Adding BL19 to BeoSound Theatre worth it or needed?

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

I currently have a Beosound theatre with BL18’s as fronts and BL3’s as rears. For the most part I am happy with the bass when its intense in the source but I find that physical punch missing.

Looking at the theatre specs it says the theatre’s bass goes down to 94 dB SPL and the BL19 to 98 dB SPL.  Is that enough to notice?

Will the BL19 just add the tiny bit extra bass or will it make it feel more punchy overall? Does anyone here have this setup?

[Curly]

The following is not going to be helpful at all, so I apologize in advance.

But two thoughts I had:

1. I have to imagine a dedicated subwoofer with its own amps and two 8″ drivers would deliver significantly greater bass performance (at least at higher volumes) than the Theater.
2. Then again, BL28 essentially replaced BL20 with significantly smaller area drivers (6.5″ vs 10″ diameters), so maybe B&O worked the same magic on the Theater.

I look forward to responses from folks with first-hand experience!

[NQVHNWI]

I only had my BST with an LG65 G2 panel up and running after a half day installing the thousands of bits and pieces.

BL90 Fronts

BL3 Rear (side)

BST Upfront.

Watched a Netflix movie and was impressed with the overall performance. The BST is able to push vocals competently while walking between the BL90 phantom image. My previous Gen1 Eclipse soundbar was useless in terms of sound match.

Plenty of bass rumble and physical from the BST (not all the the BL90s) and the BST definitely managed the sound distribution better. The Sound was somewhat “lighter” and less-intense than the previous configuration (Eclipse up front, BL90 Fronts).

I found watching TV channels, the sound was a little “thin” and needed the volume sliding up (say 45 to 53) to compensate. I think this is to do with the App settings in that as far as I can ascertain right now, there is no way to dB boost/reduce specific Sources. (Again in the Eclipse, I reduced the Netflix output volume by -6dB to match TV sound level).

 

I can only imagine that the BST will be enough in most TV rooms for bass response. I dont see it lacking. I would also imagine that “skinny” loudspeakers like the BL18 (+ BST) would benefit from some experimentation in the Sound Mode settings (Frequency tilt and Sound Enhancement). Also, I would make sure Bass Management is toggles on. This maximises the capability of your loudspeakers.

If this is not enough still for your taste, you either need a Sub or some fatter Beolabs

 

 

 

 

[Mark]

I have the Theatre with the 18’s up front and a 19.

My impressions between listening to just the Theatre and all 5 external speakers:

With the Theatre and treble and bass set to 0.

Theatre only: Bass was more apparent and the treble was slightly diminished when compared to the 18’s and 19.  The sound for me was more pleasant with the 18’s and 19.

I then took Steve’s original suggestion and set the Theatre: Bass -1, Treble +1

On my system this removed pretty much all the difference between the Theatre and the Theatre with the 18’s and 19.  Both options now have a similar sound and both pleasant. But I listen to more music than movies.  The movie I did watch was Top Gun Maverick and switching between the 2 listening positions wasn’t very noticable.

I hope this helps!

Edit:  I’m still glad I bought the BL 19 though!

 

[SimonWeir]

I have the Theatre with BL17s as the surrounds and a BL19.  I think the mic calibration favours the Theatre’s bass too much and so for all listening positions I have increased the BL19 by +5.  You can tell the difference with the BL19 on or off and I prefer on… the bass is more complete.

All this being said I already had the BL19, but if I didn’t I would not buy one in at full retail of £3,500.00.  If you can source a second hand one in great condition I do not think there is any scenario where it wouldn’t add to your listening to music/watching a movie pleasure.

IMO, the bass in the Theatre is impressive, and is not a compromise.  The 2 x 100 watt is more than most people will ever want… but a dedicated sub with all that extra 2 x 160 watt class D woofer, if you can afford it, go for it, but remember with the new rebalancing bass management it will not be driven like any previous setup, and it has taken me a few weeks to prefer the Theatre over the Eclipse for sound.  For TV ease the Theatre is not as accomplished as the Eclipse.

[Themanthemyth]

How well does it do Atmos by itself?

[NQVHNWI]

Themanthemyth wrote:

How well does it do Atmos by itself?

Im not sure I can really answer that on multiple levels:-

I’ve just stored the microphone away deep into the loft. However, listening to the Dealer demo, it is a very credible and capable soundbar in its own right. I have no reference to compare its 3D sound capabilities – only its tonal capability.

I have done two positional calibrations with RoomSense:- a) BSTH/BL90/BL3 and b) BL90 only (this is my workaround for a potential hole in the BeoApp for BL90 Narrow/Wide/Omni selection).

I have not done a calibration with the BSTH on its own (I assume you have to do this to answer your question?) and assume just muting the accompanying Surrounds is not the same as calibrating a BSTH on its own? i.e. I dont know if the BSTH can do that on the fly?

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

I read this and it’s worrying for my setup.  I wonder if the 19 would be basically dormant.

There are cases where bass will be re-directed to a full-range loudspeaker instead of to a subwoofer in your system. This is because some full-range Bang & Olufsen loudspeakers have a greater capability to play low-frequency materials than most subwoofers. For example, if you have a system that includes two BeoLab 20’s and a BeoLab 19 subwoofer, all bass (whether from the main input channels or the LFE input) will be directed to the BeoLab 20’s. In other words, the BeoLab 19 will receive no signals. This is because a single BeoLab 20 is capable of playing louder than a BeoLab 19 in most low-frequency bands. Consequently, routing low frequencies to your BeoLab 19 will be equivalent to downgrading your loudspeaker system. If you wish to do so, this can be overridden using the advanced settings of the Bass Management and Bass Re-direction.

I heard the theatre has a bug with the 19 right now anyway where it doesn’t know it’s a sub and sends all signals to it.  Anyone have a 19 and theatre?

[Razlaw]

I have a Theatre with 28s and 1s and a 19 in transit to me to try .  Unfortunately I had the dealer ship it to my work address and eta is Friday, but my work will be closed until Tuesday so that is the earliest I will get it.

[Sandyb]

not my setup, but I think the 19 works fine with the Theatre now.

Mike, the podcast chief, has added one to his Theatre setup and is not reporting any issues now.

[Author]

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