[5genez]

That was just one place to buy.  There may be more on Ebay.
 
If you have a preamp/amp set up?   You place it between the two.   If you have a DAC to integrated amp?  You place it then between those two.
 
Once set up it can make the speakers very exacting. I do not use a subwoofer because the lo boost in a linear bass boost which is like a dynamic equalizer. It allows for variations in changes in impact that typical EQ or tone controls could never match.
 
Learning the true benefits of a BBE requires learning a new discipline of setting both speakers in very exacting positions. Because you will be focusing the stereo imaging more like you were using a planar speaker.   That is why I always choose phase coherent speakers.  It becomes all about focus and angle.  Sometimes I wish I could drag some of the audio experts into my messy room and have them take a seat to listen to hear what they have been missing.   I am a musician.   I know what a live performance can sound like.  Its not always romantic sounding. 
 
Once you begin correcting the inherent weaknesses of speakers with a BBE a new realm of "getting things exacting" is needed.  Headphones allows us to see that there is life after typical bookshelf speakers. A high quality bookshelf speaker with a BBE gets you closer to what headphones shine upon.  Headphones produce a surreal experience of their own.

 

[aertus]

  there is no inconvenient truth imo.
Hi to each their own.
 
a colleague i know feels headgear is subpar to a nice speaker setup.
he once had a US$70k system (his interconnects alone were $5k each)
..he preferred his beloved sonus faber speakers and wadia cd player and esoteric $20k japanese shindo tube amp.
but he also had to spend 2k on room treatments, too.
he's recently downsized 90% but still prefers 3d speaker sound.
he feels headgear can't compete on imaging, space etc.
in fact he only uses his cans (senn momentums) for late night listening
so as to not disturb his wife while sleeping.
(but give cans a few yrs: more tech is coming out to take that 'in our head' sound
to make it more speaker and 3d like).
 
i just got back into audio last yr...started off with head gear.
 
recently, however, I realized that i missed the larger, room filling music from speakers.  
eg., when cooking or cleaning up having some live music to add some joy and life to my apt
or while surfing at my desktop.
so i  started with a desktop setup near  my kitchen: got the audioengine a5+ and a pioneer sub
...love the live music that can now spill out around me.
now moving up to trying to find some focal alpha 50s to replace the audioengine a5+.
additionally I am now looking at the new kef ls50 wls speakers to start
setting up a home system in the living room.
 
but that said: i also love the fab resolution and bang for buck value that good headgear
can deliver, esp when i want to crank things up guilt free and not worry
about pissing off my neighbours....looking at the focal elear to replace or compliment my senn 650s
 
so in the end: different strokes for different folks...i love both, to be frank
which is ideally what many of us perfer...but in the end it's a matter of limited $$$.

kef ls50 speakers are ******* dope and I love the futuristic look they have. there are so many audio companies im wondering if major audio companies like JBL etc can even compete anymore. JBL does great speakers too. 
 
 
anyways, idk whats happened to the listenting experience. There is nothing like lsitenting to music live or with speakers. There is the experience of the sound and the bass vibrating shaking the room and your body, something that the headphones cannot recreate. 
 
Its like watching a movie at the cinema vs wathing a movie on your pc. Its just not the same experience as going to the movies. I feel like its similar in that sense. Now since we are talking about home Ive always wondered why people spend so much money on TV's but leave the sound lackluster. You need both for a true entertaiment system. 
 
headphones just can't match what the speakers are capable of in recreating sound as if you were listening to the musicians live. The bouncing of sounds around the room and vibrations adds to its unique experience. It sounds different and its all around better. 

 

[aertus]

 
Those must be excellent active speakers!   The BBE works just as well with active and passive speakers. 
 
I never tried the Blue Jean cables.   All cables and interconnects sonic signatures will now become obvious with the BBE.  Some grainy cables that were not obvious before because of the typically veiled speakers, will now be heard.  Because the closer you get to a realistic music sound you can hear the artifacts that get mixed in the sound. That does not make it bad.  Just makes hearing subtleties very easy to detect. Some people disliked the BBE when they did not realize it was exposing the weaknesses they could not hear before. The BBE in itself is very pure.
 
I find it hard to burn in different new components all at once.  For you will not know which component is causing what. I find that new units do not always sound very good when first listened to.  I always try to break in one component at a time to see how its contributing to the music I am hearing.

whats the difference between two and which one is more preferable for home audio? 

 

[5genez]

  whats the difference between two and which one is more preferable for home audio? 

Two?  Which two do you speak of? 

 

[aertus]

 
Two?  Which two do you speak of? 

active vs passive speakers. 

 

[5genez]

  active vs passive speakers. 

All depends....,   The BBE works well with either.  With passive you have the option of changing sound by changing amplifiers.  But,  that does not mean actives won't sound wonderful. The better ones will.
 
What really makes a difference is if the speakers are wired phase coherent.  That can be found with passive or active.  Not all multi way speakers are. Single, full range speakers are.
 
Headphones, because it uses a single driver per channel, are phase coherent.  When you work with crossovers which involves utilizing different drivers, the speaker elements may not be working in phase with the other.  That is why I always wanted bookshelf speakers that I knew had first order crossovers which render the speakers phase coherent.  At present I am listening to full range drivers that have no crossover. Just like headphones...The BBE brings all good speakers to life in a way that can not be described adequately.

 

[aertus]

 
All depends....,   The BBE works well with either.  With passive you have the option of changing sound by changing amplifiers.  But,  that does not mean actives won't sound wonderful. The better ones will.
 
What really makes a difference is if the speakers are wired phase coherent.  That can be found with passive or active.  Not all multi way speakers are. Single, full range speakers are.
 
Headphones, because it uses a single driver per channel, are phase coherent.  When you work with crossovers which involves utilizing different drivers, the speaker elements may not be working in phase with the other.  That is why I always wanted bookshelf speakers that I knew had first order crossovers which render the speakers phase coherent.  At present I am listening to full range drivers that have no crossover. Just like headphones...The BBE brings all good speakers to life in a way that can not be described adequately.

yeah I think for home entertainment I best go with passive.
 
also whats all this talk about speakers not being detailed? or not being enjoyable. if this was the case nobody would ever go watch bands live. Why do I have a feeling not many people on this forum go see music live and instead would prefer to listen to music on their expensive equipment. I think all of them have their use. On the go i want really good IEMs. For home I want great over ear headphone when there is people. and if i really want to enjoy music I would want great speaker set up. 
 
and if I really wanna go out and enjoy a band I like i would go see them live cuz there is not much like it. Its like never going to the movies. 

 

[5genez]

  yeah I think for home entertainment I best go with passive.
 
also whats all this talk about speakers not being detailed? or not being enjoyable. if this was the case nobody would ever go watch bands live. Why do I have a feeling not many people on this forum go see music live and instead would prefer to listen to music on their expensive equipment. I think all of them have their use. On the go i want really good IEMs. For home I want great over ear headphone when there is people. and if i really want to enjoy music I would want great speaker set up. 
 
and if I really wanna go out and enjoy a band I like i would go see them live cuz there is not much like it. Its like never going to the movies. 

 
BBE takes care a lot of that missing detail situation....  The BBE is designed to reverse the masking that speakers inherently produce.
 
I am a musician.  Not many live performances I would really like to hear on recording... Yet,  I prefer my audio/video to be from live performances.

 

[canali]

   
I have sort of come full circle when it comes to headphones and speakers. I was able to audition several $10-30k speaker setups at a friend of mines audio store and trying out $1-300 headphones when Amazon would let you try them for nothing. I could never really find any nitpicks with the $30k setups but they were way out of my price range. His $10k setups were amazing in their own right but I cold always find some fatal flaw and that was my max budget and back then way more than max budet. Saw that at $10k you could really afford the best of the best headphone wise and decided to go down that road. In the mean time I tried a bunch of powered speakers for my dj setup and bought a pair of adam a7x and sub8.
 
Several years latter I have tried most modern day flagship headphones and totl headphone amps and was really pleased with 2 headphones but found even they had pretty big nitpicks over the long haul. While I was buying, selling and going to meets I was also demoing TT's. My fiend who owned the audio store never had and Japan equipment for demo. It was mostly American and European and mostly cd player/dac as well. Took some advise from a member on Audio Kharma and bought and sold a few vintage japan TT's. I have never had such a good experience audio wise by a country mile. All of them blew me away till I got my current TT which works out perfect space and feature set wise and was just the icing on the cake.
 
Now I have an itch for vintage japan speakers that needs to be scratched. I'm holding on to my hd800 but I think that is it. Not sure what I will get yet. The adam's are amazing for what they are. Whatever I get will have some stiff competition.

 
heck not only japanese speakers...but their amps, too...
 my bud loved his shindo hand made preamp and tube amp...each at about US$15k.
http://www.shindo-laboratory.co.jp/
 
i'm coming around to enjoying the live sound from speakers
(currently Focal Alpha 50s...but they don't take a sub, despite have good bass))
such that i'm considering moving up to the mord $$$ CMS series...or Genelecs for my desktop rig
(but crap: their subs alone are $2-3K...ouch!)...and even prefer sometimes my iems over my headphones
(FLC 8S and incoming Aurisonics 1-plus)....but that said I might spring for a pair of Sony Z1R cans for a deal.
with good speakers, there is just something about that live 3D sound...but I also love the resolution
and detail I get from my cans and iems without having to spend $$$$ on a speaker system
(and then have to deal with room treatment, bass traps, etc etc for the best sound)
 
so i'm messed up, not totally happy in either camp (for now)...anyone else in the same boat?

 

[aertus]

   
BBE takes care a lot of that missing detail situation....  The BBE is designed to reverse the masking that speakers inherently produce.
 
I am a musician.  Not many live performances I would really like to hear on recording... Yet,  I prefer my audio/video to be from live performances.

do you think the BBE is necessary for casual use or is it mostly used by musicians for their studio monitors? I'd probably recommend depending on how expensive it is. I dont know technicalities of any of this so I don't exactly understand what it does or what it is but I think i'll take your word for it you seem to know whats up. 
 
exactly, sometimes I definitely prefer live audio song over their recordings. However, whenever I listen to genres such as shoegaze or dream pop or anything that relies heavily on effect pedals it's very difficult to recreate the recorded studio sound in live. So it can go either way. But its a great experience to go see a musician live. I wonder if the ones used in concerts are of the highest quality avalaible. 

 

[5genez]

  do you think the BBE is necessary for casual use or is it mostly used by musicians for their studio monitors? I'd probably recommend depending on how expensive it is. I dont know technicalities of any of this so I don't exactly understand what it does or what it is but I think i'll take your word for it you seem to know whats up. 
 
exactly, sometimes I definitely prefer live audio song over their recordings. However, whenever I listen to genres such as shoegaze or dream pop or anything that relies heavily on effect pedals it's very difficult to recreate the recorded studio sound in live. So it can go either way. But its a great experience to go see a musician live. I wonder if the ones used in concerts are of the highest quality avalaible. 

 
The BBE is for all reasons.  The circuit inside that little unit is the same as the Sonic Maximizer 482i version.( http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-maximizers/482i.aspx     )  ... The desktop unit is stereo, and the larger studio is dual mono. Some use the studio size for their audio system.  I just do not have the space for it.
 
What it does is to remove a layer of a type of distortion that causes us to know we are listening to speakers, not real music. Its a step closer to reality. 
 
I only use the Lo boost for my small speakers ... and only enough to bring the bass up to the same level as the rest of the music. I do not bother with the hi frequency processing because in nearfield, good speakers do not need it.  I think its needed for distance listening to give the tweeter more presence. It does not give you a bloated bass heavy sound like a tone control or EQ.  On live videos the bass sounds to scale with what I see on the video's stage. Keep in mind how live bass sounds when you are sitting back in the audience.   Its not in your face.  Its just there with the rest of the band.   I find it refreshing to listen with. Without it, it sounds dull and drab. (like small speakers playing music)

 

[canali]

   
The BBE is for all reasons.  The circuit inside that little unit is the same as the Sonic Maximizer 482i version.( http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-maximizers/482i.aspx     )  ... The desktop unit is stereo, and the larger studio is dual mono. Some use the studio size for their audio system.  I just do not have the space for it.
 
What it does is to remove a layer of a type of distortion that causes us to know we are listening to speakers, not real music. Its a step closer to reality. 
 
I only use the Lo boost for my small speakers ... and only enough to bring the bass up to the same level as the rest of the music. I do not bother with the hi frequency processing because in nearfield, good speakers do not need it.  I think its needed for distance listening to give the tweeter more presence. It does not give you a bloated bass heavy sound like a tone control or EQ.  On live videos the bass sounds to scale with what I see on the video's stage. Keep in mind how live bass sounds when you are sitting back in the audience.   Its not in your face.  Its just there with the rest of the band.   I find it refreshing to listen with. Without it, it sounds dull and drab. (like small speakers playing music)

 
but am still unsure how to use it on a desktop rig if I don't have an amp?
my gig is pretty simple: laptop as NAS...ethernet from wall/router to microrendu to DAC and then to choice of cans /iems or Focal active speakers
 
btw, BBE replied to my email and recommended the 282IR.
The best product we have that will fit your needs is the 282IR. Here is a link to our product page on it: http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-maximizers/282i.aspx
 
It will definitely get the best out of  your speakers, it has a relatively small footprint, and be simple to use.
 
 

 

[5genez]

   
but am still unsure how to use it on a desktop rig if I don't have an amp?
my gig is pretty simple: laptop as NAS...ethernet from wall/router to microrendu to DAC and then to choice of cans /iems or Focal active speakers
 
btw, BBE replied to my email and recommended the 282IR.
The best product we have that will fit your needs is the 282IR. Here is a link to our product page on it: http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-maximizers/282i.aspx
 
It will definitely get the best out of  your speakers, it has a relatively small footprint, and be simple to use.
 
 

The speakers are their own amp.  No?  They have their own internal amps.   
 
I believe if you look on the back of the BBE you will see two kinds of inputs and outputs.  I only use the RCA types.  But, the type of inputs used by your speakers may be the other kind,  like used for certain headphones.  But the BBE is not designed for headphones.
 
You would run outputs from your DAC,  to the BBE inputs,  and then to your speakers.
 
Look at the third picture down for the rear panel.  This version uses RCA, and the plug type that I believe may involve your speakers.
 
Article and picture.... http://www.audiopolitan.com/blog/bbe-sound-282i-series-sonic-maximizers/

 

[canali]

 
The speakers are their own amp.  No?  They have their own internal amps.   
 
I believe if you look on the back of the BBE you will see two kinds of inputs and outputs.  I only use the RCA types.  But, the type of inputs used by your speakers may be the other kind,  like used for certain headphones.  But the BBE is not designed for headphones.
 
You would run outputs from your DAC,  to the BBE inputs,  and then to your speakers.
 
Look at the third picture down for the rear panel.  This version uses RCA, and the plug type that I believe may involve your speakers.
 
Article and picture.... http://www.audiopolitan.com/blog/bbe-sound-282i-series-sonic-maximizers/

 
this is what i thought AFTER i'd sent it...however, many thanks for your courtesy...i appreciate the clarification.
i just have to find who over here sells it in vancouver bc....probably local tom lee music or such.

 

[5genez]

   
this is what i thought AFTER i'd sent it...however, many thanks for your courtesy...i appreciate the clarification.
i just have to find who over here sells it in vancouver bc....probably local tom lee music or such.

 
 
You're going to have to look around.   Its been discontinued recently.  It may be back in the future with a new look. In the mean time?  You may want to look at the 482i.  Its bigger and has lights not needed for desktop use.  Its also dual mono...makes it a little quieter. My system with the 282i is very quiet as is. 
 
I had been considering taping over the lights if I ever had to buy one. This unit also has the same kind of inputs in the back. You should be able to find that model easily in Canada.  And,  you can use an audiophile power cord with it if you wish.
 

 
 
You can learn about it here...    http://www.pssl.com/BBE-482i-Sonic-Maximizer-18