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B&O Beolab 20 Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 132 47.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 109 39.5%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 26 9.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 9 3.3%

  • Total voters
    276

thewas

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That with such a layout and design it wouldn't give perfectly smooth responses was to be expected, but the mid resonances and increased distortion at the unfortunately audible mid band are plainly and inexcusably poor engineering which I would have expected better considering the knowledge and tech behind those loudspeakers. http://www.tonmeister.ca/wordpress/bo-tech/
 

LTig

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I don’t like 3-way speaker because the mid range from the third way used to create noise. The 2-way speakers are much better all way around. 2-channel (stereo) amplifier, 2-way speaker, and 2-terminal (bi-wire) is the best configuration to get seperation between left/right and high/low frequency.
I fear this opinion is not based on measurements, at least not of good 3-ways like the KH310/420 and the Genelec Ones. Adding a mid range reduces distortion in the mids, not creates additional ones.
 

JktHifi

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I fear this opinion is not based on measurements, at least not of good 3-ways like the KH310/420 and the Genelec Ones. Adding a mid range reduces distortion in the mids, not creates additional ones.
Not based on measurement. My ears are enjoying this kind of configuration better than the more expensive 3-way speakers from the same brand and type (Wharfedale EVO 4.1 vs 4.2).
As I said before: BECAUSE MONEY LIES
 

Tangband

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And price over... pretty much everything IMHO
B&O is good at marketing. The hifi press is always very positive to the brand, even if the sound is often below average at the price point. Its highend status without a stellar sound. I guess that the owners really dont care much about good sound - its good enough , its high society, high tech, and its a good visual design.

You have the same approach with SONOS for people with less money to spend.
 
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test1223

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Such omnidirectional speakers plays much better if the placement is far away from all obstacles in a bigger room. Also the second stereo speaker adds a lot of envelopment which made such speakers great in this regard.

I doubt you can get an accurate impression of such a design if a mono speaker is placed like a standard speaker.

Omnidirectional speakers also benefits a lot if you use a wider stereo triangle. Which Linkwitz and other discovered.
 

staticV3

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Such omnidirectional speakers plays much better if the placement is far away from all obstacles in a bigger room. Also the second stereo speaker adds a lot of envelopment which made such speakers great in this regard.

I doubt you can get an accurate impression of such a design if a mono speaker is placed like a standard speaker.
listening impressions from ASR members of stereo pairs of these are in line with Amir's impressions though:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...o-beolab-20-speaker-review.43041/post-1523651

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...o-beolab-20-speaker-review.43041/post-1523625
 

FrantzM

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Hi

I am not on the market for this speaker but expected much better results from B&O. They know better. They should know better.
"snake oilish" :). It is too expensive for the meh performance. It will likely impress in parties , due to its strong bass, but overall performance doesn't warant the $15K price. There are too many contenders for those looking for serious performances.
I'd like to see how a Devialet Phantom fares on Amir's racetrack :D...
Well.. Another one bite the dust ...
Thanks Amir and many thanks to the owner.

Peace.
 

Mart68

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B&O is good at marketing. The hifi press is always very positive to the brand, even if the sound is often below average at the price point. Its highend status without a stellar sound. I guess that the owners really dont care much about good sound - its good enough , its high society, high tech, and its a good visual design.
True of some of their products but not all. The MC120.2 for example uses waveguides and a midrange dome - this was in 1983. Ahead of the curve by some margin.

The UK hi-fi press generally push the line that B&O are a lifestyle brand where ultimate sound quality is compromised for appearance.

Maybe it's different in the USA.
 

Bjorn

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The Beolab 90 uses a tweeter array. The Beolab 20 uses an acoustic lense.

View attachment 272718
You are of course 100% right. My mistake and thanks for pointing it out! Strangely though, the disperion for the Beolab 20 and Beolab 90 are very similar!

It's of course the old flagship Beolab 5 that also used the acoustic lens with claimed omni dispersion.
beolab-5-flagship-speakers.jpg


Here's the only measurement I've seen of the lens in Beolab 5. A bit challenging to read.
Horisontal polar.jpg
 
D

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B&O is good at marketing. The hifi press is always very positive to the brand, even if the sound is often below average at the price point. Its highend status without a stellar sound. I guess that the owners really dont care much about good sound - its good enough , its high society, high tech, and its a good visual design.

You have the same approach with SONOS for people with less money to spend.
This sounds about right. Bad habits die hard and it have been like this for many years.
It sounds great. But does it warrant the price? -Not IMO.
It looks great. But does it warrant the price? -Bot IMO

It sounds great AND looks great. Does it warrant the price? -Yeah, I actually think so.

I like the design and the disruptive approach. Not many do it. That's B&O. Hard to critisize too hard, I think. They deserve some respect.
 

Marc v E

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I've briefly heard this speaker and own it's predecessor. Thank you @amirm for the review.

I found the measurements pretty disappointing to be honest. But given that I really love my beolab 9's for more than 10 years, own the Genelec 8030 and heard the 8351, I think I get a pretty good idea what I like and what is important to me.

Imo the beolabs sound kind of 'safe' , refined, compared to the Genelecs. The Genelec 8351's sound noticably clearer and have a better stereo image. Still the frequency response is pretty good. And the distortion at 86db still fine. Not sure if the comparison between them and the Focals is something I would say, but that's @amirm 's opinion and I'm fine with that.

What I take from this review and the ones before is that the Genelecs and Neumann speakers are truly state of the art and that an AVR is actually a very sensible choice for musical enjoyment. (Sub, eq)
 
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dasdoing

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how does the onaxis response have output to 20Hz and even lower and the woofer response and in-room response at 1m doesn't?
 

Bjorn

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B&O is good at marketing. The hifi press is always very positive to the brand, even if the sound is often below average at the price point. Its highend status without a stellar sound. I guess that the owners really dont care much about good sound - its good enough , its high society, high tech, and its a good visual design.

You have the same approach with SONOS for people with less money to spend.
I think that's a bit unfair to say in general. Both Beolab 90 and 50 are very well designed speakers that measures overall well and far above what's common. And the ability to change the beam width is unique. An active design with quality internal amplificiation is also something that has separated B&O from the crowd and has advantages. They are expensive though.
The older Beolab 5 did also measure quite well, though I'm not personally a fan of omni dispersion.
 

Sokel

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An active design with quality internal amplificiation is also something that has separated B&O from the crowd and has advantages. They are expensive though.
Based on the measurements of the old Ice power modules (pre 2016 where they separated) I would say adequate but not the quality asking price would suggest.
 

palm

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I have been impressed by the Beolab 9. I always thought their speakers deserved more attention from enthusiasts, I mean these aren’t cheap but there are usually interesting things about them. So I’m sad to see the measurements, we can indeed expect better.
It would be great to see measurements from the recent Beolab 28.
 

Bjorn

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Based on the measurements of the old Ice power modules (pre 2016 where they separated) I would say adequate but not the quality asking price would suggest.
Eveything is releative isn't it. While older icePower modules were not among the best, they measured well and above many so called "high-end" AB amps. Plus they gave the speakers plenty of power. Active monitors like Genesis and other brand have generally very little amplification power. Of course they are meant for near field when you get away with less too, but still. And almost none have offered speakers with the best measuring amplification. That's something we have only recently seen with a few brands (using Hypex or Purifi amps).

But obviously B&O is a brand that is tailored to the luxurious market and that also effects the price.
 

Ra1zel

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That's a rough one since factoring price competition just trashes on this with better measured performance, better connectivity, higher quality and EQ tricks.
 
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