Beolab 5 tricks?

Hi fellow Beoworlders

I'm probably going to open an old thread here however i think i'll add another spin. I know there was numerous discussions on this however i can't seem to find them on the old posts.

I'm the proud owner of a set of Beolab 5's attached to a BV 7-40 and hooked up with powerlink cables. The BL5's replaced my 8000/BL2 combo. Over the weekend i gave the old combo a run as i hadn't used them in a while. I was blown away with how good they sounded. Especially the bass. Reminded me how my 5's lacked that lower end punch during music playback. How, i don't understand as it's clearly a world class speaker. Is it my ears playing tricks? Am i listening at a volume that's too low?

My point is, i am one of the Lab 5 owners who is disappointed with the bass response from the speakers. More so listening to music. Movies are fine. Does anyone have any tricks in regards to getting more bass during the calibration? I have the loudness turned on and the bass turned up. I know i'm going against the grain here but it's a little frustrating. I have taken all furniture out of the room and that improved it slightly. Our lounge room is tiled. Would that make a difference?  I know i'm not the only person that has had this problem. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Tks

Mark

I do not have Beolab 5s, but I have experienced the same issue when I have listened to them. I had an in home demo of them approximately a year ago and found the bass lacking. Because I know that so many people praise them so highly I am having another in home demo Wednesday. Dealer is also bringing a pair of Beolab 9s. Presently I have 9s in front with 4000s in the rear. I want to try 5s in front with the 9s as rears as well as 4 9s. I am curious if the bass will be lacking this time as it was last time.

My lab 5's werent lacking any bass i had to put it on -6 on my beosound 5 if i wanted to listen to them without anyone in my house and the neighboors complaining, but i noticed with some music that the bass doesnt respond so fast and that it is kind of slow huge let down :(

Tip #1 : reset the speakers to factory default

That's done by pressing the top the same way as when calibrating them, just keep it pressed til the speaker shuts it self off. usually 20 sec or so.

Tip #2: when calibrating them, place the speakers further from the back wall, if possible in the middle of the room even.

This usually yields far better bass response.

I have seen this comment before.  While I don't have a pair of Beolab 5's (though I hope to in the coming year), I have a theory as to why they are perceived to have a limited bass response (cue Anne Elk for you Monty Python fans).

 

In many speaker reviews, I've read of "room gain" in the bass response, e.g. the bass response rises in volume relative to the midrange response as result of boundary reinforcement.  Could it be that since that adjusted Beolab 5's account for this boundary reinforcement, they seem to have less bass response than a speaker that doesn't have that kind of adjustment?

 

The reviews of the Beolab 5's have frequency response graphs that definitely show it can produce a flat frequency response at the low end.

 

Yes, it is possible that the overall volume that you are listening to is too low.   The ear's frequency response varies with overall volume, especially at the low end.  I can provide a graph from a book if interested.

 

David

Eh hem...eh hem...eh hem...are you ready for my theory? Eh hem....

I think you're right, very few people, even audiophiles, have ever heard a setup with truly accurate, flat bass response. Usually there's a lot of not only freq domain bumps and serious dips but often time domain smearing from rooms that resonate, not just due to dimensions and standing waves but also structure that absorbs, resonates, and reradiates low frequencies. Not much you can do about cancellation dips but you can eq out bumps pretty successfully though you usually need a parametric eq that you can adjust for freq, Q, and amplitude. A lot of times I've seen and heard from others people don't like the results and say there's no bass. 

The times I've heard the Lab 5s I was blown away by the accuracy and depth of the bass. 

Thanks for the responses guys.

I was always under the impression the the BL 5's had to be powerlinked while the calibration was going. I've since found this out not to be the case. I'm going to a new calibration in the middle of my empty garage which hopefully will improve the bass response. Will let you know how it goes. Have a merry Xmas all. Cheers