Hello fellow afflicted nuts,
My son wants to follow in my footsteps (I did something right)!
Scenario
He has just bought an apartment and he wants me to put together a multiroom B&O system for him with a 5.1/7.1 home theatre at the centre of it all. He's got a very healthy budget, but there are some caveats:
- He's in London so I can't do the leg work, short of emailing folks (B&O Selfridges do you ever check your email?)
- He said he only wants B&O - hurrah!
- For the main L & R loudspeakers we are going to go with the Beolab 28
- We don't have the measurements/drawings yet, but it's a challenging layout: triangular room (27sqm), glass/aluminium along one side, galley-stye kitchen along the other, it appears there's drywall ceiling, and there's no rear wall as it's an open living/dining area
- Vintage gear is not an option - he doesn't have the patience for it
- Whatever the solution, it has to look very good OR be invisible
The issues
No cinema for you!
Now, I've googled the hell out of some of the issues and I've trawled this forum, and what I've concluded is that it appears the B&O of 2022 only wants to do home theatre via one of their beautiful TVs which acts as the AV receiver AND the centre speaker. Son and I believe that a dumb, thin, near invisible display with the latest panel tech is the way to go - so a Harmony is not for us.
Q1.1: Do we go with a non-B&O receiver to handle the 5.1 (line level out to BL 28 and high power to the other channels)?
Q1.2: Would that non-B&O receiver be able to control the volume of the 28s???
No centre channel for you!
If there's room in the ceiling, I expect to specify the B&O Celestials for the rear and effects channels. I don't love the idea of the centre up in the ceiling with the mains down at ear level. And it seems there's no low-profile B&O solution (the TV will be sat quite low to the floor in line with the lounge suite).
Q2: Do I source a non-B&O loud speaker for the centre?
The 0.1 dilemma
I feel like the Beolab 19 is going to be overkill when paired with the 28s in a 27sqm living area.
Hook a brother up
Q3.1: Anyone have a good recommendaiton for a London-based B&O + home theatre specialist who can make something happen?
Q3.2: Or should we just get the Beolab 28s and ask a non-B&O specialist to build something around them?
This is all a nice set of problems to have, I admit, but I'm finding it very hard to stick to the all B&O dream here.
I know this is a lot, but many thanks to anyone who can help out.
Chuck