Adding speakers to BV5

I'm considering buying speakers to connect with my BV5. Heard people raving about the BV5 built-in speakers, but I'm not too impressed.

im considering buying the BL5, BL12 or BL18. my thoughts on the three.

BL5 - I'm sure you will ask me to buy these as they will be the best. However, I think they are too big for my living room and I don't think I want to spend so much money for a non-wisa speaker (plus end life cycle?)

BL12 - I really like the design, but I am not sure whether sound quality will improve? Also, it looks fantastic on the photos, but not sure how it will look once I have two cables each connected (PL and power). Any photos?

BL18 - I really love them, but would then also have the same cable issue or need to buy a transmitter. And even then would have the power cable. pound should be better than BL12 though?

 

Any thoughts or first-hand experience would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,

I have bv5 and have 4 bl6000 + sub, and have had no issues

The sound is as you'd expect .... Perfect, obviously depending on your area you will be using your set up

I would speak to your neighbours....... And ask them to move. Lol.

Thanks for your message. Any additional thoughts on the options that I am contemplating with?

Hi Steve,

All your options will sound great, it will be down to what you like, also is this set up to be more for music or film? My set up is more for music....the bl6000 with the bv5 sounded good, but when I added the sub it was a big improvement ( thicker sound)but retaining crisper sound out of the bl6000.

Also you mention the cable management issue , which can always be a challenge [:\'(][:\'(]

Nice setup and well done.

primary interest will be music, but will also watch movies.

let me add a few more concrete questions:

1) will a bl12 or bl18 be a substantial improvement over  built-in bv5 speakers if listening to music?

2) any photos or advice how the cables of the bl12 can be handled nicely?

3) how does the sound quality of the bl18 compare to the bl12?

4) does a subwoofer add a lot to a bl18 or bl12 when just listening to stereo music?

5) will the built-in bv5 speakers still play any role when playing stereo after adding bl12 or bl18?

 

thanks in advance!

Any thoughts and help for me on above?

* Bump *

Hi Steve,

I have a BV5 too, in silver.

Some answers:

1) Yes.

2) Your options are:

- Set the cables into the wall.

- Mount the cables on the surface of the wall and put cable covers over them. You can buy these in plastic or metal. B&O used to sell these, not sure if they still do. DIY stores certainly do.

3) Can't comment as I haven't heard BL18s.

4) Can't comment as I haven't heard BL18s.

5) Once you attach external speakers the BV5's internal speakers become a dedicated CENTRE channel.

- If you use SPEAKER modes 2 (stereo) and 4 (stereo "twice") no sound will come the the BV5's own speakers.

- If you use SPEAKER modes 3 and 5 the internal speakers will reproduce any centre channel information in the music you're playing.

- If you use SPEAKER mode 1 the internal speakers will play whatever music you're playing, but in mono.

Hope this helps.

Lawrence

Yes, this helps a lot. One last question- which spealer mode do you use and what are the advantages? For music? For movies?

When I owned one, I have tried to add a pair of bl3 to the bv5 and I didn't find it was an improvment.

In a small room, I consider the built in speakers very well balanced and with excellent bass and mediums. I really loved the bl7.2 but it wasn't as good as the bv5.

The bv5 inherited the same sound system than the original avant.

If your room is big enough, well you should see some differences.

Generally, I let the BV5 choose the speaker mode.

My main source with BV5 was a BeoCenter 2, connected via SCART and ML.

If I played a DVD that had stereo trailers before the main movie, the BV5 would automatically select SPEAKER 2 mode.

When the main title started (usually Dolby Digital 5.1) the BV5 would automatically switch to SPEAKER 5 mode.

I guess the BV5 was basing its choice on the feed coming in on the digital SPDIF input.

When playing CDs on the BC2, the BV5 would select SPEAKER 2 mode ( which is what I would want). I find that with CDs, mode 5 can enhance a live recording, or let's say a recording with a lot of ambient information. But it really didn't flatter dance music, which sounded much better in mode 2.

My BV9 works differently, and allows me to preset a default SPEAKER mode each for audio or video sources. My Mac mini, where I store all my DVDs and CDs, is connected to the BS3 direct, so the TV thinks it's a video source, so tries to play all my CDs in mode 5. I just manually change it to mode 2.