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
Hello all members,
I would like to improve the bass rendering that I have up to now with my pair of beolab 6000 (light blue version) by adding a subwoofer. I've read a lot of articles about this but still can't do my choice.
If I buy one of them the B2 or B11 it will be second hand devices, not new, not enough money... For 2nd hand products and for a says good condition devices I've seen I will have to pay from 1400 euros to 1600 euros and it is the same for B2 ot B11. So the price is not helping me for the choice.
My question, you will anticipate, is about the "best choice", knowing that each of us have is own music and sound perception and I think there are no "best answer" BUT if I can collect from you B&O owners of one of these 2 models your opinion it woud be great.
I forgot to precise I listen to Jazz, some Classic Music (just started but start to appreciate) and some pop rock as well.
Have a nice Sunday, even under the rain.
Best regards
Franck
Go for the beoab11.
Hallo Koning,
Do you have one or did you listen both to make you choice ?
Thanks for advises
I have 4 beolab 6000 + beolab 11 and it works very well.
I think the beolab 2 in combination with beolab 6000 is overkill.
I recently added a BL 11 to my 6000's and i realy like it! The sound matches very well with a nice amount of bass (i listen to everything from Trance to Classic). The BL11/6000 can even go quite loud!
I did not listen to a BL2 before but i suspect this is al little overkill for the BL6000..
Thanks to you both for your reply.
This is what I expected, meens the B11 as a prefered subwoofer to seat alongside 6000.
Same experience here.
Spend some time wih the BL2 listening, but ended with the purchase of a BL11. As many say and confirm, the BL11 is more musical.
Hi, interesting to read this as I am in a similar situation. I have the 6000's with my V1 and looking to improve the sound. At the weekend listened to the Lab12-2's and Lab14's but in the end I think adding a sub to what I have will give me the best return. Plus my missus loves the looks of the 6000's. So next step is a home demo of the Lab11. I will let you know how that goes, not sure when I will get chance to do it though. It seems its a great combination from the comments you have had.
Steve
Hi all members,
I've read that the B2 has some settings that, if there are well tuned, makes that it will not overkill with the 6000. Anyone who got the opportunity to listen this configuration ?
Thanks
Hi all,
I purchased a beolab 2 in a very very nice condition and I don't know for the B11 but the B2 is just amazing how deep bass it provides at any sound level and there is no "boomy" effect, this is my opinion. I plan to plug 2 more 6000 and I think it will be quite nice. Even the 6000 looks sound better with the B2 "filtering" the very low frequency.
I do not regret at all my choice, I think it is very personnal but B2 + B6000 fits very well together to me.
Regards,
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
FranckF:My question, you will anticipate, is about the "best choice", knowing that each of us have is own music and sound perception and I think there are no "best answer" BUT if I can collect from you B&O owners of one of these 2 models your opinion it woud be great.
I've had a BL2 and now own two BL11s. BL2 was great for movies. Perhaps too great - explosions would shake the room! However, BL2 was poor for regular audio. Was slow.
BL11 is certainly subtle. Some people might not even notice a difference. What it does do is open up smaller speakers, such as the BL3s. They become a bit brighter, as the low end is covered by the BL11. Maybe a 10% improvement? Small, but it's an improvement.
The other BL11 is connected to my BV11 and you do hear the BL11 when watching Blu-ray movies where the audio is of a higher quality. Again, it takes some of the bass away from the TV, freeing up the BV11's speakers to better handle mid and high range frequencies.
I use a 2 with a pair of 8000s very effectively for music using a V1 to control. I think with the right placement and setup it can sound great - I don't have any problems with boominess or slow response.
I agree with moxxey - the BL2 is great as a surround sound LFE speaker - not so good with music.
Peter
BeoNut since '75
Hi again,
I took almost a full week end to find the right place for my B2 and B6000. Then after good placement and good settings of the B2 switches (input level "1" and position "free") I found music really different. Both 6000 and B2 are plugged to an Ouverture, I do not use as "home cinema" and I listen from classic to rock and jazz as well. Sorry but my B2 brings to me a new way to listen to "the New World Symphonia (Dvorak)" for exemple. Then I suppose "explosions" are really impressive with such subwoofer but I'm not so interested by that. Really as already stated the best is to try AT HOME this is THE point.
So I disagree when saying that B2 is only for home cinema, really oboe and other percussions are now very present... to me. Even the resonance of the concert hall is made when the orchestra stops suddenly, and that at that time the low frequency end of disappearing after the high one.
The only default I found is don't push to the maximum otherwise the 6000 are "killed" by the B2. This is were I think a pair of 8000 should be better but for the moment it is nice like this.
Thanks and regards
Congrats - and thanks for the review.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
elephant:Yes Yendys it is personal taste / quality of one's ears ... And also source ! I suspect explosions are explosions are explosions; but music sources must vary amongst us by very wide margins
There are levels of explosion :)
As an example, the same explosion on the BV11 does not shake the room. Compare an Apple TV movie to the same movie on Blu-ray, with uncompressed audio, and the explosion is far more intense. I've been caught out. Rented Skyfall on Apple TV. Bought it on Blu-Ray, later, and the audio improvement was huge.
The movie source and speaker type, do affect the ability to render explosions. Something the BL2 does far better than the BL11.
FranckF: So I disagree when saying that B2 is only for home cinema, really oboe and other percussions are now very present... to me. Even the resonance of the concert hall is made when the orchestra stops suddenly, and that at that time the low frequency end of disappearing after the high one.
Franck, it depends on the audio source - electronic music does not perform as effectively with the BL2. Sadly, I tend to listen to mostly electronic music.
Glad you are happy with the results. A personal demo, as others have said, is always the best solution for your music and situation.
moxxey:There are levels of explosion :) As an example, the same explosion on the BV11 does not shake the room. Compare an Apple TV movie to the same movie on Blu-ray, with uncompressed audio, and the explosion is far more intense. I've been caught out. Rented Skyfall on Apple TV. Bought it on Blu-Ray, later, and the audio improvement was huge. The movie source and speaker type, do affect the ability to render explosions. Something the BL2 does far better than the BL11.
To Moxxey. I hate to open a computer to listen music, maybe because it is my job I'm software engineeer and when I want to listen to music, really have a seat in front of speakers and doing nothing else even the fact to take a CD (the bset is with 24 bits CD and XRCD CDs ;-). I experienced on JVC XRCD CD of flamenco and I though the dancer was about to breake my table when quicking with her feets !!! With "computerised music" MP3 and so on it is not my favorites and I don't listen to it so I cannot say anything about bass rendering in that case. I even seriously think to buy a beogram 3500 to listen vinyls... I know 45 old and still with CD, Audio tape and vinyls ... hummm but it is my taste of music it is the music itself and what you are manipulating and what you are looking also the cover, text if it is opera etc...
I supposed I'm over and looks like Jurassic Park with my installation compared to the new one but the sound I have is deep and I enjoy to see my Ouverture in action. This I can see with a computer and want to forget about computers...
I had the chance to use both with my installation, the B11 and the B2. Finally I prefered to buy a 2004 B2 in mint condition than a brand new B11 for the same price...
That's my experience ;-)
Will tell you with vinyls (direct output from phono to B2 then dispatch to 6000 I eliminate a lot of electronics in the midle and come very close to the original recording for "cheap" prices I think in case I want to have same quality with electronic music, I guess.
Cheers
Hi Franck,
While I do agree with you getting away from what you do all day is good, and I also share the enjoyment of putting on a CD or a, gasp, LP, the music server/streaming approach has it's advantages.
I have a PC I use as a music server located in another room, that stays on all the time. I drop my ample backside into my listening spot on the couch, grab my iPad, and open either Spotify or the iTunes Remote app, and stream to my Playmaker. I enjoy having all my music right there, no digging thru tons of CDs to try and find something. I admit, I'm getting lazy in my old age!
But there are days I'm right there with you, slinging CDs and records, and even tapes now and then. Usually days when nostalgia rules. I also have a vintage system downstairs, late 70's gear, Harman Kardon integrated amp, DCM Time Window speakers. Working on finding a suitable turntable for it.
I've read your experiences with the BL2 with interest, as I'm considering one for use with my BL8000's. In my last house I had a fairly small room that the 8000s handled fine, this house has a much larger room and I need a sub.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Hi Jeff,
"Nostalgia" maybe and surely you are right somewhere, my wife says this about me as well ... I also agree and no doubt that I can't compete against a iTunes or other tools to search and play on demand... One day maybe I will try but for the moment I go to the opposite way and try to listen again vinyls with this particular sound, not perfect, but so "warm".
If you have B8000 (one day I will switch to this model) I think you should try the B2 and B11 if you can. I'm sure you will be surprised by the B2 always used as boomy subwoofer on home cinema configuration but it has not been designed ONLY for that. Of course it can do it, but I think it is not its first "role" (sorry for my English...). I think the big problem with the B2 is the price of brand new unit...
This is a speaker which needs to be tested at home. You will trust me or not but I found the sound much better at home at rather in the room where it was presented ! Wrong placement I suppose. Also if you can avoid to put on corner because in that case you get boomy effect even if placed near a wall. Despite the "wall" and "corner" buttons the sound was not good for me and I started to be disapointed. Then I placed the B2 at 1m from both sides walls and 2m from the corner and put "free" position in the middle of the 2 B6000 in the same alignment and like this it sound perfectly, to me and far better than a B11 because the B2 react to the bass even at low level volume, this is not the case of the B11 where you need some level before it starts to make the difference.
Franck, sounds like you went about setting up the sub the right way. Subs are very room dependent, if you just try them at one position you can get a serious room mode that either cancels out or reinforces certain frequencies. You can't do anything about a suckout with the level control, and only a limited amount for a boosted hump. If you cut the gain you can drop the other frequencies too much, and unfortunately subs like the BL2 have limited control of gain, just 3 settings. In that way the new 19 is a much better approach, gain, freq, and phase controls but still a bit limited in gain.
I have an excellent Infinity sub I use for video, it actually has a one band parametric equalizer. You can adjust center frequency, Q, or width of the band adjusted, and gain of that band. It even came with a sound pressure level meter and a test disc, pluse a neat little set of graph paper and a template to measure your room, pick the worst boom frequency, and calculate how much to adjust it to null it out.
If you move the sub around you will find, as you did, large changes in performance. One old trick is to place the sub at your listening position, play a lot of bass heavy music, then walk around to different places where you might place the sub and pick the one that sounds best.