Beolab 8000/6000/7.2 for home cinema

[DT79]

Hi – first post, so please be gentle 🙂

I have long been looking for 5 active speakers to replace the current speakers in my home cinema with something more stylish. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me years ago that B&O was the obvious choice! I’ve been speaking to a second hand B&O specialist and he has recommended 8000s (Mk1) for the front, 6000s for the rear and a 7.2 for the centre – all serviced and refurbished. These will be driven from an Anthem MRX520 AV amp (used just as a processor via the pre-outs) and the dealer can make me up a cable to get the centre channel output from the AVR pre-out, plus a power trigger driven off the TV’s USB, to connect up to the 7.2’s power link socket. I plan to retain my current BK subs.

Any thoughts on this set-up? Anything to watch out for or questions to ask? I’ll not have the opportunity to demo all this so I’m taking a bit of a risk, but performance is reputed to be great for all these products as far as I can tell. The plan is to wall mount all of them eventually, but will be free-standing initially.

Any price-comparable better alternatives? I decided to go for 8000s instead of 6000s for the fronts on the dealer’s recommendation as the system will also be used for stereo music replay.

Appreciate any insights.

Thanks!

 

[DT79]

I suppose one obvious question is whether the speakers will all have a consistent sonic signature, especially across the front three?

[matador]

Hi and welcome to Beoworld,

Well, first we don’t know either why it didn’t occurs to you that B&O was the obvious answer.
But never mind, we all forgive you!

While waiting for a more educated answer from members who have a true listening experience with the setup you are aiming for. I personally dont have experience with it.

But… From the catalogs:

Beovision 3 was shown in a surround setup with 8000 fronts and 6000 rear.
6000 are often shown as rear speaker, often with Beolab 1 as front.
Beovision 7 that carry Beolab 7 is show with 8000 front and rear.
Beosystem AV9000 is shown with 8000 front and 6000 rear, with the triangle Beolab as center.

As far as I know, 8000 and 6000 are more or less same “generation” speaker so they should merge well.

What I would care of (naively):
– How much of the “merging” is usually done by the Beovision engine and would not happen with your setup.
– How your sub will fit in there?

What I would care of (with experience):
– how were the speakers serviced and refurbished? They’re both known for foam rot problem (do a search on this forum) that can alter the lifetime of the speaker. They need to be opened, cleaned, and the damping material to be replaced. 6000’s are prone to the other foam rot, the disintegration of the drivers suspension. It can be fixed but it need to be well done.
I think you need to check this even before starting to play with your new toys.

Hope this helps.

 

 

[DT79]

Hi, thank you for the warm welcome and the helpful information.

It is good to know that these speakers were partnered in various packages, that does reassure that they will produce a cohesive end result.

Thinking about it the AVR does have a room correction system so that should align the sound of the speakers even if they do differ slightly.

The dealer I’m talking to has specifically mentioned driver re-foaming so it sounds like he’s done the job properly.

[DT79]

Well, I took the plunge on these speakers and got them all set up today. They look so cool and sound amazing. I really wasn’t expecting such an upgrade in sound, I would have been content with a sideways move sonically so I am highly chuffed. The Anthem ARC room correction has knitted them and my subs (2* BK P12-300SB) together just perfectly.

[Millemissen]

BL8000 with BL6000 and the BL7-2 is a classic speaker setup from B&O.
First time the BL8000/6000 was used was with the A/V 9000 system, back then with the dedicated center speaker of the 9000 tv part.
Later on they were used with the various BV7 variants, now with the dedicated 7-4 center speaker…..and even more often with the 7-1/2/6.
Often these are complimented by the sub BL2.

These speakers are still used in a lot of homes around the world – they still do an excellent job (when looked after/serviced) and are popular to this day.
You can even buy wooden lamellas for them….to make them look more Beo-modern.

You have made a good choice – have fun with your setup.

MM

[NQVHNWI]

I think a lot of the decision making is what your living space can accommodate? I have BL90s is my living room – which I can and do live with.

However, I would not contemplate additional column speakers or even BL4000 or BL17 as surrounds. I choose BL3 only as the most compact solution as not to be overwhelmingly a B&O showroom.

My philosophy would be to get the most powerful Beolab fronts (90 > 50 > 28 > 5 > 20s etc..) you can afford/accommodate and get the most discrete surrounds that suit your individual tastes. I would not worry too much about sonic matching of surrounds. They bring atmosphere first and foremost.

[Millemissen]

@Mr10%

Sorry to say it….I do not agree with you.

That the fronts best be ‘massive’ and the surrounds ‘less’, is only part of an answer.
Thatis however, when you with your setup are focusing on 2 channel content/aka stereo.
If you are someone, who leans more towards watching movies with multichannel sound, the surrounds should ideally – if possible – be equal to the fronts…..we are talking discrete channels for the surrounds nowadays.
That is even more important, if you are into multichannel music (SACD/Bluray/Spacial Audio from Apple Music/Tidal…).

Apart from the size of the room it also it depends on what you use as the processor for the sound.
If you use the Theatre with it powerfull speakers built-in, you best place your additional set of speakers as surrounds….in case you have only one set.
For those with the Theatre, who also listen to 2 channel music and not just to movies, best get 2 speakers up front too – if you can afford it, the BL90 or 50.
Unfortunately these are only for the few!

So there is no definitive answer to the question – it all depends……

P.S.
At the last AGM in Struer, there was a demo of 5 channel music (from a SACD) in the main listening/test room.
Up front were two BL50’s, as surrounds a set of BL6000, the center channel was the speakers of a BV11……sounded pretty good to me ?

MM

[DT79]

Millemissen wrote:

BL8000 with BL6000 and the BL7-2 is a classic speaker setup from B&O. First time the BL8000/6000 was used was with the A/V 9000 system, back then with the dedicated center speaker of the 9000 tv part. Later on they were used with the various BV7 variants, now with the dedicated 7-4 center speaker…..and even more often with the 7-1/2/6. Often these are complimented by the sub BL2. These speakers are still used in a lot of homes around the world – they still do an excellent job (when looked after/serviced) and are popular to this day. You can even buy wooden lamellas for them….to make them look more Beo-modern. You have made a good choice – have fun with your setup. MM

Thanks, I’d spotted that you can get the wooden lamellas – just gorgeous. I’ll definitely get those one day, but they’ll probably cost more than the speakers cost me, so probably not for a while!

[DT79]

Mr10Percent wrote:

I think a lot of the decision making is what your living space can accommodate? I have BL90s is my living room – which I can and do live with. However, I would not contemplate additional column speakers or even BL4000 or BL17 as surrounds. I choose BL3 only as the most compact solution as not to be overwhelmingly a B&O showroom. My philosophy would be to get the most powerful Beolab fronts (90 > 50 > 28 > 5 > 20s etc..) you can afford/accommodate and get the most discrete surrounds that suit your individual tastes. I would not worry too much about sonic matching of surrounds. They bring atmosphere first and foremost.

Millemissen wrote:

@Mr10% Sorry to say it….I do not agree with you. That the fronts best be ‘massive’ and the surrounds ‘less’, is only part of an answer. Thatis however, when you with your setup are focusing on 2 channel content/aka stereo. If you are someone, who leans more towards watching movies with multichannel sound, the surrounds should ideally – if possible – be equal to the fronts…..we are talking discrete channels for the surrounds nowadays. That is even more important, if you are into multichannel music (SACD/Bluray/Spacial Audio from Apple Music/Tidal…). Apart from the size of the room it also it depends on what you use as the processor for the sound. If you use the Theatre with it powerfull speakers built-in, you best place your additional set of speakers as surrounds….in case you have only one set. For those with the Theatre, who also listen to 2 channel music and not just to movies, best get 2 speakers up front too – if you can afford it, the BL90 or 50. Unfortunately these are only for the few! So there is no definitive answer to the question – it all depends…… P.S. At the last AGM in Struer, there was a demo of 5 channel music (from a SACD) in the main listening/test room. Up front were two BL50’s, as surrounds a set of BL6000, the center channel was the speakers of a BV11……sounded pretty good to me MM

Unfortunately it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d scaled back on the rears, I would not have been able to get anything significantly better for the fronts and I’m not even in the right life to be dreaming about Beolab 90s! I listened to the SACD 5.1 mix of Wish You Were Here earlier and it just sounded awesome, so very happy with my choice.

[beosince]

In one of my setups I have a Beovision 7 with Beolab 7.4, four Beolab 3 and a Beolab 2 as sub (so 5.1). I really like this setup for watching movies and casual music listening. Also it is quite a minimalist setup. I think one of the most important, and also quite cheap things, is speaker placement and setup in the room. Get a thick carpet and try to reduce reflections in your room.

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