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Kal's Beolab review is out!

Kal Rubinson

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You're special.

I'm not.

And I haven't "put down" the Beolab. I can only assume it sounds "good" from the design criteria and their apparently detailed execution of the ideas.
You seem to take my comment personally when it was really directed more generally to my disappointment that the B&O was not on the cover.

But I'm willing to defend the ML for what they are, in my 20 years listening to them. In fact, I'm listening to them right now.
No argument there.

Did you ship the 90's back to their owners or to the next reviewer yet?
Already back to B&O. I could not keep them long because they are not compatible with the rest of my multichannel setup.

PS: I prefer your articles to Herb Reichert's, if that's any kind of a compliment.
I will take it as such. Thanks.
 

Cosmik

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fas42

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fas42

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dallasjustice

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JA said the MLs overall measured better than the beolabs. They have a better step response and better in room frequency response than the beolabs. JA said it was the best in room frequency response he's measured in 27 years. So I guess the ML speakers may have earned their way on to the cover

I do.

The ESL got top billing, though...

120516-4001-600.jpg


I'd run right out an buy a pair if:

1: They weren't listed at $25,000

2: Mine weren't just as good.
 
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dallasjustice

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I'd be willing to bet the beolabs use minimum phase filters. The step response looks no different than a step often measured from passive loudspeakers. I bet minimum phase filters were chosen to reduce latency. The review indicates the manufacturer made it his priority to keep latency down to at least one frame of a movie. IOW, the designer wanted to minimize lip sync issues.

IMO, linear phase filters are much better but introduce too much latency to work in such a one box solution. A better digitally active design would have the filters and the video playback sync'd from the source. E.g. Jriver Convolution engine.
 
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RayDunzl

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Kalman says:

"... its sound was slightly warm, with rich but tight bass, a smooth midrange, and a mere suggestion of brightness in the very high treble. The Beolab system is designed to permit the buyer or dealer to tune it to the buyer's room and taste, but at the time of this auditioning the comprehensive control app was not yet available. As a result, that kind of tweaking was not possible. What I heard was the original factory tuning, and an undefined target curve for the EQ."

Somewhere in another thread I posted a longish list of features described in the owners manual that were still "future" in reality (that was several months ago).

Big job to integrate so much into one (or two) boxes.

"Software is never finished, just tell the Customer it is." - Confucious
 

Sal1950

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Whatever they need to be for that particular driver.
Cosmik, new avatar I see.
Don't you know it's unhealthy to smoke. ;)
101.jpg
 

Sal1950

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Probably not for long. Copyright infringement.
OHHHHHHHHHH,
Wait till Mikey Fremer finds out!
He's already threatened me with legal action from (drum roll please)
-(and a loud deep announcers voice),
THE ENTHUSIAST NETWORK
lawyers for, and I quote, "besmirching his reputation". Ha ha ha ha.
 

Kal Rubinson

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JA said the MLs overall measured better than the beolabs. They have a better step response and better in room frequency response than the beolabs. JA said it was the best in room frequency response he's measured in 27 years. So I guess the ML speakers may have earned their way on to the cover
I can accept JA's statement verbatim but note that the overall slope of the Beolabs in-room response is the the product of a target curve similar to what many of us would intentionally apply to the MLs with our EQ systems.
 

Cosmik

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... its sound was slightly warm, with rich but tight bass, a smooth midrange, and a mere suggestion of brightness in the very high treble
A very familiar description of DSP-corrected active speakers. Compare to this review of the Meridian DSP7200:
Overall it sounds essentially neutral, if marginally rich and comfortable...

This is my experience with these sorts of speakers. I think the overall accuracy of the crossovers takes an 'edge' off the sound that we are used to in other speakers. As someone (I can't quite find on the web) pointed out, what we may at first identify as slightly too much warmth in an audio system is, in fact, the sound of real music.
 

dallasjustice

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The above amplitude measurement excerpts taken from Stereophile are really multiple point measurements. They are meant to discount the room to get at the speaker's performance. Btw, Kal's room is a pretty good size.

Different rooms.

Maybe KR can describe here how his room, and the speaker placement in it, differs from JI's.
 
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