Is Beoplay A9 a reasonable choice for a small alcove?

5 replies
D(
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deltacafe (archived2)
Bronze
Posted November 8, 2021 at 19:53 GMT
#2160503

Hi all,

 

I'm in the market for a speaker like the A9 and all the reviews / videos etc lead me to believe it would be a fine choice.

However, the most available location in my apartment is inside an alcove and I'd love to hear from any owners whether this is a terrible location to place it.

The alcove has the same shape as a large wedge of cheese turned on its side. Its formed by a sloping ceiling (the building roof) descending from approx 2.5m down to 1m at the pointy end, depth (front to back: blunt end to pointy end) of approx 4m, with width of approx 2m (formed by the building vertical walls). A fairly narrow, fairly low alcove.

There's physical room for the A9 in there, but I wonder if because its so narrow and low whether the horn-like shape of the alcove would mess with the sound. Is there a minimum room size or preferred shape?

Could a wise & generous owner pass comment?

Many thanks!

D(
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deltacafe (archived2)
Bronze
Posted November 10, 2021 at 15:51 GMT
#2160504

No-one? I guess what worries me is that the whole alcove would end up behaving like an enclosure, and modify the frequency response to a great degree than the a('s active room compensation can correct.

Could anyone with an A9 (4th gen) comment?

 

Cheers!

FR
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Frederik
Bronze
Posted November 10, 2021 at 17:20 GMT
#2160505

I have an A9 4th gen but cannot comment on how it performs in the specific situation you describe. At least, the 4th gen has active room compensation, that should help to adapt the sound to the setup.

SA
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Sandyb
Bronze
Posted November 10, 2021 at 18:10 GMT
#2160506

Hi there - my A9 MK2 is in a shallow alcove in my bedroom more or less.

I don't see / hear any issues with that kind of placement.

For reference, the alcove in question is about 26cm deep, and given the tilt of the A9 the top edge is about level with front of the alcove (i.e 26 cm away from the back wall), and the bottom edge is a decent amount outside / in front.

Hope that helps somewhat - may be worth measuring your depth to compare.

 

deltacafe wrote:

No-one? I guess what worries me is that the whole alcove would end up behaving like an enclosure, and modify the frequency response to a great degree than the a('s active room compensation can correct.

Could anyone with an A9 (4th gen) comment?

 

Cheers!

 

D(
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deltacafe (archived2)
Bronze
Posted November 12, 2021 at 11:09 GMT
#2160507

Ah that all sounds promising, thank you all. I think I’m going to give it a try and hope the active room compensation can do its job… 

Alternatively, I have another location that has more immediate free space but is in front of a large window, which presents a different problem with UV damage / white plastic yellowing.

Sorry to bring up another weird topic, but are there any long term owners of white A9 who have seen evidence of UV damage to the plastic on the white model? I can’t expect miracles, but I would hope that the white plastic can stand up to UV through a window and not become yellow over time.

Cheers!

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