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
Hi all,
I found this forum through some YouTube Channel in my search for information about B&O.
Hopefully some of you can help/ advise me.
We are currently in the procces of building a new house, and by accident walked into a local furniture store which has an B&O shop-in-shop.
My wife and I loved the Beosound Shape, the idea of room filling music in such design was amazing.
They sounded great so basicly, The wife wants a shape.
I fell in love with The look of The beolab 18’s and after having an eargasm when demo-ing:
4 BL18+BL19 and BV eclipse set up at dealer i was amazed at the clearity and purity of The sound. Also amazing to see the set up decide a la minute which speakers to turn on when. ( mostly heard front 2 BL18’s and BL19 ( didn’t notice sound comming from BV of back BL18’s) only when watching cable or something in the trailer asked for some spatial sound.
Also loved the idea of controlling lights or curtains using the BR1 ( would need Some domotica according to dealer.) looks cool and think it’s handy ( instead of hue’s using app or remote / somfy app or remote.)
But having a hard time justifying a tv for 14-17.5k.
Also would rather have a Samsung Q90/Q95 tbh3-4K or will be checking out loewe tv’s 5-7k soon.
I’ve read about some almono box which should do the trick but Not sure what I will miss out on when I go for a non BV tv. I know Loewe has a center speaker so that’s a win I think?
Whishlist:
TV :
1. Samsung ( not to expensive familiar, and easy to justify a replacement in a few years)
2. Loewe ( looks great in design and from what I read can almost replace a BV, not sure what it can’t replace)
3. BV not my type of styling weird bar on eclipse also to small but harmony is to over the top and so damn expensive.
Remote:
1 remote to control ( lights downstairs, electric curtains ( downstairs), TV and Music
BV set up benefit is the BR1
Thinking about installing Control4 + Neeo remote can this duplicate the same BV set up?
Music:
The freedom of the speakers being able to determine on their own if the speakers should jump in. ( for instance when watching cable TV sound is fine for me) however when movie or music it should auto select the additional speakers BL 18’s+19. Ala BV set up demo. Can this be reproduced using a samsung or only a Loewe when the Almono thingy. also would love to have the tv + BL’s be able to multiroom with Shape. Currently I mostly use airplay 2 using Spotify to send to Samsung ( which has an hifi set I turn on and off manually when playing music)
Any one with experience in Control4 + Neeo remote and Loewe+ BL’s?
TLDR:
what do you miss when opting for Loewe + Almono vs BV ?
Also without BV and if Control 4 + Neeo should work on a Loewe it would same buying a MLGW.
bottom line not to keen on BV’s designs and think the price is a bit outrageous, but love the total package hoping to cut some costs but keep most of the functions if not expand a bit.
BV route
BL18’s 6k
BL 19 3k
Shape 8k
BV 14,5k ( waiting 77inch eclipse or 65 inch harmony)
MLGW 2k
KNX 5k
38,5k total
Loewe route
Bild 7k
shape 8k
Control 4 5k
BL 18+19 9k
29k total
Samsung route
25k total
it’s a lot of money and I am willing to spend however would want to make the best informed decision I can.
a 10-14k difference can also be used to add some extra’s to the house
Any advice or tips?
Thank you. Future B&O owner
Welcome to the forum. I wish I had some helpful answers for you but your questions are beyond my expertise.
Beolab 28s Beolab 9s Beolab 12-3s Beolab 1s Beolab 6000s 2 pairs Beolab 4000s Beovision 7-55 Beovision 10-40 Beoplay V1 32 inch Beovision Avant 32 inch Beosound 1 (CD player) Beosound 3000 Beosound 5 Core Essence MKII Beoplay M5
Why not a LG OLED TV..?The new models can be controlled with the BR1.If you think the speaker on the Eclipse looks "weird", and the Harmony is too expensive - then just buy the TV-part, which is LG.With the speakers, you want to buy, you'll not need the speaker sections of Eclipse or Harmony Maybe a BS Stage as center speaker?
Hi there. I'm an ex-B&O salesman and a current Control4 integrator with a mixed setup at home. I'm sure I can help guide you at bit.
I'd say that Control4 is an ideal compliment to B&O's products and the Neeo remote certainly "feels" like a Bang & Olufsen piece. The fit and finish is actually superior to the BeoRemote 1. There just have to be considerations as to what you can mix and match, and what you can't.
The video setup can be easily mixed and matched. The Control4 will knit together the various components and make them function as an integrated system. You can use the television and AV Receiver of your choice and connect the B&O speakers. Just make certain that the AV receiver has pre-amplified outputs for easy connectivity to the B&O speakers.
Where you'll want to stay consistent is your multi-room music setup. There isn't an easy answer to this one as there are drawbacks whether you commit to Bang & Olufsen as well as Control4's own internal multi-room setup. I'll try to be as brief as I can:
- Control4 outputs to each room in one of three ways: from an audio matrix, from the audio output on a controller. So the number of these outputs in a given project represent the number of simultaneous streams. The downside to this is that using little stand-alone products like a BeoPlay M3, BeoSound 1, etc. become difficult or expensive. Let's say you wanted a BeoSound 1 on your kitchen counter: you'd either use it independently with no ability to join a multi-room session with Control4, or you'd have to run an analog audio connection from the nearest piece of Control4 hardware into the B&O product and have it operate as a line-in. (The silver bullet, should the update ever come, is for Control4 to add an AirPlay 2 capability - it's not bullet proof, but I've found AirPlay 2 to be surprisingly robust).
-BeoLink Multiroom has a pretty wide variety of form factors but has two major limitations when integrated with Control4, with one relating to the other. First is that there is no content-browsing driver or network driver available for B&O. The individual product drivers are excellent, but they can't proxy into the "sessions" feature in Control4, nor can you search your music service for content or access playlists, etc. This is either a major drawback or irrelevant depending on how you use your products, but it also causes the next issue: If you integrate the B&O with a video setup, say a BeoSound Core input into an AV Receiver, there's no mechanism within Control4 to see that the BeoSound Core has been engaged and thus switch on the AV Receiver, turn to the correct input, etc. - You have to initiate that command from within Control4, so if you're using the B&O App or AirPlay, Control4 isn't monitoring the state of those devices - it only knows what you tell it. So you have to do a little app-jumping. Again, not terrible, but not perfect.
-My Solution is something I'll outline because it's something that works for me. I have Sony televisions, one with surround sound and two with local stereo speakers. The one with surround sound is a Core connected to a AV Receiver. The other TVs are connected to the Core via toslink cable. The Control4 handles this scenario really well. I don't use the B&O app at all, but have set up Join and Expand buttons on all of my Neeo Remotes as well as Join, volume, mute, and Off commands to keypads in the rooms. This means I usually AirPlay to whatever product and then use Join/Expand to add rooms. Also works with TV sound, which I often use to add my kitchen speaker to the family room when watching news or sports.
A lot to digest, but hopefully this helps.
Steffen: Why not a LG OLED TV..?The new models can be controlled with the BR1.
Why not a LG OLED TV..?The new models can be controlled with the BR1.
You do know that that is not true!
Correct is that you can control certain models of the LG/OLED’s, if you have a BeoSound Stage rightly set up to it.
There is no way to control an LG-tv as a standalone tv just using the BeoRemote One/BT.
Using the Stage as a center speaker would imply the use of it’s analog input and some kind of multichannel pre-processor....which kind of defeats the purpose of the BS Stage.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Thank you for you knowledge.It is a bit frustrating for a novice in the B&O world.
One thing i still don't understand is why they didn't release an upgraded version of the Stage?
Make it one hell of a centerspeaker and combine it with the B&O sound solution software/hardware.
I've already contacted a local dealer which also deals in Loewe and to have the same ''special B&O'' feeling; have the TV/ center speaker play the audio of normal broadcasts and enable stereo/surrounds/sub when watching movies i would basicly need to buy and custom set up an Dolby Amplifier of around 5k, This including a center speaker + TV would bring me above the price of a 65 eclips and near the 65 Harmony. ( The almando solution should only work in a scenario like always all speakers or never all speakers on ) and the thing i loved of the B&O showcase of dealer was that the BV knew when to enable which speakers for the best listening experience is only available using a external dolby amplifier.
He did say that they sometime custom disassemble an Eclipse ( Strip the panel) turn the sound engine + speakers into TV cabinet and have the freedom to connect any LG tv ( be it compatible with B&O). He also expected B&O to do this themselves or give dealers the possiblity to do this in a plug and play version in the upcomming year.
I feel it is a real missed opportunity of B&O in the upselling department.As a newcommer in the B&O world i would love to buy a Stage with the possibility to further branch out in Beolabs etc.It feels like either buy the TV we supply as the heart of your set up or don't get the benefits. And for a new time customer dishing out 30k-ish for a home entertainment set up is a bit over the top. I would love to be able to grow my way in to it, and keep the freedom of picking my TV but still have all the benefits B&O delivers.
As a younger buyer 26 yo, i always grew into a market/ eco-systemI feel like B&O tries to mimic Apple but misses the crucial point of growing into an eco-system.I am currently debating waiting for Eclipse MK II or get a 65'' Harmony ( wallmounted) or waiting for a solution the dealer proposed ( separate sound engine of Eclipse) also would someone advise KNX over Control4 in the scenario of controlling it all using BR1 ( curtains, lights, TV set up).
I don't need any other fancy tricks :)But i do want the custom sound matrixes a BV enables without a BV.
Guess i'll wait out this years releases.
Hello! Good to hear you are looking at B and O. I have a system that I think fits your requirements without a lot of the necessary expense you talk about I think. I have a Loewe Bild 5, built in sound bar acts as centre speaker, out to lab 9 fronts and lab 4 rears. The Loewe is connected to a beosound moment too, so now has full b and o multi room streaming capabilities and can link to the other b and o products in my house such as beosound 2 and beoplay v1. No almado box, no external activity processor. Just cabled connections via the Loewe’s internal sound processor.
Beovision 10, Beoplay V1, Beolab 17, Beolab 9, Beolab 4, Beosound 2, Beosound Moment x 2, Beoplay M3, Beogram 1700