audio upgrade

Hi,

I’m a new member on this forum, and have the following question;

I plan to upgrade my audio by replacing my BL 8000’s for some ‘next step’ speakers like a set of used e.g. BL 9’s.

Any particular technical aspects I should be aware of if I buy them second hand; like specific defects and/or did they had a technical upgrade in the past few years?

I’m also considering a set used BL5's, but I wonder if in an 'average' living room (45m2) these speakers won’t be ‘over specified’ compared to the BL9's  So do they fully justify the difference in price?

The BL's are connected to a BV 11. 

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Thanks for your thoughts/advise

Interesting, as I recently made a similar change, from BL8000s to BL9s, and have been extremely happy with the results. The BL8000s are now in the dining/kitchen/sun room area where they sound great, when they were in my huge living room, not so much, they just got lost in there.

I'm a big fan of the BL5s, but I honestly feel that the main advantage they bring over the BL9s is deep bass, I find the midrange and treble of the 9s to be sweet and smooth and they have more than adequate bass unless you are a huge organ music fan, or like the 1812 Overture on continuous repeat.

One thing to note, if you go with 9s or any of the BLs with IcePower amps, you will need the newer Powerlink cable which have the additional ground wire, I know for a fact the old cables will cause buzzing and noise in the speakers. Turns out one of my PL cables was old so I had one buzzing BL9 until I got a replacement. I think the newer PL cables have, on the connector, a little triangular arrow molded in the plastic plug.

I think you will find the 9s to be a worthy improvement, they keep the smoothness and sweet mids of the BL8000s while adding much better bass and max volume ability, with much better treble dispersion too.

 

I have done exactly the same thing, and Jeff's correct about the cables. The level of improvement can only be truly heard in your own home, listening to familiar music etc.

Well worth it.

Jeff

Thanks for your objective response!

Regards,

Bart

Chris,

also many thanks!

Regards,

Bart

Hi Ekl

I have also upgraded to Beolab 9's. Before I had Beolab 8000's with Bl 2 with my BV 11. I initially thought I would go for BL18's. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a home trial with the 18's and 9's next to my 8000,s and 2. I had them all for nearly two weeks and did a lot of listening. In my room for me the 9's we're what I wanted - very clear, spacious, natural, integrated sound, the right amount of bass when needed, you just hear the sound rather than where it is coming from. The 18's were very nice but I had  a definite sense of where  the sound was coming from. 

For me it is hard to imagine wanting anymore, though I would expect the Bl 20's to be yet another improvement (I have only listened a little bit to them). If you are also thinking of Bl 5's you might consider the 20's, these might be the ideal if your room is not too big.

Tony

p.s. I listened to some Bach organ music the other day (leipzig chorales) with the 9's and the bass was really breath taking, it took me by surprise, I wasn't even playing it very loud, I really can't imagine wanting more bass.