Beolab 14 vs S8

Dear all,

I want to invest in a nice home entertainment system. I was looking at the S8 as this has an interesting price. When I walked into the shop they did not have the S8 in there but my eye felt on the Beolab 14. I asked the difference between both and he pointed out that the Beolab 14 has an amplifier in the subwoofer that sends the correct signal to the correct speaker in order to get the perfect sound while the S8 is just a sub and 2 speakers. When you use it for audio the S8 is perfect but when your main use is TV and movies the Beolab 14 is a lot better. 

Can someone please advise why I would pay 1600euro's more for a Beolab 14, knowing i wanted a 2.1 setup because in my current home I can not set up a 4.1 nicely.

Thanx!

Please have a look at this thread:  http://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/p/11629/101446.aspx#101446

Roger

Look at the bottom of your s8

If it's 5.1 it's the same thing.

Beolab14 is a little more elegant and the

S8 is clearly more industrial but they're the same thing.

Jandw:

Dear all,

I want to invest in a nice home entertainment system. I was looking at the S8 as this has an interesting price. When I walked into the shop they did not have the S8 in there but my eye felt on the Beolab 14. I asked the difference between both and he pointed out that the Beolab 14 has an amplifier in the subwoofer that sends the correct signal to the correct speaker in order to get the perfect sound while the S8 is just a sub and 2 speakers. When you use it for audio the S8 is perfect but when your main use is TV and movies the Beolab 14 is a lot better.

Can someone please advise why I would pay 1600euro's more for a Beolab 14, knowing i wanted a 2.1 setup because in my current home I can not set up a 4.1 nicely.

Thanx!

In any case - for a 2.1 setup you can use both!

It might be, that the S8 was temporary unavailable, and that the dealer wanted to sell the BL14.2.1.

If you can want, and you want the set in black - you'll maybe have to wait for it.

Note: the satelites of the S8 come with a small tablestand/wallmount.

For the BL14 version there are different stand-options.

STBbrackets have some wallbrackets for the satelites too.

MM

Can you mount the S8 satellites on any available mounting options (including the floorstands) for the BL14 satellites? 

Jandw:

Dear all,

I want to invest in a nice home entertainment system. I was looking at the S8 as this has an interesting price. When I walked into the shop they did not have the S8 in there but my eye felt on the Beolab 14. I asked the difference between both and he pointed out that the Beolab 14 has an amplifier in the subwoofer that sends the correct signal to the correct speaker in order to get the perfect sound while the S8 is just a sub and 2 speakers. When you use it for audio the S8 is perfect but when your main use is TV and movies the Beolab 14 is a lot better.

Can someone please advise why I would pay 1600euro's more for a Beolab 14, knowing i wanted a 2.1 setup because in my current home I can not set up a 4.1 nicely.

Thanx!

Hi

What the dealer means is that the BL14 has an amplifier to send signals to 5 speakers when watching movies.

Yes the S8 is a sub and 2 speakers, but it's the same sub, and it would also have an amplifier in it, however, not for 5 speakers

B&O advertise the S8 on their website with what looks like it's connected to their B&O television so I feel that it would be suitable for movies, if you just want 2.1

You would pay extra for the BL14 over the S8 for:

> Different colour

> Option to have 5.1 sound

> Option that if you did buy the BL14 2.1 you know you could add rear speakers and a centre speaker (if required) perhaps at a later date.

Nice note from MM that the S8 includes the little table stands for the speakers. That's a nice touch.

There is a rumour, that only the first S8's had the 'full monty' inside.

Later the C/R channels/amps were either blocked or not there at all.

I have never heard that rumour verified!

Does anyone know more about this?

MM

Millemissen:

There is a rumour, that only the first S8's had the 'full monty' inside.

Later the C/R channels/amps were either blocked or not there at all.

I have never heard that rumour verified!

Does anyone know more about this?

MM

There is a tv - and there is a BV.

That is 100% accurate

So -

How can someone know, which version he has (without trying out)?

Do the two versions have different item-numbers?

MM

Unfortunately you mus look at the bottom of the sub to know.

I borrowed s S8 from my dealer. Tested it, and it had a full set of amps. I returned it as I did not like the sound of it.

mjmedlo:

Unfortunately you mus look at the bottom of the sub to know.

Do you mean for the small bridge in the PL-ins, I have heard of?

If that is all - one could just pull it out...or?

MM

I recently bought the S8, it still has the 5 speaker connections, the sub is the same as the beolab 14, the speakers are identical too, just powder coated instead of brushed aluminium.

 

save some money, and at a later stage upgrade to another 2 speakers if you wish.

Have you tested the connections?

Pleas try by plugging front and rear to tv, and then one speaker to front left and the other to rear left. If you play a movie with surround the sound should be different.

The BeoPlay S8 is identical to the BeoLab 14 5.1 system except it is black and branded as a BeoPlay product. That won't always be the case, but currently that is the situation. Buy them now as they are the best value in the arsenal. There will be a rolling production change where the amps will be only 2.1. Until then enjoy the extra value.

BeoMegaMan:

The BeoPlay S8 is identical to the BeoLab 14 5.1 system except it is black and branded as a BeoPlay product. That won't always be the case, but currently that is the situation. Buy them now as they are the best value in the arsenal. There will be a rolling production change where the amps will be only 2.1. Until then enjoy the extra value.

Now - that is an answer!

Thanks for clarifying

We'd better hurry up then.

On the BeoPlay online store site they are listed as not available right now.

MM

Hi, does anyone know if its possible to use two s8 in place of beolab 14 and save some serious cash? The setup thus would be 4.2 with two s8s