Beolab 3 with Beolab 2 - any good? And how would they connect to Playmaker or Beosound 4?

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Nagraboy Posted: Fri, Feb 14 2014 11:43 PM

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I've been very much enjoying my new Beolab 3 speakers partnered with the Beosound 4 unit for the last few weeks.  I've plugged an Arcam airDAC into it to give me Airplay for Spotify and extra digital inputs for TV/Blu-Ray player.

However, I'm now wondering about adding the great-looking Beolab 2 sub to this setup.  Would anyone have any advice on this combination?  Visually they seem a great match but I'm wondering what people think of them together sound-wise?

If I did go for the Beolab 2, how would it connect to the Beosound 4?  And if I got a B&O Playmaker (and used the BS4 elsewhere), how would it connect to that?  I notice it has different output sockets from the Beosound 4...

I'd be very interested to hear owners views on these issues.

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jk1002 replied on Sat, Feb 15 2014 2:48 AM

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I have that combintion.

The playmaker simply connects to the sub and from there it goes to the BL3.

Soundwise, I am loving it. I wanted BL3 alone but when I tried it with Bl2 few years back I couldnt resist. It provides a bit of relieve to the Lab3 and you get much more room filling sound.

Some think its overpowering but if you like less bass, try fiddling with the speaker type switch and position settings.

Also, take a look at BL11. I am moving my BL3 into my 2nd apartment and am considering that since the BL2 is kind of tough to ship cross country

Note that both BL2 and BL11 will filter the lower frequencies, my understanding is that the later BL19 will rely on the source system to do that if I understand correct (and older Beosounds just wont, Beosystem 4 does)

Cheers

JK

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beowild replied on Thu, Feb 27 2014 4:18 PM

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Hi Nagraboy

We also have this combination in our main room connected to an older BM7000. It fits optical and sound-wise. The sub in the main room even betters  the sound of the small canton speakers in the adjacent kitchen connected by master control link.

The combination of BL3 and BL2 seems to me the best pure b&o 2.1 setting at the time for people who don't like large speakers in their homes (you always can hide the rather large BL2.

As BL2 is doing the filtering, you have to connect the BL3 through BL2 to the music system. Don't worry about the different sockets as you will find adapters.

Best regards

David

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Millemissen replied on Fri, Feb 28 2014 9:02 AM

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Hi Nagraboy,

please notice that if you want to ditch the Arcam DAC, you will have no digital-input for your tv/bluray.

Most modern tv's haven't got an analog-out.

The Playmaker has no digital-in (only an analog).

N.B. The speakers connections on the Playmaker are PowerLink, but with a different plug.

You can get an adapter for that, if you need it for the BL3/2 combo.

MM