I am curious about separate B&O speakers. I have been collecting Radios for some time and  my collection off B&O equipment has up to now been self-contained units.  I have noticed  the brochure description for separate speakers usually describes them in the singular. It then gives a price but it is not clear whether it is for each speaker or for the pair as they are usually used in a stereo system. Not a very important question, but can someone put me out of my misery without my having to pester the agents? Actually buying one as a speaker for one of my ancient mono sets seems a bit extreme. 

Regards

John

They do sometimes get priced as single speakers - I think it is to make the cost less of a shock! The price list here on Beoworld quotes a price for a pair. I would not really suggest getting one for your mono sets though - a vintage speaker will be better. The new speakers are active so connecting would possibly be an issue and a vintage speaker is likely to be very efficient. Which radio were you thinking of using? Beovox 1000s would seem a reasonable choice for most of the radios.

All the prices I have been quoted are for pairs, except for the BelLab 2 sub-woofer and the BeoVision central speakers in the 7.x speakers that provide superior voice reproduction.

BeoLab3s and BeoLab 4s are even boxed as pairs - (like pairs of course!)

However if you wanted a single speaker a dealer may be able to do something ....

Thank you both for satisfying my curiosity. I take the point about modern active speakers with older mono sets. So far I have concentrated on the Beolits as it is easy to illustrate how they evolved. Using modern speakers with them would be inappropriate and in any caseI don't mind not having Hi Fi type of performance.

My next interest is the separates systems over the period where stereo came into use, starting with Beomasters for instance. The basic units are not too difficult to come by but speakers are more scarce. This is why I thought of using modern speakers so that I could actually play them.

Strangely I find the price quoted for pairs less alarming than if they were quoted singly. I suppose it is because I  view it as getting two speakers for the price, whereas if it was quoted singly I think I will have to find the same money again.

Thanks again

John 

Did you look at the BeoSound 1 ?

http://www.beoworld.org/prod_details.asp?pid=946

It is a speaker and a radio and a CD player and has an AUX input so that you could connect the older sets (or an MP3 player) .......

John:

My next interest is the separates systems over the period where stereo came into use, starting with Beomasters for instance. The basic units are not too difficult to come by but speakers are more scarce. This is why I thought of using modern speakers so that I could actually play them.

Still I find the idea of using anything from the current offerings with vintage equipment rather silly. Not the least because of the active/passive problem which would render most of an old Beomaster unused, but the price of any current models will get you a truckload of good vintage speakers from eBay! Granted you can't just walk into a store and come back out with some speakers, but I simply cannot imagine having any problems if you're based in the UK. Seems full of B&O speakers to me... and you can of course use any speakers while you search for a better match.

The pricing single/pair seems also somewhat regional. Some 20 years ago, speakers were always priced per unit in Finland, and I guess in Scandinavian countries as well. At least B&O does it in pairs over here nowadays as well.

I'm sure we all share the problem of how to display the collection (or even just how to store them...). If you want to have a number of speakers displayed both nicely and in a useful way, the problem will be even worse. I'd guesstimate that three pairs is about the maximum you can have in a single "normal" room, still positioned optimally.

So one example would be to have a pair of wall mounted early panel speakers or bookshelf speakers for the real vintage stereo (excl. Beolab 5000), a pair of S45.2 on a shelf or on the floor for the mid-powered '70s, and a pair of larger floor speakers (MC120.2 or similar) that would work all the way until the last models that could drive passive speakers.

You can of course do with one pair for all. I've never shared the idea that the tiniest amplifiers would have problems with large speakers. I just connected a pair of S80.2's to a Beomaster 900 and it had absolutely no problems filling the room with bass! There will be a limit to it of course, but that's just a question of volume.