Advice on Improving Room Acoustics for BeoLab Speakers

[Aliana Harry]

I recently setup my BeoLab speakers in living room and I notice some reflections and little echo when music play loud. The room has hard surfaces and I want to improve sound without big changes. I read about speaker placement adjustments, but not sure where to start for best results with my setup. I do some home renovation work too, where I do drywall estimating and consider how different surfaces affect sound insulation. I think similar principles apply here softer surfaces and absorbent panels must help reduce unwanted echo. But I am not expert in audio room treatment. Can anyone share what small changes you make in your room to improve sound clarity? Maybe recommended panels or placement ideas? Also how much distance from wall is good for BeoLab 18 (or similar)? I want balanced bass and clear mid without too much bass boom. Thanks in advance for tips!

• This topic was modified 1 day, 13 hours ago by Aliana Harry.
• This topic was modified 1 day, 10 hours ago by Aliana Harry.

[Tignum]

Hi Aliana,

I think you can find a lot of (non B&O specific) info on the web. Curtains, carpets, panels, furniture: quite some options. Best is to always buy BeoLab 90s :-).

The 18s do have presets: free/wall/corner but I presume you played with those. In the manual it is stated that ‘wall’ is used when you are closer than 15cm/6″ to the wall, and ‘corner’ when you are within a 50cm/20″ radius from the corner.

See also this blog by Geoff Martin, the B&O Tonmeister: https://www.tonmeister.ca/wordpress/2014/08/06/bang-olufsen-beolab-18-reviews/comment-page-1/#comments

Regards, Johan

Location: Netherlands

My B&O Icons:

[DT79]

What are you driving the Beolab 18s with? If the rest of the system isn’t B&O and you’re open to changing, then using a preamp that has modern room correction built in would be a great answer. Using soft furnishings is all well and good if you can accomplish what you need that way, but ‘room treatment’ can be pretty hit and miss.  If the problems are severe and you have to resort to professional room treatments, then you could end up ruining a perfectly nice living room.

Something like Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfect or Dirac Live would effectively negate room effects without having to change the room. I use both in different rooms, until recently with B&O speakers in both, to great effect.

Aliana Harry wrote:

I recently setup my BeoLab speakers in living room and I notice some reflections and little echo when music play loud. The room has hard surfaces and I want to improve sound without big changes. I read about speaker placement adjustments, but not sure where to start for best results with my setup. I do some home renovation work too, where I do drywall estimating and consider how different surfaces affect sound insulation. I think similar principles apply here softer surfaces and absorbent panels must help reduce unwanted echo. But I am not expert in audio room treatment. Can anyone share what small changes you make in your room to improve sound clarity? Maybe recommended panels or placement ideas? Also how much distance from wall is good for BeoLab 18 (or similar)? I want balanced bass and clear mid without too much bass boom. Thanks in advance for tips!

• This reply was modified 12 hours, 38 minutes ago by DT79.

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