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Beolab 50 - addressing the speaker/room interface.

Mark put the Kii's in the same room as your Yams, they aren't heavy and having them in the same room will allow a valid comparison,
Keith
 
Mark,

if it's not too much trouble, could try try the Kiis in your listening room and in the can? I'm curious if controlled dispersion in the loo is all that's it's cracked up to be.

Joe
 
Regarding earlier B&O speakers, I don't have a lot of experience/knowledge - I first became aware of them in the early 80's, when as a newcomer to Australia I discovered a dealership in the city.

I absolutely adored the style, but also knew a great deal less than I know now about what works and what doesn't in HiFi, so wasn't really in a position to make an 'educated' assessment of them. I did think though that their TV's were ahead of anything else I'd seen in terms of picture and especially sound quality.

At the time I owned a Rait amplifier (copy of a Radford) TD 125 Mk11/SME 3009/V15 Shure TT & a pair of B&W DM2a's, and whilst visiting interstate heard in a friends home a B&O system of speakers which were similar size to the DM2a's (no idea which model) a B&O TT with the tangential arm, and the Beomaster amp - I think the 5000 - silver front with the clear perspex sliding controls for bass/treble etc - this was in the very early 80's.

I thought the sound very similar to my own setup - certainly on par if not better in some areas, and not as good in others, so similar, but different, but certainly very good.

If my memory serves correctly, at one point in the intervening decades, Philips owned majority shares in B&O, albeit in due course B&O bought those shares back, but that may part explain the earlier point made about Phillips PCB's etc being in the products and less than stellar build quality.

My experience and real appreciation (apart from the amazing style) of B&O began with the Lab 5.

I've now heard the Beolab 90 around 4 times - first at a dealership and lastly at a recent HiFi show - held as usual in a large hotel.

What was interesting about that was the array of competition: JBL Everests, B&W 800D's, a Naim system with Focal speakers and amplification costing circa A$100k, Quad Electrostatics, various horns and other exotic high end speaker designs such as one usually only sees at a high end audio show, all resplendent with the obligatory wrist thick speaker cables and shiny gadgets etc.

Some of it sounded great, others sounded dire - as usual the 'room' was given as the problem in some rather 'difficult' demonstrations.

I attended with a friend who has a good ear and owns electrostatics; both of us felt that when it came to the most authentic sound at the show, by which I mean which system most realistically portrays music with authentic and natural tonal timbre, transient response and dynamics to afford the most realistic involvement in the emotional message of the music, and spatial perspectives reminiscent of live performance, along with stunning resolution, it was the Beolab 90's by a country mile.

They dynamics and scale of something like a JBL Everest, with the sense of utter neutrality, clarity and finesse of something like the B&W 800D is one way of describing the sound.

The other is that speaking as a trained classical musician, the Beolab 90 is without doubt the most authentic sounding speaker I have ever heard, and at any price.

Notwithstanding of course the likes of Steinway Lyngdorf systems, or MBL Radialstrahler, neither of which I have heard, but I have little doubt the Beolab 90 is up in that league.

Do try and have a listen if you can - they're more about revolution than evolution when it comes to HiFi as we have known it. And now we have the new Beolab 50 offering a great deal of what the Beolab 90 offered, but at a much more approachable price.


Cheers

I know nothing about legacy B&O products but after reading a fair bit about the 50s and 90s it's perfectly clear that these are hi fi products of the first order that any audiophile should take seriously rather than dismiss on the basis of prejudice caused by the historic B&O lifestyle stigma.
This coming Sunday I'm going to listen to the Kii 3s (thanks Lee) and in the ensuing weeks I'll be listening to both the 50s and the 90s. I'm expecting great things of all 3.
 
Mark,

if it's not too much trouble, could try try the Kiis in your listening room and in the can? I'm curious if controlled dispersion in the loo is all that's it's cracked up to be.

Joe

and bearing in mind that claim is they can be put anywhere, while you're in the loo could you possibly try one .. or maybe it has already been done? what was the bottom end like?
 
I know nothing about legacy B&O products but after reading a fair bit about the 50s and 90s it's perfectly clear that these are hi fi products of the first order that any audiophile should take seriously rather than dismiss on the basis of prejudice caused by the historic B&O lifestyle stigma.
This coming Sunday I'm going to listen to the Kii 3s (thanks Lee) and in the ensuing weeks I'll be listening to both the 50s and the 90s. I'm expecting great things of all 3.

Good on you for having an open mind on B&O. I think there's only a couple of owners on here - myself and Beobloke that I know of - there may be others.

You are absolutely right in that far too many audiophiles dismiss B&O on the basis of so called lifestyle system stigma.

I was one of them at one time, but time, experience and lessons learned tends to open ones eyes and ears, and with it ones mind and dispels previous unreasonably held prejudice.

I haven't as yet heard the 50's - either way I look forward to your thoughts on the Ki 111's, Beolab 50's and 90's in due course.

Cheers
 
I'll post my impressions in due course. (They will only be impressions because I won't be doing side by side comparisons in the same environment.).

I forgot to mention that I am also going to get to hear the Geithain RL901Ks.
 
I'll be very interested to hear your impressions, especially of the RL-901K. I have a feeling I'd like that a lot as it will do the 'moving a lot of air' ease and effortlessness thing I insist on with expensive speakers.
 
I must admit that I did all the DRC stuff decades ago now. I really don't miss it although the controlled dispersion of a horn works for me these days.

I'm sure that technically there are any number of reasons to appreciate the B&O designs - afterall they have been at the forefront of audio technology since their inception.

I don't think I'll be hoofing the gerbils out of the door though. I don't miss any of the Tact/Lyngdorf stuff but I'm pretty sure I'll be buried/cremated in the JBL's...
 
B&O have included DRC with the 90's 50's too? But the design doesn't intrinsically rely on that, the really clever part of those three speakers is their controlled directivity, their cardiod response which ameliorates the room's contribution, perfect phase,step response, group delay are all additional benefits of their design.
Keith
 
Keith, I'm just saying that DRC also "ameliorates the room's contribution" and I personally, don't miss the ability to achieve that digitally if honest.

I obviously appreciate that part of the attraction of loudspeakers like mine is the controlled dispersion from the midrange up. I don't feel any compunction to experience the same at the bottom end anymore though - it never sounded natural in room to my uncritical ears.
 


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