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Beolab 5 - Four Questionable Technologies

I'm looking to buy a high-end speaker system and have become enamored by the Beolab 5 Powered Speakers by B&O.

In their literature the tout 4 technologies that set them apart.
I am not an audiophile (yet) but wonder what those with more experience think about these four ideas.

1. An Acoustic Lens technology
This means a much wider dispersion of high frequencies. Supposedly this makes sweet spot for listening is much larger. This means you can sit in different places or move around and still have optimal sound.

2. Adaptive Bass Control
This uses a microphone in each speaker to calibrate the low frequency interaction with the room. This permits a wider range of speaker placement. For example, one could be near a wall, or one could be near a corner and this would compensate.

3. Digital Signal Processing
Being all digital, each speaker is calibrated (tweaked) before leaving Denmark to match a reference speaker. This is not possible with analog systems. It assures a that all of the speakers sound the same, a sort of quality control.

4. Digital Amplification
Each of the speakers has four digital amps; one for each driver. Somehow, by being digital Class D amps they can be smaller and run cooler than other amps. That allows them to put 4 powerful amps insider the very confined space of the speaker enclosure. The high power allows peak sound levels of 115 to 120 dB.

Thoughts and comments on any of these four technologies would be appreciated.

And, if you have heard these speakers, do you think they are for real.
hdomke
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Why in god's name would you suppose to know of a deficiency that you have not heard? What motivates you to caution against something you are guessing about?

Macrojack - I am curious and cautious because

1) this is a novel design
2) rave reviews
3) barely any audiophiles seem to own this design (yet it has been around for 4 years)

There are tens of thousands of ordinary box speakers with forward facing drivers that have been built over the years, with good reason => this type design works well. A novel design that looks like a Dalek has my "hype alert" sensors showing yellow warnings!

I agree that an audition is the best way forward but perhaps it helps to be aware that pleasant sound effects may not necessarily be accuracy and that there is very little of a track record behind this novel & very expensive design.
hdomke OP
40 posts
 
Shardone,
If you would be willing to audition these speakers I would be grateful. Then you can tell me if in the "real world" you can hear the design flaw you have detected.

B&O can only be auditioned at B&O stores. Their website lists them. Here is a link: http://www.bang-olufsen.com
On the left hand side of the home page is a a link called "Store Locator"
oxia
51 posts
 
Shadorne,

Regarding your 1st and 3rd points,

-The Beolab 5 may be a novel design in terms of its unique implementation, but the one technological feature that you seem to be focusing on, specifically the use of acoustic lenses to achieve omni-directional dispersion, has actually been around for a while and is a proven concept (see Hegeman / Morrison, Walcott, Duevel).

-The point that "barely any audiophiles seem to own this design" is your weakest argument as it is an appeal to authority, which is a logical fallacy. The fact that you may know of few audiophiles that own a Beolab 5 speaks more of audiophile-accepted trends, attitudes and prejudices rather than the inherent qualities of the Beolab 5 (or any other non-audiophile accepted product, for that matter).

As Microjack rightly pointed out, you ought to listen first and then let your ears decide.
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shadorne
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specifically the use of acoustic lenses to achieve omni-directional dispersion, has actually been around for a while and is a proven concept (see Hegeman / Morrison, Walcott, Duevel).

Oxia,

Thanks for the info, I would add MBL to that list. I am not against omnidirectional and from my understanding most omnidirectional designs would not create the flanging effect (one signal delayed with respect to another).

you ought to listen first and then let your ears decide.

I agree fully but it does not hurt to be an informed buyer about the possibility of audible colorations. Sorry if I offended anyone.
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Hdomke,

There is a store locally - I will see if If they have them. Please understand that flanging can be pleasant sounding and it is done on many recordings. George Martin of the Beatles fame found that you could achieve this by messing around with tape recorders and adding a slight delay to one tape recorder to produce "thicker sounding vocals". So this effect is inevitably on many pop recordings. Also microphone height from a reflective wooden floor will have some influence too. So it is more than likely a pleasant coloration that gives more openness or spaciousness to the sound. That this issue will occur seems inevitable to me given that you can physically see the dome drivers sticking up out of the bottom frizbee in the photographs taken at what would approximate a listening position with respect to the speaker...it seems inevitable that some sound will go directly from the driver to the listener whilst the majority of the sound is intended to reflect off the lens above.
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