guy, so it sounds like music reproduction is much less of a priority.

All told, I'd always take 18s over a Stage for movies, and for music the 18s would be a good deal better.

The Stage may be excellent for a sound bar, but vs a pair of 18s, its an easy decision for me.

Cost considerations aside of course.

moxxey wrote:

Sandyb wrote:

The Stage is an excellent simple solution, but vs 18’s , even alone, it’s not close

Bit of an exaggeration Sandyb. I've owned most of the older combination of speakers and the Stage is beyond 'simple solution'. It's pretty fantastic, all things considered. With movies you do get the low rumbles and, besides, what's the point of recommending really expensive speakers for movies, only to then go off an stream low-quality audio via an iTunes or similar movie.

Like I said, the biggest difference is more the one-directional sound, lack of surround and lack of a sub, but the Stage does a far better job than, say, 2 BL6000s, 2 BL3s or similar, which I've owned.

There's also a huge difference in price between BL18s + sub and a Stage. Two BL18s + BL20 = £13000 of speaker.

[quote user="

If you are used to having a dedicated center channel, you might be disappointed going to 2 channels, regardless of how good the speakers are.  I used to run a non-B&O Tv with 2 bl4000s, and while they were a huge improvement over the Tv's stock speakers, dialogue could get lost at times.

I much prefer the 3 channel output of my Eclipse sound center.  I realize that this isn't exactly a fair comparison, but with 90% movies, you may find stereo a step backwards.