Bang & Olufsen Beosound Balance Review

[Axo1989]

Take a look of these 160.000€ speakers (one unit, the pair? Not specified, above some money one doesn’t care )…

Beolab 90: Altavoces de suelo Ultra High Fidelity | B&O

Experimenta el sonido más potente del mundo. Beolab 90 ofrece audio Ultra High Fidelity, perfecto para el sistema de cine en casa definitivo o para una experiencia musical excepcional.

www.bang-olufsen.com

Well it says "set" so you can presumably figure that out.

Great speakers tbh: active, selectable directivity, clean high-level performance for a medium to large listening room. They've been discussed here a few times.

 

[Tezzahappy]

If you are going by "what sounds best to you" as a criterion, it's very difficult to go somewhere and hear the complete, assembled system that one might wish to purchase. Another factor is that the human brain - which is where hearing takes place - changes quite a bit from moment to moment and preferences can be changed by mood, health, age and training.

So, if one is just going to select which equipment to purchase just by "it sounds good to me" subjectivism, how do you select what to buy from the 1000's of pieces of equipment available, new and used? Measurements and tests can help here. I think it's scientifically provable by well designed listening tests that many HiFi myths and woo are just nonsense. Knowledge helps one avoid being taken to the cleaners.

It should be noted that ALL equipment is evaluated by engineers using frequency graphs. Nothing is designed and built from start to finish by some old codger who just magically knows what "sounds right."

You can't test and listen to every piece of HiFi in the world. You would spend all your life just listening to equipment instead of the music itself.

I stand by the "listen with your ears" and if you enjoy it and happy with the price and look, you have succeeded. I learnt the hard way of spending 1000's to only be listening to the hardware.

Even when the artist creates the sound in a studio, they mix it, change it with their equalisers but at the end of mixing they listen to it with their ears through the monitors with the artist.

Then a dealer will tell you equalisers are the devil. If they can use equalisers in the studio to get the right sound, why not in your own space.

Do I need an engineer to tell me something sounds good ? Absolutely not.

Then there are live concerts where people just love that sense but I can assure you, depending where you are in the concert the sound can be very different, does that stop me enjoying it, again, absolutely not

 

[testp]

You can't test and listen to every piece of HiFi in the world. You would spend all your life just listening to equipment instead of the music itself.

I stand by the "listen with your ears" and if you enjoy it and happy with the price and look, you have succeeded. I learnt the hard way of spending 1000's to only be listening to the hardware.

Even when the artist creates the sound in a studio, they mix it, change it with their equalisers but at the end of mixing they listen to it with their ears through the monitors with the artist.

Then a dealer will tell you equalisers are the devil. If they can use equalisers in the studio to get the right sound, why not in your own space.

Do I need an engineer to tell me something sounds good ? Absolutely not.

Then there are live concerts where people just love that sense but I can assure you, depending where you are in the concert the sound can be very different, does that stop me enjoying it, again, absolutely not

measurements, build quality, reputation, looks, internet buzz, emotions, testing, demoing? ... just name it

measurements are objective. without...it's like opinion related (some say they like it, i say i like it, some say they dont like it, well i say i still like it)

hey, enjoy what you like

 

[Miguelón]

Well it says "set" so you can presumably figure that out.

Great speakers tbh: active, selectable directivity, clean high-level performance for a medium to large listening room. They've been discussed here a few times.

If you know someone who can send at least one to Amir, will be great to know how much of those 160.000€ goes to the sound…

I had Beo Lab Penta in the past, but at that epoch even the best of Bang Olufsen were “reasonable”

 

[Dogillama]

Thanks for letting me sign up! Can I EQ a stereo paired set of Balances wirelessly with the Roon Arc app? Pardon my ignorance. Total newbie to Roon and deciding if I should get it. Thanks!

 

[Miguelón]

Thanks for letting me sign up! Can I EQ a stereo paired set of Balances wirelessly with the Roon Arc app? Pardon my ignorance. Total newbie to Roon and deciding if I should get it. Thanks!

They can be paired by Google Cast or Airplay according to their specs.
Roon is compatible with both systems.

 

[Dogillama]

They can be paired by Google Cast or Airplay according to their specs.
Roon is compatible with both systems.

Thanks! It’s been smooth getting them to pair and play in stereo mode via Airplay and the B&O app. I guess what I’m asking is if I can adjust their EQ settings in the way the OP described if I get Roon/ARC on my ipad.

 

[Miguelón]

Thanks! It’s been smooth getting them to pair and play in stereo mode via Airplay and the B&O app. I guess what I’m asking is if I can adjust their EQ settings in the way the OP described if I get Roon/ARC on my ipad.

No problem to do that, just get a calibration mic to measure the FQ curve: the inbuilt one on the ipad is not trustable. With your own PEQ and a mic you can learn a lot about your speakers and how they interact with your room, and surely once correcting the modes you’ll enjoy a much more clean bass

 

[Dogillama]

No problem to do that, just get a calibration mic to measure the FQ curve: the inbuilt one on the ipad is not trustable. With your own PEQ and a mic you can learn a lot about your speakers and how they interact with your room, and surely once correcting the modes you’ll enjoy a much more clean bass

Thanks! can you recommemd a calibration mic?

 

[DVDdoug]

Thanks! can you recommemd a calibration mic?

The UMK1 is popular. Note that measurement mics aren't flat but they come with a calibration file so the software can make corrections.

USB measurement mics like the UMK1 plug directly into the computer and since the built-in preamp has known gain they can measure SPL as well as frequency response. XLR measurement mics need an interface and they are fine for frequency response but in order to measure SPL you have to use an SPL meter to "manually" calibrate the level.

REW is free measurement software.