Beolab 8

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi,

The fluid sweet spot requires Ultra Wide-band connectivity which I don’t think was available when Beolab 28 was developed.

Kind regards, Steve.

[Millemissen]

bonbazar wrote:

Will it offer compatibility with older Hi-Fi systems, like the Beosystem 6500, allowing control of CD, Radio, and Vinyl through the remote app?

Yes and no!

Powerlink is an analog connection for sound, which means that the BL8 can be used with any Beomaster, Beosound, Beocenter that has Powerlink output port.
They then act as a source for the BL8’s – these are then just speakers.
In that case you are controlling the source device with its normal remote control e.g. a Beo4.

MM

[Marc]

Does anyone have information if we can use the Level in near future to use in a surround sound configuration?

[syrianos82]

And what about the so called upgradeable hardware in the BL 28 that was supposed to future proof it when new wireless tech came along? 🙂

In reality I think this is a gimmick more useful for  a single pair in a smaller appartement where you move around from kitchen to sitting area.

The BS TH offloads processing from the BL 28’s anyway if I’m correct?

A calibration done through the BS TH sounds completely different from a room sense calibration of the BL 28 directly. Even more so when you throw the BL 19 into that mix.

I also wonder what the true benefit of an additional set of BL 8 is opposed to a pair of BL17 when all sound profiles are coded in the BS TH…

At this point I’m not sure what the best setup would be when you start with BS TH + BL 28 + BL 19 (BL28 is setup as surround atm)

Any experience in how the BS TH handles the BL 20 sound output?

 

Many thoughts and questions 😀

all the best

[SimonWeir]

As someone who has a 65 G3 Theatre with 6 x BL17s and a BL19, whilst imo the BL8 are a natural successor to my BL17 they are too much money for me to swap out my 3 sets of BL17s for what I will get in return.  As arguably the swap will be governed by the law of decreasing returns in what new sound detail, clarity, emotion I hear and feel.

Were I starting again Yes, highly likely I would not get a BL19 and buy a set of BL28 and 2 other sets of BL8s with the Theatre.  But the price gap is too wide.  Especially with the recent increase to the Theatre.  I am just glad I was an early adopter almost 1 year ago.  I will say my best decision was changing the G2 to a G3, it did cost me £2,300 to part exchange back with my dealer but imo worth it when the G3 was released.

My concern and rhetorical question is B&O leadership forgetting their own marketing… the cleverness of the Theatre to bring alive older BeoLabs was a big selling point, as well as sharing the bass across all speakers.

I suspect many existing customers were hoping for Atmos speakers for the height channels with the same specs as the Theatre as the up and side firing in the sound bar are good just not BeoLab good; and these BL8 are on the tech specs too good and too pricy for the occasional sound of church bells in James Bond.  [side note the clip played in the dealers & on the YouTube video above is not an Atmos track, the bullets do not come from the correct location because it is a 5.1 DD track… check the dealerships app next time you demo any of their clips, it will not say Atmos… it sounds much more expansive when the same clip is played off Apple TV or UHD Blu-ray with the same setup).

Last thought… I am not an UHNW target market customer, but I do sit in the Top 3% on salary in the UK, and I have spent close to £50k in 8 years with my dealer being an early adopter or put it another way spending £500 a month every month for the previous 84 months!  Explain that to your family, £500 a month is on par with average car payments or interest only mortgage payments before inflation.  It grieves me as a customer who has upgraded from an Avant to Eclipse Gen1 to Eclipse Gen2 to Theatre.  But with the BL8s sorry B&O leadership whilst your designers are on fire with outstanding speakers you have imo missed the mark on the feedback provided from customers like me who cannot justify to keep on upgrading when something new is released when what I have is damn fine!  Plus my wife would say since moving to B&O TVs we have had 4 sets in 8 years two broke (red screen) and the Pioneer Kuro plasma we had before lasted 10 years.

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

So how will the touch panels on the BL8 work if it is hooked up to a system like the theatre.  Will hitting PLAY cause the whole 5.1 system to play (hopefully) or will the 2 BL8 speakers just play independently (God I hope not)?

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

XavierItzmann wrote:

MJH wrote:

Nice little speaker. It seems that the ‘Bang & Olufsen’ logo is lit when turned on. Like it!

Could it be a render error? In any event, I would hope that in configuration this could be disabled. Call me a fossil, if you will, but I loved the old green light/red light signifiers.

“Beolab 8’s beam width control lets you switch seamlessly between two listening experiences. Narrow down with precision audio channelled directly to you. Or go wide and diffuse sound throughout your space. Which mode is it in? The LEDs on the front will enlighten you.”

So it’s not a rendering error and I 100% doubt you can turn off the lights as it’s a UX feature.

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi, The fluid sweet spot requires Ultra Wide-band connectivity which I don’t think was available when Beolab 28 was developed. Kind regards, Steve.

Really makes you wonder why the Theatre doesn’t have this feature either, plus the 28’s come out in 2021.   UWB works with iPhone 11 and up which shipped in September 2019.

 

Im sure we are all confident that with the Mozart platform we are all getting this upgrade right? 😀

[Glitch]

Can anyone provide an explanation for how the “beam width control” actually controls the beam width on the Beolab8? I understand what the feature is supposed to be. I understand how this feature is supposed to work on B&O speakers with mechanical baffles. It is not clear to me how B&O would accomplish this with a seemingly standard 3-way configuration.

Glitch

 

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

What is going on with the total lack of Airplay 2 and Chromecast? That’s a total pass for me without it.

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi,

Please don’t worry – I checked with B&O and both Airplay 2 and Chromecast are built into Beolab 8 – this was just an error in the spec sheet which will be corrected shortly.

Kind regards, Steve.

[bonbazar]

Millemissen wrote:

bonbazar wrote:

Will it offer compatibility with older Hi-Fi systems, like the Beosystem 6500, allowing control of CD, Radio, and Vinyl through the remote app?

Yes and no! Powerlink is an analog connection for sound, which means that the BL8 can be used with any Beomaster, Beosound, Beocenter that has Powerlink output port. They then act as a source for the BL8’s – these are then just speakers. In that case you are controlling the source device with its normal remote control e.g. a Beo4. MM

Thanks for your explanation. I am still puzzled by this: “But Beolab 8 doesn’t just play with the classics. Its Mozart platform helps orchestrate them like never before“. What does that mean? Just marketing lingo without further significance? Also, there is datalink on pin 6 & 7 of the Powerlink cable, is it just to show information on the display of Penta, Beolab 5000 etc or was it able to control volume or devices through it?

[bonbazar]

Also… Is it me or do they look a bit like a tuning fork? 🙂

[Millemissen]

It means that this product can funtion as a regular Mozart based B&O multiroom speaker (in single or stereo mode) as well as a regular Beolab speaker.

The old – now not used anymore – Powerlink connection had the datalink built in. This is not the case with newer PL connections/cables.

Please read https://www.soundsheavenly.com/faq/guide-various-types-powerlink-cable-bang-olufsen-use/

MM

[trackbeo]

Glitch wrote:

Can anyone provide an explanation for how the “beam width control” actually controls the beam width on the Beolab8?I understand … … … It is not clear to me how B&O would accomplish this with a seemingly standard 3-way configuration.

I’m pretty sure narrow vs. wide, using only a single Beolab 8 (as shown on the website animation) can only be done by screwing around with the original signal itself, probably changing the phase and summing with the original?  Maaaaybe there’s something that can also be done by playing two of the 3 drivers with the same or modified signal in their crossover frequency range to interfere?  But a better result — and certainly the “follow-the-phone” feature — would require two speakers, with interference between the two, as you understand.  For those who do not, please see:

B&O Tech: Beam Width Control – A Primer

[matteventu]

Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi, Please don’t worry – I checked with B&O and both Airplay 2 and Chromecast are built into Beolab 8 – this was just an error in the spec sheet which will be corrected shortly. Kind regards, Steve.

Funny how they literally make that specific mistake every. single. time. For basically every new multiroom speaker they launch.

[AdamS]

It’ll be done in exactly the same way as on the Beolab 90s, I imagine – using DSP.

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

Severed_hand_of_skywalker wrote:

So how will the touch panels on the BL8 work if it is hooked up to a system like the theatre. Will hitting PLAY cause the whole 5.1 system to play (hopefully) or will the 2 BL8 speakers just play independently (God I hope not)?

Maybe someone with some 28’s can comment?

[xthx]

The buttons on the 28 are disabled when they are connected to a beovision/theatre. They return to being operational once the beovision/theatre has been turned off.

[Steph]

Very nice little speaker.
I can’t wait to read the sound tests of the standalone Beolab 8 and see the comparison with speakers from other brands (Devialet Phantom for instance…).

[Author]

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