Bang & Olufsen - Beosound Theatre

In your case, I would get the Theatre and connect your 18s as fronts and also connect the 19. I agree that the 18s+19 sound superior to the 28s without sub. There is no better soundbar out there, and when you add more speakers to it, it is really incredible. The Premiere is also astounding, but won’t work with 18s or 19. Have you considered adding surrounds? Adding BL8 as surrounds or even something like Level or Emerge makes a HUGE difference.

Not on their own, you would need a separate brain to tie them together like Theatre or Beoconnect Core.

Absolutely, the feeling you get having nice products like B&O around the home just makes you want to listen even more. Emerge, Level, and A5 are all relatively inexpensive compared to the others in the lineup, and are easy to place around the home. Balance and Beosound 2 have much better audio quality and look and feel very premium. A9 sounds even better if you have the space for it. Beolab 8 and 28 pairs get into some really serious audio quality. If you would like to include TVs, the Theatre, Premiere, and Stage will work with any television, or can be purchased as a Beovision set which includes the TV and a more streamlined design to match. They can also be grouped with other speakers around the home - let’s say you have a Premiere in the living room, you don’t necessarily need speakers for music AND tv in that room, the premiere (for example) can do both. The Stage will be discontinued soon so if you want one, get it while you can. Beosound Shape is a fan favorite, looks and sounds incredible, and you can get whatever design and colors, as big or small as you want.

I missed out on the launch price and a 20% discount (offered to me by B&O) on the Theatre, as it jumped £1800 before I saved the money. A couple of 20+ % hikes really put it out of the savings. But you are going for a Theatre. One way or the other, and what every you hear or don't hear you are going to make that jump. I have Beolab 28 as front speakers. Running Theatre with 19 and 17s for rear and then switching to having the 28s as fronts has a better sound stage. wider, deeper fuller. It is like switching from the kitchen boom box to hi-fi. I feel there is that difference. After setting up a few stored configurations you can switch between them so one can be without fronts or without sub. If using Beosound Levels for fronts there is a increase in fullness and depth but not the impact the Beolab 28 make. In the microphone sweep having front channels and at that time the Receiver 1 and an analogue centre the theatre cut off all the speakers inside. The side firing and up firing speakers left it to the 28s and the centre to the separate centre. So I have a £10k box with 12 speaker drivers in it and none are used. You can reconfigure and change the settings but basically the theatre can cut itself out. Besides 5 WiSA speakers, the Receiver 1 I also added Emerge and Levels over digital powerlink. I don't like how the Beosound speakers are included - they are locked down to the Theatre and unlike 8s and 28s do not revert to normal use when the Theatre is shut down. For internet radio I prefer to just use Beolab 28 as when switching the Theatre on all the speakers are powered up and even if making a setting up for just the two Boelab 28 the Theatre is powered. Sound wise the Emerge and Level do add a lot to the sound but I have also switched back on side, front and up firing speakers of the Theatre. Beolab 28 are just better as one would hope for the big jump in cost. I am not getting much out of the rear speakers. If I place the Beolab 17 as front speakers they perform as well as 28s. Not if the source is stereo music but in terms of 6 channel movie or TV. The 17s are much underrated and many owners of 17s and 18s do rate the 17s as the better speaker. I have not placed the sub-woofer to the rear of the room to see if that would make a difference, I have had a sub under the centre for ten years and would need to reorganise the room for different placement. Theatre with 18s+19 at the back of the room is possibly enough. Have a separate stereo set up. You can add 8 powerlink, 8 WiSA and 4 digital power link speakers to the Theatre. A lot of choices but different, not improvements. I would prefer a solid centre and a box of electronics for the transmitter and connections and not all the theatre extra drive units that are silent handing over the roll to Beolab 28s as front speakers. I used an Axiim Link to run Beolab 28s, 17s, 19 and a Receiver 1 for an analogue active centre channel. The Theatre has the microphone for automatic set up of position, level and other features but to my hearing has not made an improvement over the Axiim Link based set up which is less complex and less frustrating. Axiim Link has USB input for a LG TV, Xbox or PC. Soundsend is similar with an HDMI input. Axiim Link has been as low as $189, I paid £325 to import from Demark as I couldn't find one anywhere in stock. The alternative would be Almando with WISA option. Maybe with more experiments and alternative settings I will have twenty eight other conclusions.

I started with active speakers and analogue inputs. I decided the replacement due to age and repair costs to go for WiSA. The Theatre jumped up in price by 26% and then 22%. So I got a Receiver 1 for my existing active centre channel. found a good price on Beolab 28 and then six months later got the Beolab 19 and then the Beolab 17. I used an Axiim Link as WiSA transmitter. All speakers are active. There is no voicing difference in what I have heard, even with mixing Meridian and B&O speakers. The Theatre does not work with passive speakers or powered speakers only powerlink or to WiSA and DPL speakers all of which are active speakers. When I finally went ahead with the Theatre now at 46% more cost than at launch it had included digital power link over the previous year but little information on set up, limits, features or anything at all. Before the Beolabs I had Levels and Emerges. These ought to be enough of a speaker for my use and as good as they are the terrible latency and the eventual solution that works but is not seamless. The Emerge speakers are high up, used for internet radio and internet of things control and sometimes with the Levels as multi-room so in terms of what the Theatre found the heights but even when not selected still dropped side and up firing speakers in the sweep of speakers included having sound tested them in the listening test. The Theatre would find the four Beosound speakers but only green light two of them. Many factory resets and re-boots to correct that. The microphone would also place the Beolab 17 and Beolab 28 to the left of the Theatre in different roles. No idea why, frustrating as nothing was straight forward and as simple as setting up the WiSA speakers on the Axiim Link WiSA transmitter which managed to get placement correct without issue. So of course, when told the Theatre runs 8 powerlink, 8 WiSA and four DPL I wanted all the speakers included. Hence having a Receiver 1 with an analogue centre set as Beolab 7.4. bringing in the four Beosound speakers just to see what happened. I have thought about getting adapters to bring in my six floor standing active speakers and a Receiver 1 for the B&W PV1 as second sub at the back of the room into the Theatre set up just to experiment.

You need a WiSA transmitter but a Soundsend or Axiim Link will work nicely for £200-300. These WiSA trasnmitters with also work with a Receiver 1 so you can add one to the 7.4 for centre. Whilst not doing the sweep to adjust position and level will do most of the other features for surround and avoid the £10k for the theatre (try to get 20% off as a dealer would rather have 1K profit than nothing at all). I have 28, 19, 17 and upgraded to a Theatre having used a Receiver 1 with an analogue centre for a couple of years. The Theatre is not an improvement.

I have the Theatre along with 28s in the front. I set the main left and right front facing drivers manually to subwoofers and the bass I get from that and the 28s shakes my entire duplex. What kind of space are you working with?

B&O premiere or theatre. Clarity is next level. Makes sonos sound super muddy

Yeah but think about it. Youre now onto your third soundbar. The b&o, you will buy once, and keep it for the next 15-20 years. And unlike the others it holds resale value. And its aesthetically pleasing.

Ahhh dont show up your prejudice. The soundbar was released in 2022. Its now 2026. The cheapest used b&o theatre soundbar on sale today is £7000. Now I dont have a degree in maths, but 7 is more than 6.

The soundbar we are talking about isnt slim. Youre basically trying to argue something without even knowing what it is 🤣 https://preview.redd.it/md1kaz804jig1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=238fe6e5f636fc78b4e5677e78239c7205233ed0

B&O theatre says no bro

I think that applies to you. B&O theatre you can add any speaker within their range. Completely different stratosphere to the chinese junk youre recommending

B&O theatre, best soundbar, but 12k

Beosound Theater or Premiere. Have seen them and heard and they are better than everything else mentioned.

I would get a Beosound Stage it does not need a sub and is a great all in one. If you want to add speakers, I would say the Premiere/Theater. They sound lovely.

Sound bars will never be true surround, but can do a damn good job. We have used the Devialet Dione, B&O Stage, but both are a few years old I have a Beosound theatre l, which is arguably the best on the market, but bought it before prices went stupidly high

BeoSound Theater trumps everything here cost no object. The Ambeo Max still sounds better than 98% of everything usually recommended here but with its known caveats. The only thing the Nakamichi leads in is output imo.