Bang & Olufsen Beolab 90

[Purité Audio]

I was extremely impressed when I heard the Beolab 90's for the first time, so much so in fact that we have negotiated with Bang & Olufsen to be able to demonstrate the Beolab90 at Purité Audio.
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/collection/speakers/beolab-90
I spent some time with the 90's again this morning ,B&O have just released their 'Omnidirectional' software mode, which btw is incredibly good.
I can honestly say I haven't heard a more complete loudspeaker.
Keith.

 

[Thomas savage]

Fantastic effort Keith!

 

[amirm]

Congrats. I had not followed the other B&O thread but read their link you post. Pretty interesting approach.

 

[Purité Audio]

Thanks guys ,B&O generally only sell through their franchised retailers, so I appreciate them making a small exception for me.
As an aside the new 'Omni ' mode was installed, that was very interesting, the 'narrow' high latency provides the highest sound quality, best focus,depth of image but it is very narrow, at three metres away it is head width wide.
The Omni mode sounds much more like horns, the room is filled with sound ,it is clever technology.
Bass is absolutely resonance free, I have never heard such deep and yet articulate bass.
Hugely impressive.
Keith.

 

[Thomas savage]

Thanks guys ,B&O generally only sell through their franchised retailers, so I appreciate them making a small exception for me.
As an aside the new 'Omni ' mode was installed, that was very interesting, the 'narrow' high latency provides the highest sound quality, best focus,depth of image but it is very narrow, at three metres away it is head width wide.
The Omni mode sounds much more like horns, the room is filled with sound ,it is clever technology.
Bass is absolutely resonance free, I have never heard such deep and yet articulate bass.
Hugely impressive.
Keith.

It will be interesting to see what happens if you sell a few, it's a rather significant happening for B&O imo.

Clever all round.

 

[Purité Audio]

Thomas Hi, it was really interesting talking to the owner of three B&O outlets , really nice guy, completely business orientated , he and I couldn't be more different, B&O is a completely different world, and the 90 is completely unlike any of their other products , in that it is completely technology led, there is no other speaker apart from the Kii THREE that does what the 90 can .
Whether we can sell any,I just do not know, ordinary active speakers are a pretty hard sell to traditional audiophiles, forty years of foo indoctrination is going to be difficult to erase!
Keith.

 

[Thomas savage]

You can and I think you will, the brand needs a sprinkle of audiophile credibility ( you). Great style, world class sound and convenience in one package plus Keith = success.

I think mark( spiritofmusic) might be worth wheeling your barrow over to...

Once you get 'in' with one sale this kind of thing could snow ball...

I am genuinely excited for you

 

[RayDunzl]

ordinary active speakers are a pretty hard sell to traditional audiophiles

That would be me, to a degree...

Do I need/want $80k speakers? Probably not in this life.

There's what, 18 amplifiers and associated electrogizmos in each? Scary!

 

[Purité Audio]

Thomas they are a pair in their Exeter store, not sure how far that would be away from you?
I would be genuinely interested to hear what you think of them.
I feel they deserve the recognition the design warrants.
Keith.

 

[Thomas savage]

Thomas they are a pair in their Exeter store, not sure how far that would be away from you?
I would be genuinely interested to hear what you think of them.
I feel they deserve the recognition the design warrants.
Keith.

Yea fair enough, I will pop down at some point and listen. If they are good to my ears I will help internet barrow them with you

Like you say, and it's what we are about here to(me certainty ), supporting great design and intellectually driven products.

You talk in good terms about the bass, would be good to see how they measure in your gaf compared to non EQ'ed regular speakers.

 

[Purité Audio]

That would be me, to a degree...

Do I need/want $80k speakers? Probably not in this life.

There's what, 18 amplifiers and associated electrogizmos in each? Scary!

While they aren't exactly cheap, there are as you say eighteen drivers, twelve amps , eighteen dacs/adcs and all the signal processing involved, every type of input, remote volume ,everything in fact except source.
There is no other speaker that is anything like them, they are not just a 'luxury' passive in a nice box.
Keith.

 

[RayDunzl]

...twelve amps...

I read 18:

Specs:
TWEETER AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
7 x Bang & Olufsen ICEpower AM300-X

MIDRANGE AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
7 x Bang & Olufsen ICEpower AM300-X

WOOFER AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
3 x Heliox AM1000-1

FRONT WOOFER AMPLIFIER (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
1 x Heliox AM1000-1

 

[Thomas savage]

I read 18:

Specs:
TWEETER AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
7 x Bang & Olufsen ICEpower AM300-X

MIDRANGE AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
7 x Bang & Olufsen ICEpower AM300-X

WOOFER AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
3 x Heliox AM1000-1

FRONT WOOFER AMPLIFIER (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
1 x Heliox AM1000-1

Sounds like a bargain at twice the price!

If these were designed and made by a small audiophile company ( probably not even possible) they would be twice the price imo.

I would be interested to know the cost of manufacturing and the money spent on R&D.

 

[Purité Audio]

I read 18:

Specs:
TWEETER AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
7 x Bang & Olufsen ICEpower AM300-X

MIDRANGE AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
7 x Bang & Olufsen ICEpower AM300-X

WOOFER AMPLIFIERS (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
3 x Heliox AM1000-1

FRONT WOOFER AMPLIFIER (CUSTOM DESIGNED FOR BEOLAB 90)
1 x Heliox AM1000-1

Even better value!

 

[FrantzM]

Need to listen to the Beolab 90, could be the end of the road for me. Still $80 K is steep... I like the Beolab 5 BTW.
I am losing my hard-earned audiophile creds frequenting this site

 

[RayDunzl]

I am losing my hard-earned audiophile creds frequenting this site

 

[Purité Audio]

Bang & Olufsen could be accused of style over substance ,that is after all their market, but not with this product.
the Beolab 90 is completely different, it was designed to be a statement of what B&O could do.
Every other speaker ( except the Kii Three) is like a dinosaur compared to these.
Keith.

 

[Thomas savage]

Some more info, less graphics a little bit more readable imo.
https://www.poulissen.nl/sites/default/files/beolab_90_technical_backgrounder.pdf

 

[FrantzM]

Bang & Olufsen could be accused of style over substance ,that is after all their market, but not with this product.
the Beolab 90 is completely different, it was designed to be a statement of what B&O could do.
Every other speaker ( except the Kii Three) is like a dinosaur compared to these.
Keith.

Keith

Frankly the Beolab 5 is also a very good speaker. heard it and my audiophile prejudices dominated the audition, I wanted to hear flaws in the reproduction and perhaps did. The salesperson told me tha t he was an audiophile himself and had replaced his full audiophile stack of Wilson WattsPuppy + whatever amp he told me he had with the Beolab 5... From that point on I was in full "audiophile-protector" mode . So I wanted to hear this "Lifestyle" speaker that would steal the thunder of a Wattspuppy, notice that I don't care much for Wilson speakers in general, I could live with the X-2 although I haven't heard the last Alexa, Alexx, etc but I have always found that they were overpriced with respect to the competition, nowadays this line of argument doesn't resonate with me as I think that Wilson and its competition are overpriced but I am digressing ... So I went in this mode and auditioned the speakers .. The more I auditioned the darn thing the more I was impressed but being an audiophile my conclusions was that they would be the basis of a serious HT, ... Looking at this from afar I had the same kind of reflexes when confronted with a JBL horn in NYC, they sounded wonderful but they were ..horns! after all ..A person I know has the Beolab 5 in his system and the system sound wonderful with a room with good dimensions and excellent acoustics. He , also, is an audiophile. They replaced some serious audio gear now he has only a music server and the Beolab 5. He's enjoying music with Tidal and his files and his family ... Great sound and Lifestyle

Back to the Beolab 90. I need to audition this speaker and with an open mind.

 

[Thomas savage]

Keith

Frankly the Beolab 5 is also a very good speaker. heard it and my audiophile prejudices dominated the audition, I wanted to hear flaws in the reproduction and perhaps did. The salesperson told me tha t he was an audiophile himself and had replaced his full audiophile stack of Wilson WattsPuppy + whatever amp he told me he had with the Beolab 5... From that point on I was in full "audiophile-protector" mode . So I wanted to hear this "Lifestyle" speaker that would steal the thunder of a Wattspuppy, notice that I don't care much for Wilson speakers in general, I could live with the X-2 although I haven't heard the last Alexa, Alexx, etc but I have always found that they were overpriced with respect to the competition, nowadays this line of argument doesn't resonate with me as I think that Wilson and its competition are overpriced but I am digressing ... So I went in this mode and auditioned the speakers .. The more I auditioned the darn thing the more I was impressed but being an audiophile my conclusions was that they would be the basis of a serious HT, ... Looking at this from afar I had the same kind of reflexes when confronted with a JBL horn in NYC, they sounded wonderful but they were ..horns! after all ..A person I know has the Beolab 5 in his system and the system sound wonderful with a room with good dimensions and excellent acoustics. He , also, is an audiophile. They replaced some serious audio gear now he has only a music server and the Beolab 5. He's enjoying music with Tidal and his files and his family ... Great sound and Lifestyle

Back to the Beolab 90. I need to audition this speaker and with an open mind.

I tend to audition hifi with this mind set...,

Off to listen to my favourite music..,

After I ask myself 2 simple questions..,

1. Was there something getting in the way ruining my enjoyment

2. Was there something going on that made the music more effecting, better than I have ever herd in a real musically relevant way

The end.