I've been offered a pair for a tad under £400. They are Penta 1's, so likely to have foam rot (I have replaced rotten foam before). They have some very small dents in the stainless, but otherwise good order.

They have been owned by an elderly female since new, and have seen little use over the years.

Does the foam rot just effect the mid-range units? Will the displays work with my BM5000?

Is this a good buy?

Cheers,

Ben.

Foam rot only affects the mid range units but there are 8 of them! They cost around £25 each to replace.

The displays should work with the BM5000 via Speakerlink cables.

With the cost of replacement mid ranges added to frets at £80-100 per speaker only you can decide if this is a good deal or not. Personally I would wan't to buy at about half this price.

I would probably just change the foam surrounds. I've done several before (CX100, CX50, M75 + several none B&O speakers), so i'm not put off by that. I can get all 8 surrounds for about £40.

The seller also travels near to where I live regularly, so I don't have to worry about picking them up from miles away.

Whilst £200 for a pair of  Lab Pentas sounds better that £400, I wouldn't know where to start looking for a set that cheap!

You know you're going to get them anyway, don't you
When you have got them all sorted, you will have a marvelous pair of speakers!

Andy T.

Not really a bargain, but I would buy them anyway.

they are [one of] the best speakers B&O ever made.

Well I took the plunge.... I should have my 'new' pentas by Friday. I don't think the price was too bad, it seems to be about what they sell for on ebay + they are being delivered to me!

Does anybody have any spare speakerlink cables, or a source of the 4 pin DIN plugs so I can make some up?

Cheers,

Ben.

Ben,

Congratulations on your purchase of Penta's.  I too am looking to take the "plunge".  Sounds like you might be in the UK, as I reside in the states.  As was stated in a post to this thread, there are Penta's of every variety (1's, 2's & 3's) and in every quality level on eBay.  If you are lucky, you can find a pair of Penta 3's for around $1,000 US and less than $200 for shipping, but you have to be both patient and persistent.  I'm searching for a pair of 3's so as to avoid the whole foam rot problem that was also mentioned.  I just missed a pair in great condition, but I'll eventually get a pair.

As for your 4 pin DIN connectors, you can find hundreds of them on eBay for only a couple bucks.  Very reasonable!  Just do a simple search and you will have them in a matter of days.

Best wishes with your new purchase.

Tom