Backes & Müller BMLine12 Review
Introducing the sonic marvels that have redefined audio excellence - the Backes & Müller BMLine12 speakers. In the realm of premium audio, where precision and innovation converge, the BMLine12 stands tall as a testament to Backes & Müller's uncompromising commitment to delivering an unparalleled auditory experience. Boasting a lineage of craftsmanship and technological mastery, these speakers embody the fusion of timeless design with cutting-edge acoustic engineering. In this review, we embark on a journey into the world of sound sculpting, delving into the features, performance, and sonic artistry that make the Backes & Müller BMLine12 an emblem of audio prowessThere are things that you dream about for an eternity and when you get them you might be disappointed. That's what happened to me with the Peugeot 504 Cabriolet. Visually a dream, but unfortunately a bit underpowered in everyday life. Or with the Backes & Müller BM 12 from 1980. The test magazines (especially the Audio) literally fell over themselves because of the extreme midrange precision. And a certain Norbert Schäfer, head of Phonogen, even built a wooden U around the massive floorstanding speaker, in which the BM 12 was suspended on springs - a dream. In the mid-1990s I would have had the opportunity to buy a pair cheaply. But after just a short listen, this heart's desire was shattered: This BM 12 from the 1980s sounded so strict and angry, especially in the mids, that I didn't want to listen to it.
The special features of the Backes & Müller BMLine 12
The 12 continues to give. Differently natural and lovingly matured over all the decades. It is now called BMLine 12 and everything about it is still made by hand in Saarbrücken. This applies to technology, but also to housing production. And especially for the midrange driver of the BMLine 12, which the Saarbrücken company is particularly proud of. So proud that they don't want to release any pictures and only vague information about the good piece - for fear that the competitors would get too deep an insight.
Nevertheless, after repeated inquiries, it became clear: This midrange driver is actually a cone driver, but has a dome glued on it - for a wider radiation. And something else could be heard: the good piece only runs at around 400 - 1,200 Hertz, i.e. 1.5 octaves. That's very little. You could almost have made a 2-way construction out of it.
You wouldn't. B&M boss (and chief developer) Johannes Siegler wanted to implement a fairly wide radiation pattern with the BMLine 12. And because the three basses of this size, which sit one above the other, concentrate strongly above 600 Hertz, this special midrange driver comes into play here, which broadens the radiation in the lower midrange.
If you look at all the other Backes models, this is extraordinary. Because with all loudspeakers from order number 15 and upwards, Siegler tries to create a deliberately narrowed cylindrical wave radiation - in order to limit the (often annoying) floor and ceiling reflections and to be able to carry the sound further in larger rooms.
If I reinterpret that now, then the BMLine 12 should also appeal to those music lovers who definitely want to sit a little closer to their speakers. We're talking about 3 meters or more, maybe just under.
Let's briefly look at the things that are mandatory at Backes & Müller. First of all, there is the active control of all five drivers, which is consequently carried out with five power stages. This is all the best transistor AB technology according to the old tradition: 4 x 150 watts for woofers and mid-range drivers and still a whopping 100 watts for the tweeter. All cone drivers of the BMLine 12 are feedback coupled with a dynamic deflection control (DMC™). As soon as the sensor signals that the membranes may be deflecting too far, countermeasures are taken at lightning speed. This ensures high precision in bass impulses.
B&M negative feedback works best in closed enclosures. Ergo, the housing of the BMLine 12 is also closed and particularly stable, because inside a bass housing, in which the woofer is possibly forced to large deflections by regulation, it can become extremely high: nothing can rattle...
What Backes is particularly proud of is the tried and tested combination of precise membrane control and processor-controlled phase accuracy. The Saarbrücken-based company calls this form of digital filtering “FIRTEC™ technology”, which aims to linearize the frequency response as well as perfect the time accuracy of the playback. With passive speakers, a delay between low-midrange and high-frequency reproduction can hardly be avoided. The BMline 12, on the other hand, should play absolutely in time over the entire frequency range from 30 hertz to over 20 kilohertz. Such a rare promise naturally makes the hi-fi gourmet's mouth water...
The BMIce 515 preamplifier
As with many active speakers with a built-in processor, all incoming signals are digitized with the BMLine 12 - unless they (ideally) arrive digitally. And this is where the BMIce 515 comes into play. Although it also offers analogue inputs and outputs, from my point of view it is more of a digital preamplifier. All incoming analog signals are also converted digitally. The best way to do this is via an AES/EBU cable to the active back speakers, where the signal is only analogized again directly before the power amplifiers.
Of course, the Backes preamplifier also has an excellent DA converter: The Burr-Brown sigma-delta converter is available here in two versions - one per channel. The BMIce 515 can also output analog signals, so it also works perfectly with classic power amplifiers. I had tested the 500 series preamplifiers several times before and was always amazed at their unusual neutrality - even in the analog signal path.
However, if you are already digital (be it via streaming or CD), the BMIce 515 works like a “neutral wire”. That's pretty close to perfection. And what makes the BMIce 515 even more sexy: you can equalize the frequency response of every input. This becomes particularly interesting in connection with radio and phono. Here is an overview of the relevant framework data from the preliminary stage:
Technical data
| Backes & Müller BMIce 515 | |
|---|---|
| Concept: | DAC preamplifier |
| Equipment: | 2 x 24 Bit / 192 KHz Sigma-Delta converter (Burr-Brown), mono mode |
| Digital inputs: | 2 x optical, 2 x coax, 1 x AES/EBU, 1 x USB, aptX-HD Bluetooth |
| Analog inputs | 1xRCA, 1xXLR |
| Outputs: | Analogue: 1 x RCA, 1 x XLR, digital 2 x XLR-AES3 |
| Dimensions (W x H x D): | 44.0 x 8.0 x 26.0 cm |
| Weight: | 8.9 kilograms |
Practice
The issue of equalization/adjustment is of course also an elementary one with the BMLine 12. Nothing can be adjusted on the box itself, for this you need the Backes controller, which is also used in exactly the same way for the models from KSDigital ( such as the KSD C100 ). For anyone who is wondering: The hi-fi veteran Backes & Müller and the studio professional KSDigital sit under the same roof. The HiFi box benefits from insights from the studio sector and vice versa.
The controller sits in a pretty artificial stone housing and allows the use of six equalizers: the frequency and quality can be freely selected, amplification or reduction of up to 12 decibels are feasible. Nothing more makes sense.
After we found a sensible position for the BMLine 12, we started fine-tuning it. In the "factory state" the basses were very strong and the mid-range - the current 12 reminded a bit of the old one from 1980 - comparatively robust and edgy. We also measured them in this state:
We ascertained 99 decibels as the (continuous) maximum level. That's quite a lot. However, as already indicated above, the BMLine 12 had a lot of bass in the basic setting and was also equalized to below 30 Hertz. That didn't have to be the case, even in our 70 square meter listening room. We linearized the bass around 60 Hertz using the controller and let it taper off gently at 6 dB below 40 Hertz. This not only made the bass sound much drier and more precise (just the way I like it), but the maximum level also increased significantly. With this intervention, we spared the three 18-inch basses the sweaty low-frequency work that - with the appropriate setting - is also relentlessly demanded because of the membrane feedback.
But I liked it much better with less bass. We then tamed the mids, which were a bit too robust, with another filter. Not much had to be done: an EQ with a low quality at around 2 KHz, which lowers the level in this range by up to 1.5 dB, made the "angry" BMLine 12 finer overall and much more forgiving. So forgiving that listening to music became a pleasurable experience.
Sound Test
One thing first: We are here at Backes & Müller. The loudspeakers from this house have always played extremely lively and precisely to the point. If you want cuddly boxes for cuddly rock, this isn't the right place for you - even if you could certainly set some kind of sound with the controller. But then you would completely change the character of the speaker - which would be nonsense.
No: This loudspeaker lives from its liveliness, from its high fine and coarse dynamics, from this incredible precision that, with every hit on the snare, makes you wonder when you were last at a live concert - simply because the backes sounds so authentic. This is where phase-linear filter technology certainly comes into its own. With many passive speakers, much of what is clearly drawn with the finest pen and has sharp contours has soft gray areas. But blurring isn't Backes' world.
MiG-Music recently released a concert recorded by Radio Bremen 40 years ago: As a tribute to Gil Scott-Heron, who died in 2011 , they had a concert from the Bremen Schauburg remastered. And when I got my hands on the review CD, I realized that I was there myself at this concert on April 18, 1983. Life still has surprises in store...
From an audiophile perspective, the recording certainly has weaknesses; For example, a monitor drags for a long time. No problem. This concert is simply magnificent: so lively, so thrilling. And the Backes is the perfect playback instrument for such moments. She placed the singer and his piano on the stage in an absolutely believable, three-dimensional way, the dimensions of which you can quite accurately guess. And Scott-Heron's voice celebrated the Backes as wonderfully strong in character as it was: creaky and still somehow accusatory even when joking.
At some point the horns kick in and you're literally shocked at the pressure and dynamics with which the band (name: Amnesia Express) went about their work. Even with our reference system with Canor electronics and FinkTeam Borg, the recordings didn't have the same drive as with the Backes.
After just a few bars I was interested in the BMLine 12, after an hour of the concert I was captivated by the impulsive precision. But I was really excited when the applause rang out. I hadn't heard anything like that at all. The recording is very direct and involves the audience so strongly that you would almost think there was at least one microphone in the audience. What the BMLine 12 did with it was simply spectacular: it placed me directly in the audience with all the multi-faceted clapping noises around me: lively, absolutely authentic. Goose flesh. Like back then.
Conclusion Backes & Müller BMLine 12
As the B&M catalog says: "The BMLine 12 continues the glorious history of the classic of the eighties and nineties of the last millennium." That's right. Both in character (very straight) and in its design (classic 3-way speaker), this floor-standing speaker is much more reminiscent of the large models of the 1970s and 1980s than its larger model siblings with line emitter characteristics. It is therefore actually something like the last of its kind - but this does not detract from its fascination: such wonderfully precise high-speed dynamic machines are rare.
The BMLine 12 builds a bridge to the earlier days, but also incorporates the latest technical B&M achievements. It is currently (and probably will continue to be for a long time) by far the cheapest way to get this form of negative feedback and phase linearity. The fact that Backes is now also offering the convincing BMIce preamplifier in a limited edition at a very fair bundle price is also sexy, at least for those music lovers who do not yet have a preamplifier or who have one when purchasing a high-quality box like the BMLine 12 anyway had thought about a new precursor.
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