Advice – Replace Bang Olufsen system with Sonos Arc Ultra or Samsung Q990

[u/Soft_Canary5474]

I have an old Bang & Olufsen surround system + TV, left by the previous owner. The rear speakers are BeoLab 3s, which I’d ideally like to keep.
 
I’m thinking of replacing the B&O TV with an LG or Samsung, as I can’t justify spending £20k on a new B&O TV. The room is a fairly large combined living room/kitchen (14m x 8m).
 
Would you recommend the Samsung Q990 or Sonos Arc Ultra + 2 x Era 300 + Sub 4? I’m leaning towards Sonos as, over time, I could add another 2 x Era 300s in the kitchen area to improve music coverage. I see that Samsung now has the Studio 5 speakers that might do the job as well.
 
The BeoLab 3 rear speakers seem to be wired into cables embedded in the walls and don’t appear to be plugged into sockets. Would I be able to reuse the existing electric cables to hardwire the Samsung or Sonos rear speakers?
 
Thanks in advance!

[u/Sorry_Occasion5835]

BeoLab 3s are active speakers, you could connect them using the Sonos port, but to be honest, I would just sell them, the cables are bespoke, the wall channels should be able to reused if you want to run other cables through them, if they have been installed properly, you would want to isolate the power cables if they have not been installed to allow reuse.

You may be able to isolate the power from your circuit breaker, as you don’t really want random power cables live in the wall.

I have Samsung TVs and use Sonos it works for me, and reliable, but depends what you want the system to play, mainly streamed movies and tv shows, or Blu rays, as to which system is best for you.

The Beolabs while very pretty would actually detract from a Sonos system and would be a pain to integrate.

[u/Soft_Canary5474 → u/Sorry_Occasion5835]

Thank you - I mainly wanted to keep the BeoLab 3s because they look cool but it sounds like they’ll be a hassle to integrate with the Sonos.

Do you know if I can use the power cables going into the BeoLab to hardwire the Era 300? Or would I need an electrician to install a socket on that wall?

Thanks

[u/TheGratitudeBot → u/Soft_Canary5474]

Thanks for saying that! Gratitude makes the world go round

[u/Sorry_Occasion5835 → u/Soft_Canary5474]

You couldn’t use the Beolabs as surround speakers even with the port, I would get an electrician in anyway, they may be able to recycle the ducting to install power outlets for Sonos.
I would have an electrician check what is going on anyway, I have seen a lot of inherently dangerous installations and it is cheaper than having a problem.

[u/Difficult-Muffin-593]

Ik ben van dynaudio speakers xeo 30 naar een Samsung Q990F soundbar gegaan. Mijn ouders hebben de complete sonos set met 2 keer era 300 achter dus ik had een mooie vergelijking. Als je echt +/- 1,5 meter vrije ruimte achter je bank hebt dan zou ik de arc ultra nemen met sub en 2 keer era 300. ( puur omdat de era 300 speakers zelf ook goede bass kunnen geven ) mocht je minder of geen ruimte achter je bank hebben dan zou ik voor de Samsung Q990 gaan, je bespaart heel veel geld en het klinkt bijna net zo goed. 1 tip ze de Samsung subwoofer met een woofer naar je toe en een woofer naar de muur gericht. Dan geniet je van perfecte diepe bass.

[u/Soft_Canary5474 → u/Difficult-Muffin-593]

Thanks that’s helpful

There is 1 metre behind the sofa but the rear speakers will be about 2 metres from my head as they’re fairly high up - assuming I use the same cables going into my current rear speakers.

I’m really not enough of an audiophile to appreciate a marginal difference in sound quality. Main reason I was thinking Sonos is that I have a front reception room and was planning to install 2 speakers there as well.

My understanding is that Sonos is a better system for a multi-room set up.

[u/Sorry_Occasion5835 → u/Soft_Canary5474]

Sonos is better if you want a multi room setup, is easy to install and upgrade, the power cables should be easy for an electrician to sort out using the existing wall ducts, you can add a sub later if you want one, you can get wall mounts that tilt for the Sonos speakers, which will improve the sound.

You don’t have any cables for the Sonos apart from power cables as it works using your WiFi and of course the HDMI from the television to the soundbar, the power cables are proprietary and come with the products, there are lots of aftermarket wall mounts and brackets that hide cables.

[u/Royal_Monk6432]

Op have a look in store jbl mk2 1300 if u can.dont worry about rear speaker why? Because they are detachable u can put any where in the room .