New House, New System........????????????

34 replies

Hi All,

I'd like some opinion on where to go in terms of changing, adding to, or replacing my audio system. We're in the lucky position of building a new house around March next year and I'm very keen to achieve single remote nirvana and a multiple room system. So here are the questions, and I'll probably have to ask more because, as I browse the forums even more issues spring to mind!

Firstly, I have a Beosound 2300 with a pair of Lab 6000's, and I'm hoping to add another pair of active speakers for the Master Bedroom upstairs, with a Lab3500 as a link speaker in the dining/kitchen area. The house is contemporary in design which is great, but does raise a few issues with regard to speaker choice (single link or pair with control unit), and also placement. I hasten to add that I'm not an  audiophile but love the quality of sound that B&O produces.

Audio is definitely a priority, and due to budget constraints we will definitely go for a generic flat screen with some sort of Lintronic control system, but I'm open to suggestions. My main priority is to be able to access a largish CD collection WITHOUT changing them all the time. I LOVE the 2300 for reasons others have posted but really need to save and store the discs. A prominent member has suggested Beosound 4, but I'm a little concerned about the quality even though I'm not an "audiophile". I'm not a technocrat and my only experience of this was to record a wma file from my Laptop to a disc which I then played on the 2300 and found it to be very "thin", for want of a better description! I probably used the wrong format or bit rate or something so again I'd welcome advice.

The initial questions are:

1  Wireless or Hard-Wired?

2  Beosound 4, Beosound 3200, BeoCenter 2 or other?

3  Speaker suggestions?

Many thanks in advance

Peter

edit - just added the BeoCenter 2 option as this may also be a solution

1  Hard-Wired, I think that it is much better.... could be wrong..

2  Beosound 4, new model, can play SD cards (2 Gig max) and CD. can be put on the wall and on a stand. The BS-3200 has a hard disk, but it can be difficult to find the correct music on the disk. With the BS-4 you can make a gerne sd card.

3  Speaker suggestions, Bl-9 front... Bl-8000/6000 rear.

Hope this helps.....

as a cheap solution you could get an apple ipod and use one of Ridax's link cables or docking stations to connect it to your 2300 - this would allow you to control it via the Beo4 and access it from other rooms. I am planning on doing this with my Beocentre 8500 and MCL system.

As far as encoding digital media goes, i would not advise using anything less than 192kbps MP3 or AAC files - itunes/ipod would take care of this for you anyway.

Thanks guys, so if I use this 192kbps rate, how many albums can you get on to a 2Gb SD card? Also, will the sound be more like a standard CD? I just looked at the wma settings and they were on 128kbps as a standard I guess. Maybe I should re-record something at the higher bit rate and listen. The only problem is that I'd be doing it on windows media player software...mmm

Cheers for now

Errrr OK my 2c =

1 = I'd go hard wired, but hey get the fellas in Auckland to do it, I tried myself and spat the dummy out - LOL. Just use Wireless for your PC home network, depends on yout Telecom or Woosh set-up.

2 = I'm biased, I've got a 3200, love it, very timeless so go with it. Hard Disk isn't too much of a worry. I generally know whats it what colour - I actually have it my users - all 2 of us and then genre - have one for Classical only. If you're going to fully load it you'd be better off thinking BeoPC black box, a mac and iTunes 😁

 3 = Most people say BL8000 for speakers and a BL2, if you can afford it I'd not dissagree. BL3500 are nice 😁

 Files wise I use ACC and 192kbp thingy for playing out of iTunes over BeoPC

Your main unit and speakers will of course depend upon your budget, therefore I have made to rough ideas, but these are of course my personal preference:

BeoCenter 2 and BeoLab 9 ... rears whatever you like!

Or BeoSound 4 and BeoLab 3.

Hello Peter,

My thoughts on the subject:

  1. I have no experience with the wireless system, but hardwired is probably better
  2. I would keep the Beosound 2300 and use the Ipod option suggested by ScottMc. Possible future upgrade could be the Beosound 5 that will be on sale next year.
  3. Beolab 9's as front speakers and Beolab 3's as rears.

Peter,

go for hardwired ML-Ethernet-Cabling this is futureproof: look at the

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beoplay-V1.png Beoplay-V1.png
Beoplay-H95.png Beoplay-H95.png
Beoplay-E8.png Beoplay-E8.png
Beoplay-A1.png Beoplay-A1.png
Living Room: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-2 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 8000 (Rears), Screen: Sony KD-85XH9096
Home Cinema: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-4 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 4000 (Rears). Projector: Sony VPL-HW55
Home Office: BeoVision 11-46, 4 x Beolab 3, BeoCenter 9300 (BLC 1611/ML/NL)
Bedroom: Sony KD-65XH9077, Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 6002 and Beolab 11 (all white, wall-mounted)
Dart Room: BeoPlay V1-40 on floor stand
Guest Room: BeoVision 7-40 MK IV, Beolab 7-2, BeoSound Ouverture

In any case, I would master link the house. And also put RF cables from a central point to all rooms where you may want a TV in the future.

The RF cable will serve even in a non B&O setup, if you want to distribute a set top box or a video signal.

p.

 

Hello

We have recently been through all of these issues ourselves and have come up with a system that works (for now)

Beocentre 2
Becentre 6  26 (wanted a smaller sized tv)
beolab 9's (we love!!!!!!!!!!!!)

For serious music listening we listen to CD's, itunes cannot match the quality of a CD. I seriously wouldn't waste my time downloading at anything less than a 320 bit rate in mp3 or AAC etc- you will be disappointed with the result. I'd buy more memory on your computer rather than sacrifice the sound quality. Presently we are streaming from our mac computer via airport express to our beocentre 2. It works ok but im sure the sound would be better if it were hardwired. (plugging an ipod directly into beocentre 2 improves sound slightly)

We had considered the beomedia 1 as an option, but already having spent 24,000 AUD on the above couldn't justisfy the cost,,,,

The beocentre 2 is great, sounds great, looks great,,,, occassionally has a tantrum and wont open or close and is often slow to do so. Most of the time it is well behaved and is forgiven as it  sounds and looks so great. My one gripe is having to manually enter the names of cd's!!!!! What is this about- all that would be required is a simple reading chip???? Why when you pay $7,000 do you have to do this yourself!!!!!!

I hope that is of some assistance.. Email me back if you like further details or like to have a chat... We spent months trying to make these decisions!

Good Luck

David Coyne
Sydney, NSW
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