Beolab 5 - Four Questionable Technologies

Marty,
“this speaker would require an in-home demo and a large listening room. I don't know if B&O would accommodate such a request.”
B&O has already said yes to my request for an in home demo, even though I live 2.5 hours from them on a farm in the middle of Missouri. There will have to be some sort of payment if I don’t buy the system. Same with the B&W dealer.

“BTW, I can't state with confidence that the Beolab 5 doesn't image (soundstage) well.”
I wonder what others would say about this. I went back to David Ranada’s review in Sound & Vision: “it can produce good stereo imaging from a very wide listening area and extremely good imaging when heard from a prime listening position.”

Does anyone else have experience with this speakers imaging qualities?

Johnk,
" Will advancements in dig amps and DSP make it primitive in the near future?"
I'm guessing that if it sounds wonderful today, that it will continue to sound wonderful for a few decades regardless of how much digital amps and DSP improves.

However, I agree with your concern that about how well they might respond to a voltage spike. These are remarkably compact and complicated speakers. A lot is inside there and I expect repairs would be expensive.

Onhwy61,
“The Beolab narrows your choices down to a single digital source component.. For most audiophiles this would completely eliminate the Beolab from consideration since part of the fun of being an audiophile is working out the system synergy issues!”
Then I’ll probably never be an Audiophile. I LOVE the idea of simplicity. I want the system to sound and look as good as I can get. Then I plan to hold on to it for a few decades.

“Audiophiles like big hulking speakers and 100lb. amplifiers dominating a room. Is that what you want?”
Actually, I think it looks pretty cool. However, we will see what my wife says when she sees the 400 watt amps sitting next to each of the B&W 800Ds.

“If you go to a concert hall you won't hear pinpoint imaging, but a more diffuse type of sound.”
Interesting point. Are you saying that the kind of sound stage that Shadorne is looking for is artificial if the goal is to reproduce a live musical experience?

Thanks for the suggestions of Meridian equipment, I’ll see if I can find a dealer who has some.

Oxia
“To place an omni speaker three feet from a corner where the side-wall is made of a highly reflective material like glass is nothing short of a disaster.”
I’m not sure if it matters, but I don’t believe the Beolab 5s would properly be called an omni directional speaker since the speaker covers only 180-degrees.

As Paul Messenger wrote in Ultraaudio:
“The Beolab 5’s elliptical reflectors are shaped to cover a 180-degree semicircle horizontally, and to restrict the vertical "window." Nearly all of a driver’s output is thus directed forward, reducing the proportion of room-reflected sound the listener hears, effectively increasing the efficiency in the listening zone, and creating a speaker whose output is substantially independent of proximity to the rear wall. Because the Beolab 5 effectively has its own built-in "rear wall," it is immune from reflection-induced colorations caused by the actual room wall behind it.”

Hdomke,

You are correct about the 180-degree radiation pattern, and I mentioned that in my post. However, despite the fact that midrange and treble energy is not being radiated towards the rear, the speaker is still radiating full power to the sides and is thus susceptible to early reflections from the side walls. Consequently they should be either positioned well away from the side walls and ideally the walls should have something in front of them to absorb the energy from the speaker (such as absorptive foam, upholstered furniture, drapes, etc.). Hard surfaces like glass are the worst, as it creates a very acoustically live environment. I reckon that if the speaker is positioned close (within 3 feet or less than one meter) from the glass side wall, given that the BeoLab5 radiates full power throughout the mid-to-treble range towards the side (unlike a conventional box speaker whose output sharply attenuates to the sides), the result would be that the reverberant energy coming off the sidewalls would arrive at the listener's ears with sufficient force and vivacity as to obscure and smear musical detail much more so than in the case of a conventional front-firing box speaker in the same acoustic environment.

The BeoLab 5's DSP should be able to auto-EQ the bass to mitigate excessive room gain (bass boom) caused by the close proximity of walls, but the DSP does nothing to cure the early reflections of midrange and treble energy coming off the sidewalls. For that, good old fashioned attention to positioning and acoustic treatment is needed.