BeoLab 18 or BeoSound Balance

[Tim]

Hello Forum ? ,

we currently have a BeoVision 7-40 MKV with a BeoLab 7-2, a pair of BeoLab 8000 and a BeoLab 11 in our livingroom. We are thinking of moving to a new TV and therefore want also new speakers. The BeoSound Stage is not powerful enough for music and the Theatre is just too expensive.

This is why we think of switching to either a pair of BeoLab 18 or a pair of BeoSound Balance. Does anyone of you have experience in connecting those speakers to a LG OLED TV or a recommendation what would be better for a livingroom with 50 sqm.

 

we have already a pair of Level and Emerge and love the Mozart Plattform. The Desicion would be easier if the 18s already had Mozart 😉

[NQVHNWI]

Have a look at threads and the website for the Almando Sound processors.

These boxes convert TV HDMI output to 5.1 and connect to an RJ45/Beolab trigger compatible output.

This may help you Bridge the gap between Stage and Theatre?

[Sandyb]

dont think a pair of Balances will work for TV watching I’m afraid.

There ay be a way of connecting them using their line-in inputs – but the recent Beosound (Theatre aside) products have had non-adjustable (and long) input delays, which means that voice and image will have horrible lip-sync issues.

 

[Millemissen]

Honestly, if you consider a pair of the Balances…..

respectively a set of BL 18 with addition of the Almando device (like Mr10% adviced)…….

…….you would almost be at the costs of the BS Theatre.

With the Theatre you could carry on with your current speaker setup/8000 and 11 (connected to the BST).

Using the Almando device and the set of 18’s would not give you an integration with other (Mozart) devices in the house. And connecting the  Balances to the LG would be limited – basicly to an airplay connection and therefore just 2 channel/stereo (no center channel speaker!).

IMO the Theatre is the way to go if you by any means can swallow what it would cost compared to other solutions – it has so many possibilities.

Just my 2 cents.
(Best decide before the rumoured price rise in august)

MM

 

[NQVHNWI]

Millemissen wrote:

….. respectively a set of BL 18 with addition of the Almando device (like Mr10% adviced)……. …….you would almost be at the costs of the BS Theatre.

MM, Not sure if I am misunderstanding you here?

I was not suggesting any additional loudspeaker – Balance or BL18s.

It appears to me that the OP has a potential problem with the BV7-40 (which could become a brick at any time). If the Stage does not permit loudspeaker connection and the Theatre is too expensive, the Almando may be the only viable way to keep existing loudspeakers? It may be possible – I dont know how good/bad/indifferent the Almando is, but if it works, the OP can upgrade to Beolabs at any point – either new or legacy?

A LG Panel, with Almando and current Beolabs is by far the most cost-effective solution I would surmise – but with potential integration issues you would not have with the Theatre etc…

[Millemissen]

@Mr10%

I may have misunderstood it?
But Tim wrote:
“This is why we think of switching to either a pair of BeoLab 18 or a pair of BeoSound Balance.”

Reading this I thought that Tim was prepared for the costs of these.
Therefore my suggestion….to go for the (admittedly) more expensive Theatre.

If it is just about finding the most cost-effective solution….you are right.
In that case the Almando solution might be worth looking at……if one can accept, that there is hardly any integration possible with the other B&O devices in the house.

P.S.
I am not able to suggest that, because I have no personal experience there.

MM

[Ravsted]

What about BeoSystem 3 / 4 ?

[Tim]

Thanks for all of your replies. First of all we are completely prepared for the price of adding a pair of BL18 or Balances.
Our usage of the current setup we have is 90% music listening in a multipoint setup and 10% of TV. TV means basically one show of a German crime series a week and the news. So we don‘t need Atmos, 7.1, etc.

i probably give the Theatre a second chance before a price increase 😉 would it be good for 2 channel music listening?

the BS4 would be an option but honestly we don‘t want to invest in old tech.

[Tim]

The other thing is I have an offer of 3.400€ for a pair of BeoSound Balance ?

[Sandyb]

if those are your use cases, surely get the Balances with that good offer, for music. And an LG + Stage for tv.

The Theatre is decent enough for music, but for those music listeners used to separation, it’s not likely to be good enough. The Balance pair / 18s pair though, should be good enough.

[matador]

When the Tim question will be completely answered could someone elaborate on this:

Tim wrote:

The BeoSound Stage is not powerful enough for music.

I mean at what level has someone to listen music for the stage not to be powerful enough?
And is/are Beosound Balance that much more powerful than a Stage?

Thanks.

 

[Tim]

Powerful to me meant that first of all the stage is way to limited with the distance between left an right channel. Second I feel a combination of Balances has way better bass and mid tone. We had a stage here and compared it to two Bl800 with BL11 and the old setup just sounded „better“.

I heared the Balances in a store and they sounded very good compared to BL18s.

[Millemissen]

Since you focus on 2 channel listening – music and (on occasion) sound from the tv – this device might be worth considering:
https://hallaudio.com/en/produkter/traadloes-streaming/hall-wifi-streamer/

This way you could use your excisting speakers – either the BL8000/11 or the BL7-2 – for the tv.
In case you’d choose the BL7-2 with the tv, you’d have the 8000/11 free for music listening (if you add a BS Core as the source device).

You could also use a BS Core with the tv (optical connection) to drive the 8000/11.

I see several different options there.

If you have enough space/rooms, you could still add the Balances to the mix ?

In all cases – if you are an Apple user – you could achieve multiroom using Airplay for music.

MM

[matador]

Tim wrote:

Powerful to me meant that…

Thank you Tim. All this make sense now.

[Author]

Posts