Here's my setup today. You can barely spot the Beomaster 7000 to the left of the television. All other equipment is inside the cabinet, and is controlled from the iPad. Music and video is stored on a NAS-unit in another room. I use the Beomaster infrequently, to play musicassettes using a Beocord 6500, or to listen to radio. But as I find myself listening more and more to net radio, the Beomaster is headed for another room soon.

I prefer listening in a quite dark room (and no, that's not dust on the dome of the BL5 on the left. I put a flashlight on it to pick out the lenses, and that created the impression.)

I love the position of those speakers. Right where I would have mine if I could.

It really does wonders for the sound when the BL5s get space to work - I find that the bass becomes particularly involving and distinct.

Here's a picture showing the setup with more light.

soundproof wrote:

It really does wonders for the sound when the BL5s get space to work - I find that the bass becomes particularly involving and distinct.

Here's a picture showing the setup with more light.

 

A beautiful room, and a delightful contrast of elegance to the oft 'mad inventors' audiophile room photos I've seen on other HiFi forums!

Is that a plasma or LCD display in the photo? - may I ask as to your reasons for brand/choice of display?

Best Regards

John...  🙂

soundproof wrote:

It really does wonders for the sound when the BL5s get space to work - I find that the bass becomes particularly involving and distinct.

Here's a picture showing the setup with more light.

Interesting, I've never really considered the vertical dispersion BELOW the BeoLab 5's acoustic lenses, although I'm assuming it's actually slightly tighter than the dispersion above because of the shape of the discs.

I say this because I find I have issues with reflections off coffee tables in that sort of situation, but I suppose BeoLab 5s don't suffer from the same issue!

We're a little off the topic of the thread now. I just wanted to demonstrate that it's possible to use a B&O audiomaster in the way that the OP intends. My only concern being whether the BeoSound he intends to use, which has an integrated cd-player, can be used in this manner. I'm using a Beomaster 7000, where the CD-coax is supposed to come from "outside" the unit anyway.

The discs do limit the downward dispersion significantly compared to ordinary speaker constructions. Previously I used to have two small tables to each side, but I have moved those into the other listening room, where I have traditional speakers. I couldn't discern any difference between those tables and this new one with the BL5s, and when I'm in complete audiophila nervosa mode I just push the table to the side, it's very light.

Here's a photo of the tables I used previously, one on either side.

@ Beoboiinoz

The screen is a Pioneer Kuro plasma, which I bought as they came out. And the picture is still so good that I haven't considered replacing it. If I do, it will probably be for a projector. At the time, the Kuro screen was significantly better than other available screens, money no object.

Soundproof and others thanks for your input so far.....

I may have to try and see if I can use the BS 3000 as intended. Since we are drawing everything up with no exposed wires - I need to have things perfectly planned before the cabinetmakers final drawings. At least I know the 9000 is  a fall back.... but we need to see if the 3000 will work.

Since I have your attention perhaps you'll indulge me further.....

1) Core Audio?? IS this a Mac mini specific thing? Additional software? Couldn't find anything on the web explaining this. 

2) Can I use a Macbook Pro instead of the preposed mac mini (ie use the Firewire output). I can't see anything about Firewire audio capability for the Macbook Pro where as the mini does have a listed muti-channel firewire out.... Would a non-firewire output to the impact twin degrade sound quality?

3) Is a direct connection (ie. powerbook audio out to B&O cable-> BS3000/9000->powerlink-> BL5) inferior to the digital connection proposed? IF so, how much of a difference is there?? Sorry for the questions. I see some comments regarding this but end up a little confused and want to know how much of a real world difference there is.....

Thanks again in advance. Good choice in TV by the way Soundproof. I have the Pioneer KRP500M. Fantastic with Blue rays. Do you have the TV hooked up to the speakers as well? I may have to get directions for that too..... maybe in the next instalment to save your fingers...

Regards

Justin

1. Core Audio is how Mac's natively handle all audio formats. It's designed to meet the requirements of the professional film and music industries. (Core Video).

http://developer.apple.com/technologies/mac/audio-and-video.html

This is available to professional downstream components using the FireWire out, or particular soundcards that are installed in workstation versions of the Macs.

2. I would strongly recommend finding a Mac mini, as you would probably find it limits the use of your MacBook Pro to just have it connected to your system, far away from you. The Mac mini can be placed inside a cabinet, and can then be controlled and updated using an iPad, a laptop, iPhone, etc. Screen Sharing on Macs lets you do most configuration and maintenance task as if you were controlling the Mini directly, over your network.

Some MacBook Pros do have FW out. You can pull an optical toslink signal to an Impact Twin, but then you might want to consider using a straight conversion, as originally proposed. The point is that your speakers are capable of such fine resolution that you want to ensure the best possible signal reaches them, and using FireWire out to a soundcard, and then going to your speakers, ensures that.

3. By direct connection I take it you mean taking a signal from the Minijack out from a Powerbook, and then going to AUX in on the BS3000 or 9000. I would be wary of damaging the speakers when inserting and removing the plug, unless the speakers are off. And you are then leaving the decoding of the audio signal to the cheaper DAC inside the Mac, which has been shown to be a very noisy environment as far as jitter is concerned. Stereophile/Cambridge Audio had a discussion about that which can be googled. Note that this discussion deals with USB out, which is much better than using Minijack out.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/cambridge-audio-azur-dacmagic-da-converter-manufacturers-comments

The mini is used for playback of a variety of video-files, including BD which has been extracted from the originals, using Plex which is multi-format capable. I send the audio for that to a surround processor, the pre-outs of which is connected to the LINE IN on the speakers.

Audio from the STB goes to the same surround processor via coax s/pdif, but can also be accessed directly through the Beomaster, when I only want 2-channel sound which is fed to the Beomaster via analog from the STB. That audio then reaches the BL5s through the Powerlink.

Thanks for your help Soundproof.....got it sorted now (in my head at least)

On a side topic.... do you have any/many music files you have at 256 kbps AAC that you play through the Lab 5s? If so, how do they hold up compared to lossless? I have a mixture of lossless AIFFs and AACs and don't want to try and get all AAC files as lossless, unless they are poles apart.

Apple store convenience....

Regards

Justin

Hi

I was inspired by this thread to buy the tc connect impact twin. Now I have connected it to my mac mini and I even got audio through to my BL5. Very cool...

What I still haven't managed is to have the BL5s autosense the digital spdif signal from the impact twin. From what I understand the BL5 should autosense digital input and output that even if anything is already playing through powerlink.

My BL5s are connected to a BV7-40 mkIII with powerlink mk2. The BL5s have serials starting with 20. I have an Overture connected to the TV, but I do not use it much.

I get digital audio with option 4, but then I have to switch option to use the TV or the Overture. I'd really love if I could use the same option  and still control volume both with my B&O and the mini mac

Any suggestion on what I need to do are greatly appreciated.

/Kim