BeoJosh wrote:

Just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to answer my questions--and for your insights. I've just today ordered a pair of 50s for delivery/installation in April--and am very excited for them!

Congrats - you'll really really like them, I'm sure.

my 50s arrived only a month ago, and they're fabulous.

I used 18s front with a 19 for both music / movies previously.

They filled the room fine for movies, but were less than I wanted for music.

But with the 50s now, music is just much much more fulfilling.

What trim did you go for?

BeoJosh wrote:

Just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to answer my questions--and for your insights. I've just today ordered a pair of 50s for delivery/installation in April--and am very excited for them!

Congrats, Josh.

I'm also curious... did you choose the April date or is that the earliest your dealer could procure the speakers?

There has been some talk of product backlogs on the forum; I wonder if your situation is an example. Again, congratulations. I'm very jealous! :)

Thanks! I was very tempted by the Golden edition, which I could've had sooner, but ultimately went with the brass/smoked oak that matches the other B&O products throughout our home. I wish I could have them sooner, but I'm told early April delivery was the first available unsold 50 for this particular finish. 

Happy new speakers Josh, you'll love them. 

Just to chip in the wide / narrow beam width thing. From various training bits and bobs and from demonstrating and listening for pleasure in my store I can tell you how I use it. This applies to BeoLab 50 and 90. 

I tend to use narrow for one sweet spot on my own for music (always 2 channel with surrounds and TV speakers off), it's just the best! Mic calibration done at one chair in the center of the speakers where I sit to listen. Mic position for the calibration is round your head where you sit. Imagine a box on your head, measurement 1 in the middle of the box, between your ears. Measurement 2 move the mic to the bottom front corner of the box and measurement 3 opposite top rear corner of the box. This gives very accurate image for just one person. 

I use wide for music when more than one person listening where nobody is quite center and for movies regardless of solo or group listening. 

I take the mic measurements 1 - from the center of the couch, 2&3 from the other seats at ear level. You could also take measurements from more seats and select all of the filters to create an average although personally I wouldn't use more than 2 or 3 filters at the same time together. 

So narrow, super selfish on your own with a whiskey and Dark Side of the moon.

Wide listening with someone else or watching movies. Wide gives less bias to the left right channels of you are sitting off axis and spreads the experience over a wider area for more people at the slight cost of some imaging. It works well for movies to give a larger spread of effects across the front channels and better replicates a cinema sound system, especially when used with the TV as a center speaker and surround speakers. 

Either way play about and whatever sounds best to you is the right one. Hours of fun ahead, I'm a bit jealous!  :-) 

Hope this helps, 

John - Bang & Olufsen Manchester. 

Thanks, John--this is very helpful. I can't wait for the speakers to arrive and to experiment with all the modes--most of all "super-selfish" mode!

And thanks for your videos--they're always fun to watch, and have been really helpful to me, especially as we were building and outfitting our new home during the pandemic and couldn't audition all the B&O equipment in person.

Many congratulations on the 50s - you will love them :-)

BeoJosh wrote:

Thanks! I was very tempted by the Golden edition, which I could've had sooner, but ultimately went with the brass/smoked oak that matches the other B&O products throughout our home. I wish I could have them sooner, but I'm told early April delivery was the first available unsold 50 for this particular finish.

Geoff Martin wrote:

I’d say that you should try installing them facing forward (don’t toe-in), calibrate the distances, levels, and ARC correctly to wherever you want to sit, and then make two presets - one narrow and the other wide - abc use whichever you prefer. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad...

another option is to make a preset for a listening position that only exists when you temporarily put a chair there. You won’t be the only person who does this.

Remember that the narrow mode isn’t a laser - it’s very forgiving... and there are added benefits like the bass time response that cons along for the ride...

cheers

- geoff