Hi guys,

 

Posting this question for a friend of mine.

 He may buy a Beocenter 9500, and is wondering if he can use his 4ohm speakers with it?

 

Thanks

Andreas 

Hi Andreas,

From memory, I think the back panel of the Beocenter is marked "Speakers - 4 to 16 Ohms" by the DIN speaker sockets, so yes this should be fine.  I must say that I have used a huge variety of speakers with my various Beocenters over the years, without ever having a problem and I have always been very impressed with the flexibility of the amplifiers used by B&O.

Best regards,

Steve.

Thank you Steve,

 

What was the name of the speaker cable plugs? There was a link to eBAY awhile ago. 

Never mind, I found them.

 

 

Yes you may. But it is not recommended. And I have personal experience although with BC9000.

The amplifier protects itself from potential overload. Especially in a multiroom MCL-system the actual impedance is very low even with 8 ohm speakers. This was measured ages ago in a local techical magazine.

What speakers are they? All speakers actually have variable impedance depending on frequency and the figure is very much plucked from the air. If an amplifier was perfect, the lower the impedance, the more power would be available. If you look at the power delivery chart of the Beolab 5000 amplifier, you can see a typical response from a good amplifier. There is a protection circuit built in so that the amplifier does not draw too much current and fry itself!! It is quite unusual for the impedance of speakers to dip much below 4 Ohms and in fact there will be a few peaks where they will be far higher.

The speakers he's going to use are Gradient 1.1

Theoretically a damage could be possible but I would doubt that in practise. In my current BC9000 setup I have been using a pair of CX100's for two years without any harm either to the speakers or the BC.

I used S75s for years with my BC9500. They worked perfectly and were a very good match. I always liked S75s - lovely finish to the cabinets - especially the rosewood ones - and plenty of bass. The S45-2 is probably a more linear sounding speaker but the S75 is maybe a bit more exciting!

Mico:

Theoretically a damage could be possible but I would doubt that in practise. .

 

 On what basis this damage could occur?

I guess the BC is new enough to have some degree of protection anyway?

(I have just installed the BC to a better place in the livingroom to show it's full glory)

 The S75s are really a lovely pair of speakers. These are in quite good condition and even have the square metal foot. They were rusty when bought but I have restored them quite succesfully.

 

lausvi:

Mico:

Theoretically a damage could be possible but I would doubt that in practise. .

 

 On what basis this damage could occur?

I guess the BC is new enough to have some degree of protection anyway?

(I have just installed the BC to a better place in the livingroom to show it's full glory)

 The S75s are really a lovely pair of speakers. These are in quite good condition and even have the square metal foot. They were rusty when bought but I have restored them quite succesfully.

 

Just maths, BC has max power of 80 Watts/channel with 8 ohms, with 4 ohms that equals roughly 160 Watts/channel. In real life paring of an amplifier and speakers is not that esy. It is always better to listen them in combination.

The BC handles odd combinations well. It will lower the power output in a stress situation.

Design and HMI wise the BC9000 is till my favourite of all B&O music systems. And robustness - 20 years in everyday use without a single electronic trouble.

The 9500 really produces about 30W a channel. The figure of 85W was bandied about but this was after the figures were all recalculated. The Beomaster 5500 went from being a 55W amplifier to a 110W amplifier without a single change of component! From experience, the S75s will work very well and i think they are rated at 120W music power anyway which will easily cope wit anything the 9500 can deliver. The risk of damage is much greater because of distortion as the amplifier strains rather than pure power. You will turn it down before this happens as the sound would be horrible!