Of course, it's a matter of taste, but I heard many times, that for music lovers modern beolab speakers are to clinical, to cold. I know that some very well known members of this forum changed their speakers and sold their beolab speakers and now use their uniphase speakers again.
What do you think about this topic? I know that Beolab 1 speakers can sound harsh, and many B&O lovers don't like the tweeter of the Beolab 9 and Beolab 5.
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Are older speakers more pleasant to hear than modern speakers (Beolab)?
26 replies
I've not golden ears and don't own high end Beolabs: 4000's and 8000's.
But I remember what I felt after plugging-in S45-2 and even more P50's… Something… Full.
Now they are all stored (glued) because I'm more in a 1990's mood with the 8000's, but eventually the big boxes will return, yes.
Location: Paris France
I really would like to know if Geoff Marin uses an old Beovox speaker secretly at home ;)
And what are the speakers Gert Kudahl Munch uses at home ?? :D
In the last 35years keeping B&O solvent, I've owned a wide-spread of music machines.
BL6000, BL4000, BL2, BL3, BL4, BL5, BL90 as well as countless Beoplay and integrated music boxes.
My view is that the latter-day products are way way more tonally balanced and powerful than earlier non-ICE loudspeakers. The BL5 was clearly the first of these products on a new playing level and I never found the treble a problem. In retrospect, the BL5 had a bass problem which is clearly revealed when compared to the BL50 or 90. However, in isolation - what a speaker!
The only loudspeaker I ever heard which was a problem for me was the BL1. It was shrill to my ears.
As matters currently stand, I wait in anticipation for the Beosound Balance to be RJ45'd so they can be paired either to a BV or to my Auralic DAC. I think the Balance would run rings around the BL3. But I guess that is a kind of progress?
Actually i own BL8000(from 2007) and BL4000 and i really don’t like their sound compared to my Beovox RL60.2 and RL140. The sound is thin and missing depth. The soundstage is not so wide. So my experiences ence is that the older bigger Beovox speakers sounding warmer and more romantic/more pleasant to my ears. And the moderner ones with Icepower have Listening_fatique on my ears. I have a very good hearing. (Offtopic i listened at a dealer on a pair of expensive b&w speakers with a heavy McIntosh tube amp(6xKT150/ch) and the feedback in the amp was extreme. The sound was cold and harsh and lifeless. (and it is always Eric Clapton. Mein gott. Frying your eardrums).All the listening pleasure was gone. I even got a starting headache from the sound ) So in my opinion i like even The Beovox more than Beolab. Maybe it is because im a hyper sensible person. I don’t know…Matador & Kronzilla, Yes, understand your points. I never got to hear the older "Beovox box" speakers and remember somewhat lusting after a pair of Redlines in my early teens. I think the reality is somewhat in between? The older loudspeakers had a limited amount of acoustic design - as did the tape, tuner and decks of the time. With computerised acoustic and electronic design, this will have been "improved upon" technically (but not necessarily "sound better" to many ears). The BL8000 and 6000 were point in case; Loudspeakers could be made small, compact, powerful and WAF/decor-friendly. They were compromised in many ways too, with reduced bass and possibly weak imaging etc... My point is that the latter-day loudspeakers tend to correct all these design deficiencies - but and a big but(t), they are large machines compared to their 1970-1990 counterparts?Please Log In to Reply
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