Beosound theatre with old beolab

[Max Y]

Hello, I’ve been blown away by the theatre soundbar on its own but keen to enhance it with other speakers L/R, rear and ceiling. Is it true that any older beolabs can be hooked up and just work out of the box?

And if so are there any particular old beolab models people would recommend? I was considering beolab 18s rear and 4s (ceiling)

 

thank you

 

[Capt’nGerard, formerly known as Gaea]

You can use all of the Beolabs from the eighties onwards

you choose the right model from the pull down menu when configuring/adding them to the Theatre

Location: Netherlands

[Millemis]

Yes, that is true!
You simply ‘tell’ the Theatre which speakers are connected and the DSP takes that into account, when you do the setup/the Room Compensation, the Listening Groups…….

As for which speakers – this is hard to say, because it depends on your room/placement options, your needs/wishes, your budgets.
The BL4’s can be used, however most people would advice you to stay away from them – they often fail.

Height speaker at the back surely are recommended, but only if you also have surrounds…the 18’s is a good choice for this/for surrounds.

Many people would place the 18’s up front, because they primarily want to listen to music from them. Again…it depends on your room and your wishes/needs.
In case you’d place the 18’s as fronts, use any other speakers as surrounds.
An old golden rule is to recomment using the same (type) of speakers for fronts and surrounds.
The heights then can be added along the way – especially, if you are primarily watching movies and/or listening to music in Atmos.

 

MM

Location: Flensborg————Danmark

[Max Y]

Thank you for the speedy replies!

Yes, my primary objective is for watching movies as this is dedicated media room. The room is quite long though (~3×7 meters) and so the cinema side is likely to be just one side of it (~3×4.5) with the 3 meter wall being where the TV is.

So is it recommended to put the rear speakers at the 4.5m mark facing inward (attached to the wall) or to position them facing towards the TV with some kind of angled wall mount? I’m unclear how much auto-adjusting magic the Theatre can perform? Also, on that note, will ceiling speakers (above the sitting area) add that much more to the experience or can the Theatre manage the Atmos good enough without – I have read mixed reviews. And if so, is the celestial the only alternative to the BL4’s for the ceiling?

Oh, and one more question – the BL18s can be powerlink or wireless. Is wireless flaky or create latency issues?

Thank you

 

[Capt’nGerard, formerly known as Gaea]

You could use Beolab 3, 4000,17, or 8 high up on the wall or ceiling with the appropriate brackets.

or use celestials, but they are passive speakers and need a seperate amp.

The Theatre can do the room correction once it knows wich speakers are connected.

This measuring is suprisingly accurate.

The is a technical soundguide on how to do this, but I don’t know where to download it.

Someone else can jump in here.

you can use Wisa, but be aware that when your Wifi router is hopping channels it can cause disturbance.

Setting your wifi router manually on one channel and/or on 2.4 or 5g is very helpful.

Location: Netherlands

[Max Y]

That is very helpful, thank you.

Regarding the ceiling speakers placement, if I can only get two BL17’s for the ceiling, does it make sense to place these overhead the seating area in a 5.1.2 setup or better to place them as the back or front ceiling speakers in a 5.1.4 setup and let the Theatre create the “other 2 ceiling channels” virtually?

I guess what I am trying to understand, is the Theatre just always a 7.1.4 setup and you just replace bits of it with dedicated channels while it makes up the rest virtually?

Thank you

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

I got the Theatre when it first came out and I connected it to a pair of BL18’s in the front and BL3’s in the back.  Its bliss, you won’t regret it.

Location: Toronto, Canada

[SimonWeir]

I have a Theatre with 4 sets of 17s and a 19.  My room layout is not optimal so I have 3 different listening positions each with the Theatre rotated out to different degrees from the motorised wall bracket.  Whichever position I am sitting in I use different combinations of speakers to create 7.1.4. I also have a stereo only variant.  Clearly actual speakers sound better than using just the bar… that being said I have a position that supplements with virtual speakers to achieve 7.1.4, and it is better than I expected.  What I have found is 17s as heights was my game changer for atmos and whilst the upfiring speakers on the bar are great they are not the same as a 17 high up close to the ceiling.  NB. maybe 15 cm down because I have all my 17s in the portrait orientation and the installer needs to be able to reach over and lock in the speakers to the top and bottom of the wall bracket.  Personally if you are limited at present to number of additional speakers my recommendation is add first a set as surrounds and then front heights, backs, left, right and surround heights, and a sub can all be added later or use the bar to its full potential (actual + virtual) to get 7.0.4

[Max Y]

@severed_hand_of_skywalker that picture looks better than the marketing ones, amazing

@SimonWeir thanks, that makes sense. I will run power cables for a 7.1.4 design and gradually fill in the “virtual” speakers with actual ones as wallet permits.

 

I have been using this tool btw

https://slc.cinema-tools.com/#!/

which makes nice little setup diagrams (attached) – which I assume are correct or at least good enough for the Theatre to work with 🙂

 

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by Max Y. Reason: attachment not working

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