firedog Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I assume this means wireless speakers are built into the chairs. Cool idea. Probably sounds good if you aren't looking for the extreme audiophile experience. Certainly eliminates the room nodes problem and need for DRC. Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +_iFi AC iPurifiers >Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Conditioning+Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
Freann Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Aha - funny. No, the chair is there to illustrate the size of the speaker. BeoPlay A9 - Seamless Music System with Spotify connect The A9 is a beautiful object, we are planning to buy one to the office (studio). Roon client on iPad/MacBookPro Roon Server & HQPlayer on Mac Mini 2.0 GHz i7 with JS-2 LPS-1 & ultraRendu → Lampizator Atlantic → Bent Audio TAP-X → Atma-sphere M60 → Zero autoformers → Harbeth Compact 7 ES-3 Link to comment
firedog Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Well, dumb me. I thought both were chairs. Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +_iFi AC iPurifiers >Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Conditioning+Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
Skeptic Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 While I haven't heard the BeoPlay A9, I've yet to find any of these modern wireless sound systems that sounds any good relative to their price. They're for the Apple crowd streaming low bit-rate files and are focused more on design and convenience than audio quality. They're for background music rather than HiFi. Ultimately, there's a reason that speakers have the typical "box" design that they do, and aren't made of plastic. Even with angled drivers and DSP, you still aren't going to get much of a stereo sound when the drivers are only 2ft apart. (and that is much further than most of these things) You can fill a space with sound, but you don't get much positional audio, and if they use DSP to widen the sound field (though I'm not sure that the A9 does) it can sound good with some tracks, but simply awful with others. While it does have an 8" woofer, so it should have a better bass response than most, it's using a long rear-firing bass reflex port so I'd still expect it to have the boosted one-note bass typical with most of these products. Tweeters are highly directional, so I wouldn't expect them to be very effective when they are below your knees. It looks nice though, if you want that Nordic design aesthetic. Link to comment
new_media Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 So it's great for listening to ABBA in mono? Link to comment
firedog Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Good one. So it's great for listening to ABBA in mono? Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +_iFi AC iPurifiers >Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Conditioning+Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
Musicophile Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I've heard the A9 and the sound is really not bad. Obviously from any of these design all in ones you'll never get anything audiophile, but for background listening in the living room, the A9 (like the Geneva L we ended up buying) are quite nice, and really look impressive. There is no point comparing this kind of stuff to audiophile gear, it serves different purposes. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
CatManDo Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Every visitor will ask "Why is your satellite dish in your living room?" Claude Link to comment
gmgraves Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 So it's great for listening to ABBA in mono? The only thing good for listening to ABBA in either stereo or mono is earplugs... treacle! George Link to comment
cjf Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Typical Bang & Olufsen I suspect, all price and no performance! It would certainly make for a good conversation piece for the pinky in the air crowd as they sit around and discuss the next yachting trip. My Audio System -Last Updated May 20 2021 Link to comment
wgscott Posted May 30, 2014 Author Share Posted May 30, 2014 Well, dumb me. I thought both were chairs. Perfect sarcasm is a reflexive, brain-stem level snark-infused reply. Link to comment
christopher3393 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I've heard the A9 and the sound is really not bad. Obviously from any of these design all in ones you'll never get anything audiophile, but for background listening in the living room, the A9 (like the Geneva L we ended up buying) are quite nice, and really look impressive. There is no point comparing this kind of stuff to audiophile gear, it serves different purposes. Well said...er, typed. Link to comment
dyohn Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 It sounds very nice for what it is: a high end bluetooth/AirPlay powered speaker. It's designed to become part of a room's decor. Link to comment
gmgraves Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Typical Bang & Olufsen I suspect, all price and no performance! It would certainly make for a good conversation piece for the pinky in the air crowd as they sit around and discuss the next yachting trip. I haven't looked at B&O equipment for decades, so I have no idea what they are making these days, but my first 'good' turntable was a Beogram 1000. It was a belt-drive turntable arm, and cartridge. The arm is still one of the two prettiest arms I've ever seen (the other being the Walnut Grado arm from the early 1960's) and the cartridge that plugged into the arm was a B&O SP12. It performed great for it's time, and B&O's cartridges, which were moving iron types (variable reluctance), were so good that a company in New York called Soundsmith still makes them under license and will provide new stylus assemblies for the older ones and will re-tip the older ones with non-user interchangeable styli. Also, my first stereo microphone was a B&O ribbon model. It had really low output, but with a transformer to boost it and adequate amplification, it sounded very good and was gorgeously made. It came in a beautiful Brazilian rosewood presentation case with gold lettering stenciled on it. I always thought it was very elegant. A friend had a pair of B&O speakers that were excellent for their time. He was a radio "disc jockey" at a classic station, and he took his own cartridges to work to play his own records on his show. He would replace the station's Shure cartridge/plug-in shells on their SME arms with his own shells fitted with B&O cartridges at the beginning of his shift. So, at one time some Bang & Olufsen gear was highly thought of by the audiophile community. Of course as newer stuff came out, we all moved on, and we didn't think about B&O any more. I guess they did become known more for their high fashion than they did for their "fi". OTOH, weren't those fancy linear-tracking turntables of the 1980's highly regarded? leonroy 1 George Link to comment
Sam Lord Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I thought both were chairs. Way to nail it fd. The left is the B&O and the right is a skandy chair. ------------------------------------------------------ New and improved with 20% more snark Mac Mini 2012 with 2.3 GHz i5 CPU and 16GB RAM running newest OS10.9x and Signalyst HQ Player software (occasionally JRMC), ethernet to Cisco SG100-08 GigE switch, ethernet to SOtM SMS100 Miniserver in audio room, sending via short 1/2 meter AQ Cinnamon USB to Oppo 105D, feeding balanced outputs to 2x Bel Canto S300 amps which vertically biamp ATC SCM20SL speakers, 2x Velodyne DD12+ subs. Each side is mounted vertically on 3-tiered Sound Anchor ADJ2 stands: ATC (top), amp (middle), sub (bottom), Mogami, Koala, Nordost, Mosaic cables, split at the preamp outputs with splitters. All transducers are thoroughly and lovingly time aligned for the listening position. Link to comment
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