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Thanks again, NQVHNWI, for sharing your experience and suggestions. As you mentioned, I believe the problem can be solved if I divide the room into three zones (listening, sitting area and kitchen-dining, and solve the acoustic issues for each of them independently.
You are right about the scenery, yet a good quality sound (in the listening zone, at least) could significantly improve the general picture (see picture). As I wrote, I’m still planning the construction, so I believe I should try to get some help and prepare the room’s architecture to divide the room into the zones I’m considering. For now, however, the whole thing is an open canvas, and I’m trying to avoid unnecessary errors if I can, as I will be spending most of my time in that room.

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NQVHNWI, your place looks great already. Thank you, everyone, for the valuable comments. I agree with you about them. I can see that even NQVHNWI is trying to adjust the room’s characteristics by adding a BL-Shape despite the BL90s.

I believe even the best solutions will be a compromise in the case of rooms in those dimensions. The question is how much. A few months ago, I visited the B&O store in Puerto Banus in South Spain. Although the showroom was boxy with parallel walls, the size of the room was very close to what I have in mind. There, I listed several setups. I think BL 50s and 28s sound fantastic if you are within “normal listening distance” from them, while the sound quality drops significantly already 7-8 meters from the source. It could have depended on the room’s acoustics, but I imagine that they had tried to calibrate the sound. Therefore, it was the best they could manage. I also listened to a long array of BL-Shape, which filled the room nicely, probably due to its long arrangement. Yet the sound quality wasn’t even close to the one from BL50s or 28s (although good enough for background listening, say while working in the kitchen.

I brought up this discussion to see if I could do anything to help the room acoustics. As I wrote, I’m still discussing the room’s shape with the architect, and it is possible to introduce some changes. For example, I’ve learned that parallel walls introduce several issues in the sound image in the case of large rooms and that things can be done, such as introducing smaller wall sections in odd angles, room partitioning and acoustic dampers. I will also consult with an acoustic engineer about this issue and hear what she or he suggests.

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Sandyb wrote:

Agreed, and similarly here i think this has further reduced in my mind the chance of Mozart surround coming to Balance, BS2 etc. I asked this q on the podcast last week – many / most seem to assume that this capability was coming, but i had already grown sceptical.

Just last month Stephen who is senior sales manager at Selfridges confirmed that the capability of connecting the mozart based beosounds is on its way but the arguments above and matteventu‘s explanation make sense, especially as the new bl8 has powerlink and wisa connections, which tells me that B&O either can’t fix the problem by updating mozart firmware or more likely, they just don’t want to.

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I’m not sure if I understand d you correctly but to give an example. I have a mixed system with Beomaster 6500 and Beogram connected through nl/ l converter to a pair of BS-Levels and a Beolab 11. I experience a short delay which someone has explained to me is caused by mozart, processing the BS level signals, while BL11 doesn’t have sound processing.

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Sandyb wrote:

It has powerlink connections for TV, so i dont see why there would be any delays.

Can we then assume that the mozart system will be updated soon on older mozart beosounds (as been rumored) so it can be mixed and paired with other beolabs in multi room setting without delay issues?

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Will it have the same delay issues as the older mozart-based speakers?

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Thank you, Stan, Milemissen and Carlopa, for your replies. As Milemissen mentions, it is fantastic to remotely control the Beogram (one of the earlier B&O magics). Yet, the magic works if you already have the Beogram ready to go and then start it remotely, but as soon as you have to change to the other side or change the record itself, you need to do it manually. For that little extra magic, having a Beomaster 6500 in the background is not as plausible as one could hope for, but I admit that being able to do cool stuff doesn’t need to be plausible!

Maybe I could find some additional use for my Beomaster. For example, could I connect it to a pair of in-wall Bevox speakers in the kitchen (then I will need to find a new place to put my Beolab 2000 in)? That, however, raises further questions.

1- Can I keep the Beogram in the living room while hiding the Beomaster in the kitchen, or more precisely, how long data-link cables can I use (are data-link cables restricted to shorter signal transfers?)

2- If one is possible, will I be able to choose another source, say Spotify, through the B&O app or Halo, to play in the kitchen, or will the Beomaster be dedicated to the Beogrma only?

3- If both 1 and 2 work, do you have any suggestions for Beovox speakers that sound better than Beolab 2000?

 

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Thanks, Milemissen,

I’m running my Beogram 9500 through Beomaster 6500, connected to NL/Ml which, in turn, is connected to the rest of the system. The only reason I’m using Beomaster 6500 is to be able to control the Beogram remotely, and I might want to get rid of the Beomaster.

Do you know if I can connect the Beogram to NL/Ml directly, or will I need an audio master such as in the solution you’ve suggested with Beoplay M3?

Thanks

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Can M3 be connected to NL, or will it play standalone only?

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Sure, they never promised that, yet versatility is what their brand is about, and a majority of discussion on this site is about how people try to connect and integrate their devices into a seamless system.

As many would agree, the newest line of Mozart-based speakers is a significant deviation from B&O tradition, and the question is why B&O would take that avenue. This divergence hurts the brand and customers, and it would be better if they could take their time and develop functional devices rather than offer half-ready ones with inherent problems.

Which person would you hire, a student with some ideas about the job or a person who knows the job? And, wouldn’t it be even more important for a small company that is offering high-end products to make sure its offerings are functional?

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Millemissen, I believe you are right, yet what surprises me is that B&O troubles itself by developing a system for Beosound Theatre that can accept an extended range of older Beolab speakers (And some ultra-expensive new ones). Yet, they neglect to ensure compatibility with their three most recent speakers (Balance, Level, and Emerge).

If that relates to an inherent shortcoming in Mozart, then B &O must have invested in the wrong technology, as versatility is why B & O became popular in the first place, and their customers expect the functionality.

It must also be true that B&O must have been losing in sales, not being able to offer reasonably priced speakers from the day Theater was introduced and will continue to do so until they either solve the compatibility problem with their current line of Mozart speakers or introduce a new range of compatible speakers. Even then, B&O will continue losing in the form of disappointed owners of Mozart-based speakers.

I, for one, acquired a pair of Levels and a Pair of Emerges and will not buy another B&O product until they fix the mess they created with their Mozart system.

It may be reasonable to suggest that B & O made a terrible mistake, which hurts as we all love or used to love B & O products.

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It Seems like Steve from SOund Heavenly has already solved the problem with Powerlink

https://soundsheavenly.com/music-output/177-powerlink-to-beosound-level-emerge-balance-stage-core-edge-shape-cable-link-your-bo-audio-system-to-your-new-speaker.html

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Beosound Levle has input connections, see picture

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Do you mean that if I connect a pair of Beosound levels to a Beolab Reseciver 1s, I could use them as surround speakers with BS-Theatre?

If yes, how about the room correction?

Would Theater recognise that it is connected to a pair of BS-Levels?

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It looks like USB-C can deliver up to 240 watts, so there might not be a problem. That is if A5’s charger can manage enough watts.

https://manhattanproducts.eu/pages/usb-c-pd-charging-everything-you-need-to-know#:~:text=USB%2DC%20PD%20is%20a,that%20could%20deliver%20more%20power.

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Steve, thanks for your quick response. It is, however, strange that the USB-C connector on A5 only accepts PC signals. Does this mean B&O products will not accept cables to connect in future? If this is the case, the Network link and related products will become obsolete.

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This is a repetition

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Steve, would this mean that I could theoretically get signal from a source such as Beosound Essence MK2 as well as the power to the A5 (through USB-C) by connecting the Essence using a CAT-7 cable and USB-C power adaptor while combining them with one of these converters?

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It seems like B & O engineers have finally realised that USB-C can be used for simultaneously powering and transferring sound signals to the speaker, so if it works, you only need one cable to connect the speaker without the shaky wireless connection.

This technology has existed for many years now (laptops and notebooks), but none of the B&O speakers before A5 were designed that way.

 

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I have a pair of Emerges in the bedroom (16m2) room and a pair of levels in my living room (25 m2 plus a Beolab11 subwoofer), and I am happy with both settings.

As you can imagine, the acoustics of the rooms are quite different. I haven’t tried to compare them by installing them in the same room, nor have I compared them with only one speaker, as you lose too much spatial presence with only one speaker (this is my opinion).

They both do very well, while the levels do better. Not because they are louder but because they distribute the music better, have better room compensation and play less constraint.

Other speakers indeed play louder. I have heard many positive things about Beolab 17, for example. Still, in my opinion (with more emphasis on the sound quality rather than sound pressure), no other B&O speaker (Beolab 28 and below) can measure itself against a paired set of BS-Levels in a similar room size. I’ve tried BL3, BL17, BL18 and BL28 in the same room. However, I would like to try a pair of BS-Edge-s, but I don’t believe that they are likely to perform much better (sound quality-wise) than Levels as they lack room compensation processors.

I hope this helps.

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