BL17 vs BL3 vs BS-Balance vs Level VS Edge

[SimonWeir]

I have 3 BL17s close to the ceiling (highly recommend for size & output quality) although I have them in portrait angled in to the centre of the room rather than landscape and angled down.  I do however use them as height speakers in my Atmos speaker group and they are more than a match for the Theatre Centre Front.  Equally they sound great in Stereo for music.  Only thing to be aware of they are louder from the same input & db level being close to the ceiling, but the calibration equalises all speakers.

[Sandyb]

are your 17s wired to WISA to your Theatre?

just checking how reliable or flaky the WISA 17S to Theatre connection is – as I will be going down that route.

[SimonWeir]

All WiSA, and as I mentioned on a previous post, I have never had an issue in last 7 years with WiSA with the BL17s.  My rears are nearly 7m from the Theatre.

I only had a problem with my BL19 on the Eclipse.  I didn’t have any issue with the Avant 55 Gen 1, before that.  Not sure why but most evenings you could see on the Eclipse in one of the sub menus that the WiSA quality dropped from Excellent to Poor, but a quick rescan solved it for the rest of the evening.

When they first installed the Theatre I did run the BL19 on WiSA for the first few days with no issue, but ultimately decided as they were pulling through new hdmi cables to take the opportunity to wire the sub.  You have to think that the Theatre has the latest radio built in so I am assuming will be better than previous sets.

I feel people have a downer on WiSA (plus a downer on BL17s) but in my experience having lived with it for many years I feel for ease and aesthetics in the room it cannot be discounted as a genuine option.  (Remember vs other BeoLabs the BL17s were seen as cheap and plain looking, but their specs and price vs other manufacturers the BL17s were a proper audiophile speaker, at an astronomical price for their size).

I did tweak my Sky Q router to be fixed on channel 36 for 5ghz rather than it be set to auto, not sure if this did anything or was a placebo effect, but every little tweak to clean the airways near the WiSA frequency.

[steve1977]

Thanks for your messages.

What wall mounts do you use and do you happen to have a photo how you have mounted the BL17 near the ceiling?

Any view how effective it is to use the BL17 as rear speakers (when mounted near the ceiling)? Would I need to tilt them downwards when mounting?

When playing music via spotify connect how would you configure the BV? Would need to play stereo (TV and rear speakers), while playing 5.1 when playing movie. Possible?

[Sandyb]

Thanks Simon, thats pretty reassuring.

Guessing I will be all good – my dealer generally tells me that it’s only really SKY Q (when involving multiple boxes and its mesh networking), that WISA can be a bit problematic. In my case, no mesh network, so hopefully ok.

I would just have my 17s hard wired Powerlink, but the PL cable (under the floor) to my BL3’s (being swapped for 17s) has somehow gone bad. The power connection is fine, so when the 3s go, the 17s will just have to work on WISA. Hopefully all will be fine.

[Curly]

I get very drawn into threads in which everyone touts the often unsung virtues of BL17–I have a pair and adore them. I think they sound fantastic in my bedroom. I also own BL18 but have had them tucked away in storage for years so I can’t provide a comparison informed by recent listening but remember thinking MAYBE the 18s were slightly somehow more crisp in the treble but maybe not. And obviously, the 17s sound much fuller than 18s though they are not as pretty.

I have envisioned a 5.1 system consisting of some Beovision/Theater and 4 x BL17. In a smaller or medium room, I think it would be fantastic.

I cable everything via optical Toslink so I cannot speak to WISA.

I also own a Level but have not done a direct comparison against BL17. I assume the 17s outmuscle the Level fairly obviously.

Lastly, I don’t think I have ever witnessed anyone say anything good about Edge so this was very interesting to read! Thank you for your opinions!

 

[SimonWeir]

@steve1977.  Pictures as requested.  All use the standard OEM fitting, rather than STB.  Only reason they are not right up flush to the coving is because of the PIR alarm sensor in the dining-room so B&O installers brought these down by 10 cm on all to have aesthetic consistency.  These work very well with great sound imagery and imo don’t need to be landscape firing down, the BeoSound Theatre’s calibration mic sorted it all out.  Even before with the Eclipse when I was using the one behind the TV as a Centre Height and the Dining room as Rear Surround Hight, sound great with sound coming down from above.  I did consider landscape but it looked weird with the others in portrait around where we sit; especially when I open the doors from the lounge to the dining room when I want to go from 5.1.2 to 7.1.2 with the BeoSound Theatre.

Apologies first 2 pics should be rotated 90 degrees as the speakers are in portrait, as per the last 2 pics.

 

[LeMirage]

I was finally able to compare my stereo paired Levels to a recently acquired set of 17’s. As you can see on the picture the cabling was still a quick and dirty setup but boy oh boy, I do understand all the cheering about the potency of these things now!! I’m proud to be an official Beolab 17 fanboy !
As much as I love(…..d) my Levels, they are absolutely no competition whatsoever for the 17’s. With every aspect people are judging speakers by they clearly win, except for the fact maybe Level has a battery and is an all in one portable Mozart, but that’s really it. Why were they discontinued so quickly compared to for example the predecessor BL4000 ?

[Sandyb]

sure, look at the STB Brackets mounting product for the BL17.

Perfect for ceilings / high up wall mounting.

[Curly]

Congratulations! And this is fantastic to hear as I own a Level but have not heard them stereo paired. Any further thoughts after another week or so of ownership?

[Sia43]

I have A paired set of BS-Levels in a medium size room (around 25 m^2). I must admit that I never listen to music on high volumes nor care for punchy basses, such as in techno or disco music, and I don’t use them as TV speakers. The Paired levels do a brilliant job playing classical and pop music, and since I’ve added a Beolab 11 to the set, they also work very well with Jazz and rock music. I’ve compared a BS-level pair with a BS-Balance pair at the B&O store. Although the BS-Balance sounds bigger, I prefer Levels for my room size and music-listening style. This is a personal opinion, but the BS-Balance bass and lower midrange frequencies sound blurred to me, and I’m not a big fan of how they look, either.

I also have a pair of BS-Emerges in a smaller room, and again I prefer the BS-level; while they look pretty cool, I must add.

[ortuksur]

BS-Level does that while they are not suitable for larger rooms.applebees

[Author]

Posts