B&O's Beolab 90 isit the speaker that could?

[NorthSky]

Not crap just out dated.
Keith

...Trapped in old prehistoric traditions.

 

[RayDunzl]

The Beolab 90 is quite an impressive technological tour de force from the descriptions and intentions, I'm not saying anything against them...

I find it difficult to imagine them not sounding essentially like a well set-up speaker from some other manufacturer.

Maybe they don't sound the same, which means they sound different. Different does not necessarily mean better, though someone (it happens to me) may prefer one different to another.

I'll probably never hear a set, so, who knows.

I'm 18 years on my current speakers with no expiration date in sight, so they must be doing some things right, at least for me.

 

[Thomas savage]

The Beolab 90 is quite an impressive technological tour de force from the descriptions and intentions, I'm not saying anything against them...

I find it difficult to imagine them not sounding essentially like a well set-up speaker from some other manufacturer.

Maybe they don't sound the same, which means they sound different. Different does not necessarily mean better, though someone (it happens to me) may prefer one different to another.

I'll probably never hear a set, so, who knows.

I'm 18 years on my current speakers with no expiration date in sight, so they must be doing some things right, at least for me.

Almost as long as the tyres on your truck

 

[Purité Audio]

The Beolab 90 is quite an impressive technological tour de force from the descriptions and intentions, I'm not saying anything against them...

I find it difficult to imagine them not sounding essentially like a well set-up speaker from some other manufacturer.

Maybe they don't sound the same, which means they sound different. Different does not necessarily mean better, though someone (it happens to me) may prefer one different to another.

I'll probably never hear a set, so, who knows.

I'm 18 years on my current speakers with no expiration date in sight, so they must be doing some things right, at least for me.

Unless you hear them you will never know.
Keith

 

[RayDunzl]

506 miles round trip to my local Beolab Retailer.

 

[NorthSky]

I wonder if they'll ever come on my Island...unless someone buy them and I know her.

 

[fas42]

Years ago, went to hear the Beloab 5 at the B&O dealer, which was a hilarious comedy show because the very fancy player was a pile o' junk - when it actually managed to play a disk long enough to hear the speaker working I didn't fall off my chair - suffice to say my impression of the engineering expertise on show at that time was not a good one ... I'm in no hurry to check out the next chapter ...

 

[Purité Audio]

Why on earth would you actually travel to an evaluation when you can just listen on UTube.
Keith

 

[Sal1950]

Don't doubt it but it does not render every other speaker a pile of crap..

+1
How many times have we heard such proclamations over the years, innumerable,
more like every other month if you are to read the reviewing publications such as Stereophile and TAS.
How truly great or revolutionary they are will only be revealed by time. Will folks like Paul McGowan put his 30 yo IRS V's on the block? Will Klipsch discontinue the 60 year production of the KHorn? Will they make it on a list like this soon,
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-12-most-significant-loudspeakers-of-all-time/
We shall see but I learned long ago to be very conservative when it comes to getting all excited over such claims.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-12-most-significant-loudspeakers-of-all-time/
We shall see but I learned long ago to be very conservative when it comes to getting all excited over such claims.

Significance is not the same thing as absolute performance. The BeoLab is already significant.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Why on earth would you actually travel to an evaluation when you can just listen on UTube.
Keith

 

[fas42]

I do get the point ... it's silly, say, looking at clothing for sale online, if it looks unattractive and badly designed then this can be no gauge for what it's actually like in the flesh. Only direct experience with any product can be useful in telling one anything meaningful about it - then those extra layers of special senses can kick in and give one the real story ...

 

[Purité Audio]

If you had any sense Frank ,that would be a start.
Keith

 

[FrantzM]

Why on earth would you actually travel to an evaluation when you can just listen on UTube.
Keith

True that!

 

[FrantzM]

If you had any sense Frank ,that would be a start.
Keith

you're on a roll !

 

[Murrayp]

Interesting thread. I heard the pair at Munich this year. They were in a very poor temporary room - the sound was quite excellent despite this. Bass control, tonality and depth, in particular stood out, but it was all good. Sort of a "game over" feeling. From memory the source was nothing ultra flash - an Oppo player or similar. I'd certainly look closely at them if I wasn't already "invested" to similar levels or worse in conventional gear.
So Keith, did you manage to get hold of a pair?

 

[Keith_W]

Incidentally, I managed to hear these speakers at the Melbourne Hifi show. They were set up in a large room.

On the first day, there were not many people at the show, so I was able to claim the sweet spot. I was not very impressed - it sounded clinical, harsh, boomy, and thin. I had very much wanted to like these speakers, and I had been told by a friend (who heard them when he was in the UK) that they sound fantastic. So I felt really let down.

I thought they deserved another listen, so I went again the next day. This time, the room was packed full of people sitting in silence and listening. Through some amazing stroke of luck, I was AGAIN able to claim the sweet spot. This time, they were completely different. The thinness and boominess was gone. Instead, they sounded dynamic, exciting, and full of drive. Some speakers have a soporific kind of sound (e.g. Tannoy) - they sound too relaxed. Not this one - this one sounded like it wanted to get up and go. One could still quibble about the tone, which to my ears sounded a little cold and clinical.

I was surprised by the transformation and asked the demonstrator what had changed. He said nothing had changed. So I surmise that all those people in the room acted as walking bass traps and took away the boominess. I can't explain why the thinness had gone, most probably different choice of music. I had to take back everything I said about that speaker on another forum. The Beolab 90 is something special.

 

[Purité Audio]

I have never heard them sound boomy ,that is rather the whole point of them!
I have heard various parts of the room vibrate in sympathetic resonance but that should really b dealt with in set up.
In terms of tone they sound just like the Kiis, ATCs Mangers they are not at all coloured .
Keith

 

[c1ferrari]

Well, I'm hopelessly deaf/biased, so my speakers will always be better. Amir doesn't sell those and they are not a Harman product, so Revel will always be better. Dallas, well, he's an audiophile equipment roller. He'll love them today, but by next week he'll have something else. Speakers with VU meters or something.

cheers,

AJ

Ha! $$$-less!

 

[oivavoi]

I heard these speakers a couple of months ago. So here are my own sighted listening impressions, which might very well be imprecise and faulty: It's obviously very good speakers. But they should be for that price, of course. In narrow mode, they painted a very precise stereo image for me. I saw the stage very clearly. Imaging with these is among the best I've experienced. But at the same time, I felt like that there was something about them that wasn't natural. It felt like good "hifi", but it didn't give me an illusion of listening to real, unamplified music. When I compared them with my acoustic memory of my own active monitors, it was as if the Beolabs had put on a lot of make-up to look perfect. While my monitors were less perfect, but still more natural and relaxed.

This might only be me, or it might be something objective. I don't know. FWIW, it gave me the same feeling I've gotten from listening to some systems which have employed room correction rather heavily. The imaging, staging and holography can be very impressive, but it introduces something into the presentation which feels strange - at least for me. I have a hunch that too much EQ can lead to artificiality in a speaker. But it's only a hunch. Would love to see some measurements on this.