Question on Surround Sound and Speakers (Beolab 3)

Dear members,

in one room, I have a Beocenter 1 with DSS module, a pair of Beolab 3 and a Beolab 11 (both connected to the DSS module). Initially, I just had the Beocenter 1. Nice unit, although picture quality is best when watching DVDs due to the quality of the TV signal nowadays - but that's a different issue. When adding, Beolab 3s, I was kind of disappointed at first. Given the praise that the Beolab 3s receive, I was expecting better sound. However, I have to admit that my room is really not very good for listening to music. It's not even rectangular, but rather asymmetrical so that both speakers are unequally far away from my listening position - and probably with 3-4 meters distance also too far away. My impression still was, that Pentas and Beolab 5000s deliver better sound. Adding the Beolab 11 improved things, but still not up to what the Pentas and the Beolab 5000s are to me.

Now, I rather unexpectedly got a second pair of Beolab 3s and added them as surrounds to my setup. And, I'm quite surprised had how much of a difference this made in my situation. Speaker 4 and 5 sound much better than speaker 2 or 3. I was playing around with different sources and settings, but I wouldn't have expected the difference to be that big - in particular given that Speaker 4 mode is not really that highly-regarded among purists to say the least. Maybe it is because the surrounds are much closer to the listening position and Beolab 3s are better in the near field? Distance of the Beolab 11 doesn't seem to matter that much.

Anybody else made similar experiences? What comes to my mind now that I write this: I once bought a Beo 4 cinema from a B&O technician. When I arrived at his place, he also was using 4 Beolab 3s in his surround setup but with a Beolab 2 subwoofer that is. Maybe that's got to say something.

Cheers,

Kai

I am happy with my near field BL3s.

I once had a BL11 supporting them but now it augments BL6000s.

I replaced the BL11 with a BL19 - much better for movies.

I didn't want to question the general quality of the Beolab 3. I'd rather make a statement for how much a full surround setup can add to only having a stereo speaker setup plus a sub. And - rather surprisingly - how decent speaker 4 works in my suboptimal surroundings. Therefore, I'd be interested whether others have made similar experiences.

I can't compare the Beolab 11 and the Beolab 19. But another impression I'd like to share is that the Beolab 11 seems to perform pretty well together with the Beolab 3, in particular when connected to a DSS module. If you feel there's too little bass, it can be easily enhanced in the settings (which I actually have done). I'm not sure how much a Beolab 19 would add in this case - in particular for playing music. But please correct me if I'm wrong.

Greetings,

Kai

I agree the BL11 was good driven out of the BV8's surround sound module. It could even vibrate my wooden floor boards.

However the BL19 has even more oompf for action movies - and is an overkill for some music.

My rears are BL4s.

And at one stage I had 4 rears which create a wonderful effect. I suspect close to what you are asking about.

Geoff Martin and I debated this in the forum a couple of years back (when "Gravity" my test video had been released).

Geoff's point was whilst my test case was interesting it was an edge unsupported case that he could not analyse since he had not worked in the BV8.

I found the BL3s came into their own is when I connected them to a beovision as you could change the settings and the decibel volume so it can go harder.

The dealer says I should have them in a bookshelf as the passive radiators in the speaker really benefit from that type of environment

Why do passive radiators benefit from a bookshelf? Wouldn't it be the same effect when placed in a corner?

I know, many have told it: Stereo is better than surround and a subwoofer is sensitive to placement. But I'd still say based on the experience described above that having the subwoofer in front is good but at the same time having highs also coming from the sides close to you can actually help. I know, theoretically it shouldn't be the case and if one wanted to achieve perfect stereo sound for sure it isn't. However, doing so would require some tinkering with software to compensate for the characteristics of the room anyway. Since I'm not doing this, I felt that having the highs also come from your back in speaker 4 mode helps, whereas the subwoofer in front doesn't need any support. At least that's the case in my situation with the Beolab 3 at front being positioned approximately 3 or 4 meters away from the listening position (surrounds are only approximately one meter away). Maybe the alt helps minimizing distortion from overlapping sound waves? I don't know... Of course, we're not talking about precise and accurate sound here, but I still found the result to be more pleasing than stereo alone. And yes, connection to a Beovision with DSS module helps quite a bit to find appropriate settings.

Cheers,

Kai

 

I had BL3s placed in corners and they sounded amazing.