Just a quick update to my last comments here on the 28s. It turns out there was something wrong with one of my speakers, as it was not responding properly, and the pair was replaced and reinstalled a few days ago. My dealer was amazing, incredibly responsive, and worked tirelessly to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

Now, having spent more quality time with the 28s, they are working flawlessly and sound great. To my ears, the bass heaviness I heard in my original auditions and on some material previously in home has been resolved through the ARC, and they sound pristine, well-balanced and expansive. I'd still rank the 50s significantly higher, but I can now unequivocally recommend the 28s to anyone who doesn't have the room or budget for the 50s.

Fansastic wrote:

Hi BeoJosh, did you setup the 50’s with the microphone?

Yes, the 50s were calibrated using the mic to 5 different seating positions/presets. They sound stunning from every location, and have performed well beyond my expectations from the start. 

If you have a car with top speed 180km/h it would not matter to have 4 same car’s to achieve 300km/h top speed. It is just not happening.

No matter how many bl28’s you add your setup they will not produce low frequency effect’s with force.

Did some field research today. Running with same source and avr pair of 50’s and pair of 28’s. Both connected to Denon x4500 and lossless Atmos demo’s from Nvidia Shield. Stereo without subwoofer/xt32 and full band.

Amaze:

Below 50db volume in Denon 28’s will sound full and subwoofer like. But when you go 60/70db it start’s to be a different story. 28’s wont even try to play lowest frequency’s. ABL is really different from example Stage. Stage will try like 0,3 second and then cut all the bass. 00:30 “sound you can feel” has some nice slam/punch but 00:37 “powerful bass” is really really week. Beolab 19 would have much more force and pressure on this later part. Beolab 50’s have no problems try to destroy my house. Terrible pressure and really powerful bass.

Horizon:

Volume 60/70db in Denon. 00:34 when spaceship make fly over 28’s bass is nice and rumbles sofa also but again 00:59 (what if sound can be deeper) basicly 0 bass from 28’s nada. 50’s “May the Force be with you”

Apollo 13:

Launch sequence with 28’s is really week. No rumbles No pressure. 50’s you can guess.

Conclusion:

28’s will deliver nice and forceful sound mostly but when the power is really needed you will not have anything. Adding more 28’s would not make these play any lower than 1 pair. For music I would not add bl19 with bl28 but for movies I would or just any subwoofer. Don’t know if Beovision bass management even allow to transfer lowest bass to 19 from 28’s. If you want to hear movies as intended then just 28’s will not deliver that. For music 28’s mostly have all the bass you ever need.

My opinion:

2 pairs of 28’s are no match to 1 pair of 50’s. For movies 1 pair of 50’s and bl3/12/17/18 as surround would be 100 times better option than 2 pairs of 28’s.

50’s and no amount of 28’s are not rivals. Different products with different power reserves. And when I say 28’s are week I mean they are weak compared 50’s or speakers paired with powerful subwoofers. 28’s are definately not weak compared to 18’s etc. Similar comparison would be “should I get 1 pair of bl20’s or 2 pair bl3’s”. Performance cap is just so huge for tv/movie usage.

I still love my Beolab 28’s. Nice and beautiful speakers with strong performance BUT with some limitations.