Darko on active speakers

[Gremlin]

The Beolab 90 is a very ambitious design, very expensive and probably sounds very good. It certainly looks spectacular. I have not heard them. But a DSP controlled speaker in this class that does not correct timing between drivers to create a time coincident output is, in my view, flawed. As far as I know the technology has not 'trickled' down to smaller models yet either. Other (older) speaker models from B&O is definitely not in the class of the Beolab 90.  @Rodrat2's description of the targeted demographic is spot on.

The Beolab 50 has some trickle down.

[ogs]

I did not know about the Beolab 50. Thanks for the correction @Gremlin!
It is clearly based on the same platform as the Beolab 90 and much better looking too, but the price tag...

[Gremlin]

I did not know about the Beolab 50. Thanks for the correction @Gremlin!
It is clearly based on the same platform as the Beolab 90 and much better looking too, but the price tag...

Views vary re the looks. And I think B&O intentionally don't do cheap. But, considering all the hardware you're getting, I don't see them as being overpriced.

[whatmore]

The Beolab 90 is a very ambitious design, very expensive and probably sounds very good. It certainly looks spectacular. I have not heard them. But a DSP controlled speaker in this class that does not correct timing between drivers to create a time coincident output is, in my view, flawed. As far as I know the technology has not 'trickled' down to smaller models yet either. Other (older) speaker models from B&O is definitely not in the class of the Beolab 90.  @Rodrat2's description of the targeted demographic is spot on.

I've heard the Beolab 90, it sounds good to my ageing ears

I didn't realise that it isn't time-aligned. Agree that does seem to be a pretty big flaw  (unless they had a good reason for deciding not to)

EDIT: I just read the Stereophile review. I can't see an reference to lack of time-alignment

[Gremlin]

The Beolab 90 is a very ambitious design, very expensive and probably sounds very good. It certainly looks spectacular. I have not heard them. But a DSP controlled speaker in this class that does not correct timing between drivers to create a time coincident output is, in my view, flawed. As far as I know the technology has not 'trickled' down to smaller models yet either. Other (older) speaker models from B&O is definitely not in the class of the Beolab 90.  @Rodrat2's description of the targeted demographic is spot on.

I've heard the Beolab 90, it sounds good to my ageing ears

I didn't realise that it isn't time-aligned. Agree that does seem to be a pretty big flaw  (unless they had a good reason for deciding not to)

I may be being stupid here, but how could the 90 do its beam steering without being time-aligned?

[whatmore]

I may be being stupid here, but how could the 90 do its beam steering without being time-aligned?

Don't know. I can't find anything about lack of time-alignment

[ogs]

The step response measurement shows the alignment. For Kii Three it's fig. 1 (with time correction) and 2 (without). For Beolab 90 it is fig. 5. Seems B&O wanted to keep latency below 30ms which is one picture frame - so they had to skip some of the sound quality

[Pim]

The Kii three is about to get a lot more powerful;

https://darko.audio/2018/05/munich-high-...8-preview/

[ogs]

Hi Pim, yes I've seen that. In my current room the three alone would probably be all I need, but I am sure the extra capacity in the bass would be nice even in a smallish room.

[whatmore]

The Kii three is about to get a lot more powerful;

https://darko.audio/2018/05/munich-high-...8-preview/

Wow !!