ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I’m the proud owner of a beautiful pair of “new to me” blue Beolab 9’s, my first B&O products outside of Audi audio systems. I have questions about how to connect and set these up in a modern WiFi and streaming 2 channel audio AND streaming 4K TV and movie surround system. I’m looking for these awesome BL9’s to be the foundation of the audio and video system. I posted some questions about this on a B&O FB forum a while back and just got so many different answers that I’m frankly totally confused.
Here’s the equipment I’ve already got:
B&O Beolab 9, circa 2010 (planning to hardwire with appropriate connector cables)
LG E9 Glass 65 inch Class 4K Smart OLED
Apple 4K TV
Panamax MR4300 power conditioner
Sony Blu-Ray Streaming 4K Ultra HD Hi-Res Audio Wi-Fi UBPX700
And, I’m planning on acquiring the following to round out the audio side of it: a set of Beolab 6000’s, each with a “Receiver 1” to make them wireless, for rear surrounds; a Beolab 19, and sone sort of center channel speaker.
I think my basic question is, can I simply connect all of this through a modern AVR, like a Marantz NR1711 to get full audio and video control, ability to play Apple Music library, Spotify, etc via Airplay2, and play surround sound tracks from Netflix, AppleTV, Amazon Prime, etc from my Apple 4K TV?
is there anything else special I need? I’ve had people suggest I need Almando, or B&O Transmitter, or Core, not sure if any of these are needed to make this all work?
And is there any special thing needed to “trigger” the BL 9’s and 6000’s to turn on and off at the appropriate times?
Final question - I’m extremely concerned about producing very high quality audio and don’t want to choose components or connectors that will degrade the sound coming from these beautiful speakers. Thanks in advance for any help!!
Lots of questions there....
The Marantz, you mention, is an A/V receiver, which means that it has amplifiers built-in.
What you need is device with pre-outs.....since all the speakers listed, are powered speakers ( = Beolabs).
If you want send sound to the 6000/Receiver1, you’ll need a Transmitter 1 connected to the outputs of the pre-amplifier, you choose.
Having the BL9’s in the mix you certainly won’t need a BL19.....if you do proper bas management in the preamp.
Why would you need the power conditioner? Better spend the money on a proper preamp!
For a suggestion, which preamp to choose and how to set things up, keep posting. There are people here you have made similar setups.
Here is a Beoworld thread with some advices
https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/23023.aspx
By the way, you don’t mention ‘a center speaker’.....which is an essential part of a home cinema setup.
Don’t you intend to have one?
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Your set up to an extent is similar to what I have, except I have a Sony 65 Inch OLED connected to BL2/BL8002 combo. Here is what I found works best.
1. Originally, I used to connect Apple TV 4K to my Sony TV via HDMI and then connect the BL2 (in your case it would be BL 9) from the headphone out jack and the BL8002 were connected to the BL2 via power link. The advantage of this is that you can control everything with the Apple TV remote (in my case ALL my video sources - including my TV is an Apple TV App). The downside is that while the Sony TV has a decent audio processor, it isn't the best. Also, for the BL2 I needed an extra trigger cable and the speakers had to be manually switched on and off.
2. My current set-up is to now connect the TV audio to a Beosound Core via Optical. and Beosound Core is connected to the BL2. The audio quality is significantly better (more punchy bass for sure). However, for volume now I need to use The Essence remote that I bought with the Core. However, the Bl2 and BL 8002 are now fully streaming compliant with the rest of my B&O products (see my signature). While I thought it would be a pain to have a separate remote for volume, it actually works well. Plus, the speakers turn on automatically with the TV and turn off a few minutes after the TV is turned off.
I stopped using physical disks 3-4 years ago. I personally sitting 8 ft away from a 65 inch OLED screen could not see the difference in PQ or AQ....so it's all streaming 4K for me now.
Good luck with your BL9s!
Steve from Sounds Heavenly can help with cables, whatever route you choose to go (direct to the TV or via a Core)
B&O in my life 😊:
I have a hybrid system centred around the Beolab 9
speakers over 10 years old now , and would highly
recommend them
In my view the BL9s are an exceptional speaker , and
very under rated
This might be a bit controversial but
with 50 years experience including a short spell
as a hifi reviewer in the 1970s I think I have heard
or owned many so called hifi Audiophile systems
Very few audiophiles think that the BL9 is good
enough to be called an audiophile quality speaker
I disagree with one small flaw on the BL9’s related
to the bass output even using ABL which sometimes
produces bass overhang , giving a slightly exaggerated
bass bloat
This has now fortunately been resolved with my
recent purchase of an Arcam AVR550
using the bass management adjustment of Dirac Live
on the Arcam 550 which completely removes
the bass bloat
For me the strengths of the BL9 are related to the
A/B class amplifier driving the midrange speaker
This produces a very open and accurate sound
and gives a form of blackness to music
which very few speakers achieve
I would explain blackness as the difference between
no music in the background to instant music
This creates a very real life experience to any Music
whether it is Classical Jazz or Contemporary
The only non B&O reference point is to liken it to
listening to my very old Sennheiser HD600
headphones which are regarded as the most neutral
providing similar blackness in the background
as my BL9 and is a big accolade to B&O to get
close to this reference sound with speakers
I also have B&O headphones which I enjoy all be it
with a slightly warmer signature sound than the HD 600’s
So with a bit of care and amp matching this
is a great speaker for all types of music and home cinema
Beolab 9s L/R
Beolab 7-4 / Centre for home cinema
Arcam AVR 550 with Dirac Live
Marantz Signature SACD
Home cinema
Philips 65 /803 OLED TV
Oppo 103D Blu-ray
Beolab 7-4 Centre (mono) speaker
B&W PV1 subwoofer (1)
Totem Acoustic subwoofer (2)
Focal Dome rears
Anthony Gallo Divas upfiring Atmos