Hey Everyone,

My dad and I are beginning to seriously consider a pair of Pentas to finish off our beosystem 4500.  Fortunately since the US economy isn't in great shape right now the b&o ebay prices have dropped slightly.  I'm currently looking at a pair of Penta 1's being sold just a 2.5 hour drive from where I live.  This means that not only could I avoid the really high shipping costs, but I wouldn't have to worry about damage of such a large speaker during shipping.

The only issue is that I would have preferred the slightly updated Penta 2's.  I've read the basic differences between the different Penta versions.  I don't mind the 150watts rather than the 200watts, as I've never even turned the cx100's attached the the 4500 up past half volume anyway.  I don't mind replacing speaker foam surrounds, as I've done it before, and I don't mind that the display brightness doesn't dim on the Penta 1.  What I'm wondering is if there are any good reasons to hold out until I can get a set of Penta 2's?  Keep in mind it will probably awhile before I can find another pair in excellent condition within a couple hours drive of where I live.  (The US is pretty big...)

 Thanks as usual,

Austin
 

The 1s don't have Powerlink sockets. The power in the amplifier is just the same - they just measured it differently! I would hold out for 3s really. But I can understand your predicament!
 

Thanks Peter.  The 4500 has both powerlink and speakerlink connections, so does it really matter that the Penta 1's don't have powerlinks?  Also, I thought the only difference with the Penta 3 was the changing of the display to the green color?  If I wanted that I would probably just buy ridax's display mod.

Austin 

Speakerlink uses amplified output and then takes it down to line before amplifying it again. The load on the amplifier of the 4500 would be very light but it is another step. You are correct about the difference between 2s and 3s but 3s would be newer and shouldn't really cost anymore. If 2s came up, I would have them.

Would it be better than to make a powerlink to speakerlink adapter, so I could use the powerlink connections on the 4500 and avoid the stepping up and down in gain levels?

Austin 

No, the step down is in the Penta. The 1s will still be good though - don't let me put you off. Don't pay too much though!

Hmm, if the step down is in the Penta then I wonder if there's a way to find the step down on the schematic and tie into the point after the step down with a powerlink cable.  I'm considering someday assembling a high quality external amp to power them anyway, so maybe I shouldn't worry as much about it

Anyway, what would you consider a good price?  I was hoping for about $600 US.  A couple weeks ago a set of Penta 2's sold here for $722 + shipping.  As I said though because I could drive the distance I wouldn't have to pay over $150 just for shipping.  The auction includes a beocenter 9000 though, so I'd have to pay for that too and then turn around and sell it.

Austin 

Hi Austin,

I basically did what you are doing...bought a set of Penta 1's and a set of II's.... for the home theatre off the AV 7000...

I suggest that if you are going to be installing wires in the walls to put in Powerlink...from your 4500, then the adapter to RCA AND Speaker link for the displays....it works just fine and the display is controled off the SpeakerLInk portion...  This way if you ever upgrade the I's to 2 or 3's you have the PL there...

Then just ran the same PL for the Penta II's.....

If you're not installing this in the wall...it probably doesn't make a difference...

 I went this direction and bought the speakers based on the aluminum and frets....if those are perfect or near perfect you use car wax to polish the speaker aluminum panels and then refoam the midranges...and you'll be set for $1k with no shipping if you buy right per pair...

Good luck

Thanks Frank.  Peter's got me thinking though as to whether I'll notice a quality difference in the Penta 1 speakerlink since the amplified signal is suppressed and then reamplified again, whereas the Penta 2's use the direct line level signal through the powerlink socket.

 Austin
 

ahhh..I see....well Peter would be the expert on that...i've never used Speaker link to actually drive the speaker....so i wouldn't know...

But I can tell you that the I's and II's sound identical in my set up...don't know about the III's...

Hey Austin....do you have a link or more info to Radaxs' conversion for these???/

I've missed that one..

Thanks..

Frank if you didn't use speakerlink on the Penta 1's were you using an external amp?

Here's the ridax site.  He's also a member here, with the same name.  He used to have a picture with the display mounted in the penta but I can't find it anymore.

http://home.swipnet.se/ridax/display.htm

Thanks for the link Austin..

No external amp on my set up...  Take the powerlink out and take it all the way to the Penta I, then the adapter goes there...it splits off the low level (variable line level) off the PL....to the RCA ....AND it still gives you the Speaker link portion that carries ONLY the information for the display...(it's a small grey adapter..i'm sure Peter will know the number)...

So your input is low level to the RCA for the tunes and the speaker link is only used to carry the "info" for your displays...

AH! Yes! I forgot that Penta 1 still has RCA input.  You're right, having powerlink split into RCA + only the info part of speaker link would let me connect the line level directly to the speaker.
 

Oh, the seller just emailed me back after I asked him to check the base and he told me it says 6623, so it looks like they're penta 2's.  He had only said "Penta" before, and since it was being sold with a beocenter 9000 I figured they were Penta 1's since the 9000 was from the late 80's.

Austin 

I'm not sure about the powerlink in the 4500, but in my Beomaster 5000 the line output is just a 'suppressed' or attenuated version of what's at the speaker outlets. i.e. the line out is fed directly from the speaker level output via a resistor network!

I'm not sure if powerlink is derived the same way in the 4500 though, but a look at the schematic would tell.

 

Ben

I don't think you are quite right here. The BM5500 does exactly as you say but looking at the 5000 circuit, the line in and out seem to be before the output amplifier. Powerlink certainly comes off way before this on the 4500  - the 4500 manual is on site.

BM5000 block diagram (ignore the red circle it's there to highlight some entirely different as it was used in another post)

 

 

Hi,

Yep.... I stand corrected!

It must have been a schematic for a different amplifier that i've worked on recently that I was thinking of.

Come to think of it, it might have been the input section of the penta 1 amplifier, the speakerlink is tied to the line in by a resistor network.

 

Cheers,

Ben.

Probably the 5500 which does exactly as you describe.

Peter,

It could well have been the 5500 schematic I was thinking of! I was looking at that recently. I thought I was going mad, because I was sure i'd seen it somewhere.

 

Cheers,

Ben.

I am looking for a way to connect Penta Speakers to my Beosystem 2500.  The speakers do not have the same round imput plug on the bottom of them like the beosystem 2500 has going out of it.  Is there a conversion plug or something I need to get?