So, it appears that the Beolab 20 has been measured by Amir at AudioScienceReview and a garnered a very tepid reception to say the least. Thought it was interesting enough to share here and if anyone has anything to add to the disscussion regarding the 20.
I have enjoyed reading their reviews of other audio products for some time. They are very focused on objective measurements and have been a welcome source of cutting through lots of snake-oil products that seem to infect the audio product space.
The tweeter dispersion results do seem disappointing and counterintuitive to the ALT design goal. I do wonder if the ABL loudness and also the room position dip switch selection didn’t negatively impact the measurements/listening test.
It would be interesting to hear what Geoff thinks of the results / testing methodology.
Regardless of all the measurements: I’m still blown away by my 20’s and love every minute of listening to them.
Maybe a comparison between a Tesla and a Ferrari is in place here. On paper, a faster Tesla is all over any Ferrari. But a Tesla totally lacks any emotion at all. A Ferrari, on the other hand, is pure emotion.
I bought tyhe 20s after the 9s worst mistake I ever made, whilst the technical nature of the report was interesting– dull and lifeless is the conclusion I came to.
On mikipedia chat they come to similar conclusions
I myself have the Beolab 9’s which I’ve been very happy with, ultimately a system only needs to sound good to the listener.
That said it is interesting to see some measurements. The bass capability of the 20’s measured near 100 db (!) at 20 hz (even though there was quite a bit of distortion). Neat stuff for such a relatively small speaker.
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