Given the results of your 'test', I feel that the 4500 is seeing the bad mid-range driver and 'throttling back' to protect itself.

Peter : I reckon the 4500 needs servicing - I suspect the variable resistors in the power supply are out. A 4500 should be able to drive S75s to full volume no problem! I totally agree Peter, assuming that the speakers are good. Russ

Hi Jeff, I would still advise checking the speakers, mainly because of the combination of symptoms/characteristics you're describing. It seems to me possible that the 2400, lacking the same protection circuitry isn't really 'overdriving' the speakers so much as it is driving a bad woofer or midrange to the point where it begins to short

JB, while the VW/Bentley analogy is OK, I don't think it's a precise match for this issue. Although based on the same foundational 'architecture', the Bentley pieces are usually built to a different specification than the VW ones, so they aren't intended to reult in identical products. Think more about Intel producing dozens of 'identical'

Ray, Are you saying that Pioneer are now claiming to do the very thing which B&O were previously said, in these very forums, to do? This is a bold statement, Sir, as those here who previously upheld such a claim were roundly thrashed (one hesitates to say castigated) for saying so. Tread carefully my friend. Russ PS> The serial number calibration

I don't have the 'seat time' with the 2400 and 4500 that I'd like to have, but perhaps the issue lies elsewhere. I know that the BeoCenter 9500 had a protection circuit which behaves precisely as you describe when driven into a shorted cable or speaker. If you are wiring your speakers to the 4500 in such a way as to drop below 2 ohms

Mr10Percent: We are not all funny folk who stink of wee and wear white lab coats and have big foreheads, oversized pinnas and have nothing.....nothing in their life except their hi-fi mag collection and a cat called "Miff". 10% I wish it to be on the record that my cat's name is 'Kismet'. I feel so much better.... I can't wait

This is something I would call a promising start. I can't imagine that tuning the radio wouldbe anything other than frustrating with no display at all as a guide. I could almost see this as a simple link room device though, rotate for step-up/down...maybe tap on the top to change sources. Think really simple, like BeoLab 2000. Russ

Dude1: not if it doesnt play DVD. Sorry Dude, but there's already a BeoSound 2 in the line and it doesn't play DVD's, or even FM radio...so I think Trip is right...you must have meant 'Center 2'...your posts would a LOT easier to understand if you didn't insist on using your own private language. Russ

Dude1: " But the System3 could be much better with regards to the upscaler." Expoman: "There are some now who say that the current Peerless or Vifa drivers used in the Beolab 5 are selected only for price and are not the best choice for a speaker of that price range." Guys, "Who"? and "How?" Its far too easy to