It could be the cartridge - the MMC1 is one of the best made by B&O but will be getting old and the suspension hardens - having compared an old MMC2 and one that has been refurbished, one can notice the difference. You should not need an earth as Steve has I am sure dealt with this. If a DIN to RCA connector, there will be an eath cable to attach

You do need either active speakers or a power amplifier and passives. The B&O solution is the MCL2P which you could get for relatively little money.

Yes, that is the easiest way. You can also work them from the pre-amp out which bypasses the power amplifier in the 5000 but I would suggest the speaker cable route is much easier! I do actually have a spare Beomaster 5500 which you can have if you want to try the Speakerlink route. It has the Beocentral modification! It will require a different remote

Actually the one thing I really valued in the Beolink 7000 when used with the Beosystem 7000 was having it in the bedroom so I could change the wake up time without going back downstairs having forgotten to change it on special occasions. Being able to select certain tracks on CDs or even tapes to go to sleep with was also nice.

Indeed that would be one way forward, though one does lose the power amplifier for other uses. Just discussed this very idea with Tim! The pre-amp of the 5000 is the nicest one of the range so it would produce a very good sound!

No - just checked. MCL82 is not the same - you can run speaker wire between the 5000 and Pentas and it will work just the same way as Speakerlink, but no display.

Particularly useful in Audio only rooms with N.Music. My iPod touch makes selecting tracks much easier.

[quote user="rgs218"] Thanks Peter, that's good news. Is there a regular supplier of Speakerlink cables or is it just a case of waiting for a set to come up on Ebay? To be honest I didn't really understand what you meant about the aesthetic aspect though. [/quote] Sorry - I am incorrect. No display but the Pentas will still work fine

Just checked and Puncher is correct - MCL82 does not include the display output. My mistake. They can still be used but no display.

RL60.2s are a good match. The amplifier in the 2200 unfortunately has built in loudness so the sound can be a bit boomy in the bass department. I would suggest RLs on stands would make a very nice combination. The S45-2s could be a little too revealing for the 2200 in my view. I am afraid I share Chris' opinion of X25s!