2014 Set up - Active Speakers & HT - Seeking opinions

[AlmaataKZ]

Just to keep the thread more organized, I am summarizing below the options that I will be considering

Option 1:

Oppo BDP-105D with Beolab 9 and possible one of their active center speakers

Option 2:

Oppo BDP-105D with Genelec G3

Option 3:

Oppo BDP-105D with Adam Artist 6 + Artist 6H

Option 4:

Oppo BDP-105D + Beolab 3 + center + Sub (possibly different brand)

Great stuff! Please let us know how these compare in auditions.

 

[skippy]

Are the Genelec in walls an option ?

+1 for this. I have cheapish Polk in walls fed from a Sony 1040 which give good results.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone's had any experience with these, don't know the pricing on these, but I'm guessing they won't be cheap for a full set?

 

[WishTree]

I'm surprised there's been no mention of the beolab 17 that bookshelf speaker sounds astonishing, the bass delivery on those are beyond words each speaker is 160 watts and has a number of different mounting options.

i literally had demo yesterday and left in awe on how rich deep and involving the sound quality was. Have you also considered the beolab 14s ??

Thanks for the mention of the 17. That makes the Option 5 and more than a visit to B&O shop! I did not dig the design of 14s

Option 5:

Oppo BDP-105D + Beolab 17 X 3 + Sub (possibly different brand)

 

[WishTree]

Are the Genelec in walls an option ?

Hi Richard.. In wall won't be an option in this iteration. We already know that we will be here only for couple of years. So do not want to make any major installations. I saw at a friend's place some unknown brand in-celing 5 speakers and the sound is not so different from many 5.1 that I had seen and the best part of it is the unobtrusive looks. So, once we get our own place, in walls will be the direction I will be exploring with.

 

[EvPa]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone's had any experience with these, don't know the pricing on these, but I'm guessing they won't be cheap for a full set?

The Genelec AOW312B (their largest in-wall model) retails for roughly 7,600€/£7,000 (it varies a bit depending on the country and taxes) per speaker.

 

[skippy]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone's had any experience with these, don't know the pricing on these, but I'm guessing they won't be cheap for a full set?

The Genelec AOW312B (their largest in-wall model) retails for roughly 7,600€/£7,000 (it varies a bit depending on the country and taxes) per speaker.

I think I'll forget those then. Don't see how you could justify those in a domestic application, must be studio use?. You wouldn't really want to leave em behind when you sold your house

Make my Polk RC65's look like pretty good value for 100 quid/pair

 

[WishTree]

Thanks every one for your comments and suggestion. I have made a quick purchase of the system and the update is here

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/your-system/2014-active-setup

 

[WishTree]

This may be not so much of a careful selection process but more of impulse purchase!

Heard Genelec 8030 which is the equivalent of G three with an Audiolab M-DAC. They sounded very clean, tight and well rounded. Nothing negative except the bass felt a bit less but that could just be the room. And the sound felt a very little bit uninvolved.

Then was at B&O showroom, to test the rest of the options. We used to Playmaker as the source for Beolab 3, Beolab 9 and Beolab 17.

17 are surprise package with the amount of bass they can do and they look great! Beolab 3 are.. well, they are good on their own but the asking price vs the performance is a huge mismatch

Ofcourse, the highlight of the audition are the Beolab 9. Excellent speakers, great build and sound is very neutral and enjoyable. Bass goes deep. really deep. They are happy speakers. We are not too sure about what to do with our possible issue with my niece(s) knocing them off, but they look & are super stable. Then there is price factor. Fortunately, they did have pre-owned Beolab 9 in black with 1 year warranty from dealer and that closed the deal.

Sorry Adam Audio, did not get a chance to listen to you.

For few days played Beolab 9 direclty from Mac Mini analogue headphones out and it feels like they do not even need a DAC or pre-amp! But with arrival of Oppo BDP-105D, things changed! Now there are layers and spatialness in sound.

Oppo seemed to have done some great updates with firmware. Last time I had the Oppo 105 was in June 2013. Back then it was not playing apple loss less but now it plays everything direclty. Even better is the iPad app which makes running the files from NAS such a breeze.

Darbee ? Don't see much enhancement as of now though not tried moving it beyond 30%. I will let the system settled down for a week before making more experiments.

 

[stevepg1975]

Great choice, I would love some lab9's in my set up! Enjoy them, I am sure you will.

 

[JMacMan]

This may be not so much of a careful selection process but more of impulse purchase!

Heard Genelec 8030 which is the equivalent of G three with an Audiolab M-DAC. They sounded very clean, tight and well rounded. Nothing negative except the bass felt a bit less but that could just be the room. And the sound felt a very little bit uninvolved.

Then was at B&O showroom, to test the rest of the options. We used to Playmaker as the source for Beolab 3, Beolab 9 and Beolab 17.

17 are surprise package with the amount of bass they can do and they look great! Beolab 3 are.. well, they are good on their own but the asking price vs the performance is a huge mismatch

Ofcourse, the highlight of the audition are the Beolab 9. Excellent speakers, great build and sound is very neutral and enjoyable. Bass goes deep. really deep. They are happy speakers. We are not too sure about what to do with our possible issue with my niece(s) knocing them off, but they look & are super stable. Then there is price factor. Fortunately, they did have pre-owned Beolab 9 in black with 1 year warranty from dealer and that closed the deal.

Sorry Adam Audio, did not get a chance to listen to you.

For few days played Beolab 9 direclty from Mac Mini analogue headphones out and it feels like they do not even need a DAC or pre-amp! But with arrival of Oppo BDP-105D, things changed! Now there are layers and spatialness in sound.

Oppo seemed to have done some great updates with firmware. Last time I had the Oppo 105 was in June 2013. Back then it was not playing apple loss less but now it plays everything direclty. Even better is the iPad app which makes running the files from NAS such a breeze.

Darbee ? Don't see much enhancement as of now though not tried moving it beyond 30%. I will let the system settled down for a week before making more experiments.

Congratulations on the purchase of the B&O Beolab 9's!

I think that makes you about the fourth person that I'm aware of on this forum, including myself, to have the pleasure of owning a pair.

I'm a year in now, on the pair I bought new, and can honestly say that the only other serious (as in performance, design, engineering and expense) loudspeaker that I've heard that could tempt me to part with a large amount of money to buy, would be the Beolab 5.

I've plans for a pair of those hopefully over the next few years, but should circumstances not permit, the Lab 9 is a speaker one could live with for a lifetime IMHO.

And even if I get Lab 5's, the 9's will simply move to the surround position, so in real terms, I'm not likely to ever part with them - and really, would never want to - my pleasure and overall ownership satisfaction has only grown in stature in the time I've had them - easily the best HiFi purchase I've ever made on performance and overall value for money terms in the 40 odd years I've been involved in this hobby.

Simply superb.

Enjoy!

Best Regards

JMac

 

[WishTree]

Congratulations on the purchase of the B&O Beolab 9's!

I think that makes you about the fourth person that I'm aware of on this forum, including myself, to have the pleasure of owning a pair.

...

Thank You! You as well as opinions from other owners made the decision easier. As I was saying the system is simple but delivers all the needed goodies.. Last night, I was listening to it and got thoroughly impressed by the tweeter as it was creating an almost surround set up illusion!

Oppo is currently only few hours run-in so i will wait a week or two to give the final impressions. I have a feeling that I might never need a center speaker but I will wait for the system to settle in before adding or deciding against for anything.

 

[JMacMan]

Congratulations on the purchase of the B&O Beolab 9's!

I think that makes you about the fourth person that I'm aware of on this forum, including myself, to have the pleasure of owning a pair.

...

Thank You! You as well as opinions from other owners made the decision easier. As I was saying the system is simple but delivers all the needed goodies.. Last night, I was listening to it and got thoroughly impressed by the tweeter as it was creating an almost surround set up illusion!

Oppo is currently only few hours run-in so i will wait a week or two to give the final impressions. I have a feeling that I might never need a center speaker but I will wait for the system to settle in before adding or deciding against for anything.

I had an experience last night actually, that prompted me to write and qualify some of my praise for the Lab 9's.

I play piano, trumpet and sing (all classically trained) and still perform occasionally, albeit only on an amateur level.

As such, and for me personally, authenticity to the original performance, is paramount in choosing kit - I'm of the school of thought that says a hiFi should be designed and engineered such as to give the 'closest approach to the original sound'

I went to hear a friend playing at a small jazz club - he's a brilliant pianist, and on a 9 foot concert Steinway, Acoustic Bass and Drums (all unamplified) the sound was stunning, as the room was a medium to largish rectangular room with good balance of acoustics, and they are all excellent players.

Coming home, I played back some jazz trio recordings I have of some of the jazz standards they played, and when one upped the volume to subjectively near the live performance levels that I'd heard, the sound from the Beolab 9's was exceptionally realistic indeed - to put it mildly!

It was all there;

Resolution - i.e. clarity, detail, and with it the most wonderfully natural tonal timbres - no shout, or bark, or honk, thinness or excessive hardness or brightness in the sound - just wonderfully authentic reproduction of the tonal timbre of live acoustic instruments.

Spatial perspectives - the acoustic lenses and the cone shaped cabinets can get right away from the large headphone presentation usually offered by rectangular/cuboid box loudspeakers, and gives a very convincing reproduction of the spatial perspectives as heard in real life only an hour or so before.

Transient Response - the subtlest nuance of musical dynamics, expression and contrast made for the same sort of spellbinding and involving listen that ones gets in live performance - there was no sense of compression, or sudden dynamic leaps from triple piano (ppp) to triple forte (fff) being compressed unnaturally, in any way. Rubato, synchopation and the most complex of interchanging rythms all clearly revealed as one hears in a live performance.

Dynamics: Most systems when you crank up the volume to near, or at live levels (a 9 foot Steinway grand is formidably loud in a medium sized room) simply compress the dynamics as they run out of either amplifer headroom, or loudspeaker driver limits, and the sound becomes congested and hardens, and the dynamics appear to be 'sat on'.

Not so with the Lab 9's - Whilst I don't feel they are quite as good in this regard as the Lab 5's (which are much more powerful again) nonetheless at neighbour annoying levels which subjectively approached the live sound, things held up without issue in any area that I could hear.

Simply put, this was the first time I've come home from a live performance, and put on a similar recording and not been disappointed at how far behind the live musical event most HiFi systems are - including systems that I've previously owned, and some very expensive systems I've heard in in-store demos.

For me, as a musician, the 'closest approach to the original sound' is always going to be the goal for me in a Hifi, music reproduction system, and apart from the Lab 5, the Lab 9's get me closer to that aim, than anything I've ever heard or owned in the many years of being involved in this hobby.

And as a musician, I cannot give them higher praise than that.

Simply superb.

Congratulations again on your choice, and I think you will have many countless hours of musical pleasure from your new system!

Cheers

JMac..

 

[DocG]

...

Spatial perspectives - the acoustic lenses and the cone shaped cabinets can get right away from the large headphone presentation usually offered by rectangular/cuboid box loudspeakers, and gives a very convincing reproduction of the spatial perspectives as heard in real life only an hour or so before.

...

I agree.

When I demoed the Lab5s, I first saw this as a drawback: the pinpoint stereo image just wasn't there; it's less sharply defined, vague. The price to pay for the wide sweet spot...

Then I realized it's actually more realistic than I had come to expect from speakers. In a live performance, you often get this 'vague' image, because of the room interactions.

So not a price to pay, but a quality!

:cheers:

 

[WishTree]

For me, as a musician, the 'closest approach to the original sound' is always going to be the goal for me in a Hifi, music reproduction system, and apart from the Lab 5, the Lab 9's get me closer to that aim, than anything I've ever heard or owned in the many years of being involved in this hobby.

And as a musician, I cannot give them higher praise than that.

Simply superb.

Congratulations again on your choice, and I think you will have many countless hours of musical pleasure from your new system!

Cheers

JMac..

Thanks JMac for sharing your experiences. I am not fully in a position to nod and say "I felt so" as my listening skills are not as mature as yours, possibly, but I can say assuringly that the system brings joy very easily.

As more and more I am getting used to the set up, I am appreciating some aspects more simply because I did not experience it before in home set up. Dynamics of the speaker and spatialness of the tweeter are two important highlights that i am noticing more and more. It still amazes me that a small speaker of this size (and just about 17kgs each) has built in amps and delivers everything so well :rockout:

Please write more here or on relevant threads as it is very nice to read from fellow owners.

 

[WishTree]

Then I realized it's actually more realistic than I had come to expect from speakers. In a live performance, you often get this 'vague' image, because of the room interactions.

So not a price to pay, but a quality!

:cheers:

I am glad it can be seen that way!