Reply To: Beolab 9 vs Beolab 18 as rears

[beojeff]

I’m interested in this topic as well. I currently have BL6000s as my rears, BL1s as surrounds, and BL9s are fronts. After installing the Theatre, I might use the Theatre for the fronts as well as center channel. This would free up my 9s to be used as wides or possibly rears — or even surrounds.

I also have a pair of 8000s and 3s and 4000s that I could move into the room.

A discussion of how well various beolabs are suited as rear speakers would be great — especially in light of the new bass management system.

BL3s have the advantage of not being obstructed by a sofa. However, they lack bass.

BL9s would have the lower drivers blocked by a sofa, but they would add bass to the rear of the room.

BL1s were once recommended for rears due to their height. However, now that we can add Atmos height speakers, the height of the BL1s might actually be detrimental to the placement of speakers and get confused with the height channels.