• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

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

Descartes

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 27, 2020
Messages
2,104
Likes
1,077
This is a review and detailed measurements of Bang & Olufsen (B&O) Beolab 20 speaker. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs US $15,000.
View attachment 272656
You expect out of box industrial design from B&O and that is what they deliver. The Beolab 20 is an active, 3-way, sealed design. The woofer and mid-range are behind the cone cloth. The tweeter is unusual in the way it fires up into an acoustic lens of sorts:

View attachment 272657

The back side is made out of some kind of rubber (?) with a panel that removes to expose the inputs, power, etc.:
View attachment 272658

I was disappointed in the look, feel and component selections there. As you may be able to see, there is dust on the lower shelf. The RCA connectors are the ultra-cheap looking tin coated ones instead of gold. The dip switches work but again, don't give the feeling of luxury. On the positive from there is support for wireless streaming in the form of WISA (but sadly not bluetooth). And digital input. This requires synchronization between the two speaker which they are doing with a toslink out to the other speaker. And then you would need some kind of volume control.

The measurements you are about to see are generated by the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). Critical measurements are made anechoic with others being in-room. Temperature of the measurement room was rather low at 57 degrees F. Reference axis was that of the tweeter. Speaker was tested with he switches as you see with the Free-space selection. Even though I have two speakers, listening tests per research was performed using a single one.

Beolab 20 Measurements
Let's start as usual with our anechoic, CEA-2034 standard compliant frequency response measurements:
View attachment 272659

Wow, I don't think I have measured a speaker that goes essentially flat down 20 Hz and especially one in this compact size! That is the good news. The bad news is that there is fair amount of variations, resonances and disturbances along the way. The plurality of these will make it difficult to develop an EQ for this speaker. We can see clues to some of these issues in our near-field measurements of each driver:
View attachment 272660

Note that I could not visually located the mid-range so that response may be approximate. But the woofer is not and we can see resonant peaks. The mid-range's upper spectrum also has a lot of ups and downs. And there is peaking in the tweeter as well. I am assuming DSP is used in this speaker. If so, surprising that they have not attempted to quell these variations with better crossovers and filtering.

Back to CEA-2034, here is our early window response which again, doesn't look all that nice:
View attachment 272661

So naturally our combined predicted in-room response has issues:
View attachment 272662

There is large variation in dispersion of the speaker:
View attachment 272663

I was surprised and disappointed to see the super narrowing of the tweeter response above 8 to 10 kHz.
View attachment 272664

Vertically we have a very messy situation:
View attachment 272665

So much going on outside of our solid areas indicating secondary diffraction and such.

Distortion is not bad at 86 dBSPL but gets worse at an odd position in response:
View attachment 272666
View attachment 272667

I looked at woofer response and it was not the cause of the peaking around 800 Hz. Instead, it seems to be the midrange that is complaining:
View attachment 272668

It is also responsible for multiple resonances up high which we saw in near-field response of the driver.

Waterfall display shows resonances:
View attachment 272669

Finally, here is the step response for fans of that measurement:
View attachment 272670


Beolab 20 Speaker Listening Tests
I placed the speaker as you see in the intro shot in my main listening room. I had just tested a $500 speaker with the famous Stevie Ray Vaughan track, the Tin Pan Alley. I expected it to sound even better on Beolab 20. Instead, I found the experience the other way around. It sounded dull and unexciting. So I skipped that and went to my standard reference tracks of female performances. Fidelity was improved here with a bit more bass presence that I typically hear from small speakers. As I progressed through tracks, I realized that the Beolab was activating my room mode at 105 Hz so started to EQ that and made more corrections after that:
View attachment 272671

As I noted in the review, building an EQ by eye is going to be difficult and it was. I *think* I made an improvement but I am not sure it translated across all tracks. The highs needed a boost so I put in the shelving filter initially at 2 dB but had to knock that down as it was a bit bright. A less lazy approach with multiple filters would have avoided that perhaps.

The initial filter set did not have that high-pass filter. I jumped into my tracks with sub-bass (< 30 Hz) content expecting great performance. The Beolab played this range but what I heard was quite distorted and odd sounding. The above filter reduced that some but what I was hearing was still abnormal and I preferred not having that sub-bass than what I heard. We see high distortion in bass frequencies in the measurements confirming what I was hearing.

On the positive front, high-pitch notes at times resonated around the room in a way I had not heard before. They would sparkle against different points in 3-D space which was a nice effect! So that tweeter design is doing something.

Overall, the response as I noted was variable. On some tracks such as Deadmou5, the speaker sounded wonderful. But on others as I noted, it was a let down. Maybe more work with positioning and filtering helps.

Conclusions
B&O is known for innovating in design department when it comes to looks of the products. At the same time, they have extensive engineering and research facilities. The latter gave me hope that they could tame the restrictions that the industrial imposes on design. Alas, it doesn't seem to be the case here. I think driving the speaker to have 20 Hz response but with distortion is unwise. There are a lot of resonances and interference patterns between the three drivers which I think could have been dealt with better. Clearly what we have is nicer than some just going for looks. But as a hi-fi product, it doesn't fit the bill quite right.

I am sad to not be able to recommend the B&O Beolab 20 speaker. Performance is too uneven given the very high cost.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
So much money for such poor performance! They look cool
 

staticV3

Master Contributor
Joined
Aug 29, 2019
Messages
7,531
Likes
12,000

pseudoid

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 23, 2021
Messages
5,116
Likes
3,416
Location
33.58 -117.88
I was disappointed in the look, feel and component selections there. As you may be able to see, there is dust on the lower shelf. The RCA connectors are the ultra-cheap looking tin coated ones instead of gold. The dip switches work but again, don't give the feeling of luxury.
It has been said that "Beauty is only skin deep."
So much money for such poor performance! They look cool
Target audience will never see the back of this speaker; as they will have consultant-minions that will most likely perform the required set-up and interconnection.... probably using $500 cables to attach to those ultra-cheap RCAs...:confused:
The house-cleaning personnel will take care of other mundane tasks as dusting the (back) skin that the owners will never see.
Postman Panther as is. Golfer Panther as art-form.
 
D

Deleted member 48726

Guest
It has been said that "Beauty is only skin deep."

Target audience will never see the back of this speaker; as they will have consultant-minions that will most likely perform the required set-up and interconnection.... probably using $500 cables to attach to those ultra-cheap RCAs...:confused:
The house-cleaning personnel will take care of other mundane tasks as dusting the (back) skin that the owners will never see.
Postman Panther as is. Golfer Panther as art-form.
Haha! - I bet you (sadly) are right about where these start their life.

I look the used prices up on HiFishark.com and these 20's go for 2.700 - 4.700 USD in Scandinavia. <--That's a lot of damage! :oops:
 

dlaloum

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 4, 2021
Messages
3,092
Likes
2,353
Well, B&O have never been great value in terms of $ for performance... but well nigh unbeatable in terms of $ for looks and convenience/lifestyle (if you buy into their ecosystem... as stand-alone not so much!)

I would love to see some measurements of the Beolab 1 and Beolab Penta... they are getting long in the tooth now, but as a result there may be bargains out there, and I think they would make excellent full range surround speakers for the DL-ART era...
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,384
Location
Seattle Area
Question: Was it tested as it was positioned in the photo at the top? If so, why was "free" selected on the settings?
What do you mean by "tested?" If you mean measurements, no, not at all. If you mean my listening tests, yes. It is 5 to 6 feet away from the wall. That is neither a fit for wall or corner, both of which require being very close to either.
 

TrevC

Active Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2021
Messages
180
Likes
124
Well, B&O have never been great value in terms of $ for performance... but well nigh unbeatable in terms of $ for looks and convenience/lifestyle (if you buy into their ecosystem... as stand-alone not so much!)

I would love to see some measurements of the Beolab 1 and Beolab Penta... they are getting long in the tooth now, but as a result there may be bargains out there, and I think they would make excellent full range surround speakers for the DL-ART era...
Their early hybrid colour TVs were sensational. No compromise design. Blew away all comers in 1971. My grandad bought us one, A Beovision 3200, when he moved in with us after grandma died.
 

pseudoid

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 23, 2021
Messages
5,116
Likes
3,416
Location
33.58 -117.88
I need help:
How do you give ginormous kudos to a CFO, when he is willing to take time from his otherwise busy schedule to come back and answer trivial questions (like mine)?:oops:
 
D

Deleted member 48726

Guest
Their early hybrid colour TVs were sensational. No compromise design. Blew away all comers in 1971. My grandad bought us one, A Beovision 3200, when he moved in with us after grandma died.
Their old TV's were very good and the remote controls were solid. We had two models and a VHS player in my childhood. The interior in the TV's was from Philips. No other TV's back then could compete in sound quality and anti-glare.
1679421991771.png
 

pseudoid

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 23, 2021
Messages
5,116
Likes
3,416
Location
33.58 -117.88

BlackTalon

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 14, 2021
Messages
586
Likes
898
Location
DC
I can't help but wonder how much better these speakers would have measured if Amir had at least used some PS Audio electrical cables...
 

MattHooper

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
7,194
Likes
11,806

pseudoid

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 23, 2021
Messages
5,116
Likes
3,416
Location
33.58 -117.88
For me no amount of set-decoration of beautiful photography can make those speakers look appealing. Each speaker resembles someone who got stuck trying to set up their pop-up tent from the inside, and they're struggling to get out.
^^ made me laugh.
but... but... but... my only viable option is to build myself a 'mission' (arts&crafts) style dog-house, that will match the rest of the house decor!
The wooden-slats of the rear-speakers and the TV are mission-esque; IF it matters much to keep peace and harmony.:)
I only have 00.15% voting power regarding W.A.F. but I am 100% for a hidden TV.

OT? Would such a large room cause echos (modes) that cannot be EQ'd?
 

m8o

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Messages
348
Likes
224
Those I remeber. Not those. (is it true that that tweeter is rather fragile?)

But maybe my memory is failing me and I'm conflating that speaker and tweeter with the one this beolab is using, and Radio Shack never used it.
 

Axo1989

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 9, 2022
Messages
2,804
Likes
2,805
Location
Sydney
For me no amount of set-decoration of beautiful photography can make those speakers look appealing. Each speaker resembles someone who got stuck trying to set up their pop-up tent from the inside, and they're struggling to get out.

Haha, whereas the Beolab 90 represents the tent set up properly? I once had a tent that looked a lot like that now that you remind me.

Edit: had to unhide a miscreant to see that room: you were actually complaining about the 90 not the 20. Oh well, there's no accounting for taste. :p
 
Last edited:

bluefuzz

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
Messages
1,043
Likes
1,772
Would such a large room cause echos (modes) that cannot be EQ'd?
Nothing would sound good in that room regardless of how good the speakers are unless listening nearfield. Acres of hardwood flooring, huge windows, almost no furniture or wall decoration to diffuse/damp reflections. Bass (room modes) are easier to control in a big room if you have the subwooferage but everything else would be a mess of reflections in that room as pictured.
 

dlaloum

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 4, 2021
Messages
3,092
Likes
2,353
Nothing would sound good in that room regardless of how good the speakers are unless listening nearfield. Acres of hardwood flooring, huge windows, almost no furniture or wall decoration to diffuse/damp reflections. Bass (room modes) are easier to control in a big room if you have the subwooferage but everything else would be a mess of reflections in that room as pictured.
The standard B&O rooms, as shown in all their advertising and websites, are universally examples of the worst possible environment for Audio!!!
 
Top Bottom