Hi, I would like to know opinions between this setups. The most important thing for me is the quality of the Cd players and about the sound. Are they a good value today? How much could they cost nowadays in the second hand market?

A complete BeoSystem 7000 could set you back £1k or more if it included a BeoLink 7000.

The sound is certainly most impressive - and the CD players are the most impressive parts - fantastic players with very well designed and built DACs and output stages. The build quality internally is fantastic!

As far as the BeoMaster amplifiers go, they can't be said to be the best B&O have made, but they are some of the best performers and are only outperformed by a few other models.

Can't speak for the BeoCord or BeoGram (record players) as I don't own either!

The Beosystem 5500 is very similar to the 7000. The CD players are more or less identical, as are the 'grams and the 'cords, with the only changes being cosmetic.

As far as the masters go, they differ in the fact that the 5500 doesn't have powerlink sockets for driving the newer active speakers. The 7000 should have an RDS decoder in the tuner section, which will display the station name on the Beolink 7000 remote.

Other than that, they are more or less the same!

Alex:

Can't speak for the BeoCord or BeoGram (record players) as I don't own either!

I now have all components in my Beosystem 6500. The Beogram feels quite a bit flimsier and lightweight (both internally and externally) compared to the other components, let alone my old Beogram 6000.  But I have nothing to complain with its performance with the MMC2!

I don't use the Beocord much, but it sounds just brilliant and is a clever machine. If you have needs for audio recordings and don't use a computer for that, it would still be worthwhile using it. And it's a good conversation piece! I wouldn't pay much for it though, but neither does anybody else, so it's not an economical disaster to get one just for the sake of completeness.

The only thing I'm not happy with my BS6500 is that I don't have the space to put them all side by side  

Thanks a lot to everybody for the feed back.

The both are really nice and everybody speaks very well about them. Maybe the 7000 is a better choice dueto the powerlink sockets. Any chance to connect to the 5500 a pair of active speakers? Do you have your systems as master or as slave in your set up? Are they your main audio system at your homes?

 About the sound quality, are there many diferences between them and the BS9000?

The CD in the CD5500/6500/7000 is better than that in the BS9000 and less problematic. The power amplifier in these amplifiers is also pretty good with lots of dynamics compared to the MCL2P which is flat sounding. If you are planning to use active speakers, get the 6500/7000. No point complicating matters!

Thanks Peter.

One question more, got the 7000 have digital output? If you are right, that I´m sure about it, there will be an improofment in the sound with the 7000 plus BL5 in comparation with the BS9000 and BL5. Could you confirm to me this point?

Thanks again.

Yes, the CD7000 has an S/PDIF output which you can use to connect to BeoLab 5s along with the PowerLink outputs - will work flawlessly, and the CD mechanisms in the CD5500/6500/7000 are absolutely bulletproof!

Unfortunately , our Alex is in hyperbole mode again! The lasers in this CD player can go wrong and is not quite as reliable as the CDX. Both mine work though!

Peter :

The CD in the CD5500/6500/7000 is better than that in the BS9000 and less problematic. The power amplifier in these amplifiers is also pretty good with lots of dynamics compared to the MCL2P which is flat sounding. If you are planning to use active speakers, get the 6500/7000. No point complicating matters!

 

Are you saying the cd 6500  actually sounds better than the bs9000 ??  how is this?

cheers Sandy

Better specified and more reliable CD mechanism. Having said that, I find it very difficult to distinguish one CD player over another. The CDX is easy to tell - beyond that, tricky!

If you're using the digital out - then, assuming they're all bit perfect, only the reliability matters!

Peter :

Better specified and more reliable CD mechanism. Having said that, I find it very difficult to distinguish one CD player over another. The CDX is easy to tell - beyond that, tricky!

Peter, is the cdx the best cd player of the lot then?

Sandy

Peter :

Unfortunately , our Alex is in hyperbole mode again! The lasers in this CD player can go wrong and is not quite as reliable as the CDX. Both mine work though!

Oooh that's the first time I've heard anything about CD7000 mechs possibly failing. Either way, they're still very reliable...

rfc1:

Peter :

Better specified and more reliable CD mechanism. Having said that, I find it very difficult to distinguish one CD player over another. The CDX is easy to tell - beyond that, tricky!

Peter, is the cdx the best cd player of the lot then?

Sandy

Nah, that's got to be the CD50 :)

The CDX sounds different because it is a 14 bit machine. It has a warmer more analogue sound though I dare say this is due to distortion !

The best CD player made by B&O was the early CD5500 as it had the best spindle motor and the good DAC. I am sure I couldn't tell the difference between it and the 6500 or 7000 though!

These CD players all use Philips mechanisms which are usually the drive of choice in audiophile machines. As Puncher rightly says, the CD is just a collection of 1s and 0s and any half decent mechanism should sound much the same. The thing that will affect the sound will be the design of the Digital to Analogue Converter. The one in the CD5500 etc is the Philips TDA1541A which is very well thought of, even today.  

Thanks to everybody.

Now, from the point of view of the whole system, which is the best choice: 6500 or 7000? Which are the main differences between them?

The 7000 would be the one to go for if you want RDS information with a BeoLink 7000. Otherwise, there is no difference between them!

The RDS is actually pretty poor as it only appears in the blue screen but none the less, I would go for the 7000 as it is the newest. Just got mine back and very pleased with it.

Peter :

The RDS is actually pretty poor as it only appears in the blue screen but none the less, I would go for the 7000 as it is the newest. Just got mine back and very pleased with it.

 

I have heard that complaint about the placing of the RDS info quite a lot - and I agree that it is not the best of options - but when you have lot of stations to tune you don't mind how matter small the displayed infois as long as it's present at all (I found :-) I never regretted exchanging my 6500 for a 7000.

 

By the way - if you're thinking about getting rid of it one day (e.g. to upgrade) then I'd suggest getting the 7000 as they fetch far more even though on some components like the record player the only difference would be the print on the front (apart from the age - but that's by far no indication of the condition)

Is 600 pounds good price for a fully working and good condition complete BeoSystem 6500 with MCP? What do you thing?

I don't think it's a bargain, but not robbery either. Depends on the type of pickup on the Beogram, too. For my 6500 system, I paid in three separate deals

• 450 euros for Beomaster, Beocord and Beogram CD + Beolink 1000 (locally)
  
• 150 euros for the MCP (incl. shipping)
• 320 euros cough for Beogram with MMC2 (incl. shipping)
  

...so 950 euros alltogether. I would call them mint except for the lid of the Beogram. Had to fix the Beocord and CD, but on the other hand the price of that deal included a matching white VX5000 and a perfect pair of Beovox Pentas

Thanks Mika.

600 pounds include Beovox CX100, shipping and insurance. But I have to think about it, I´m not decided.

I paid 1000 Euro net in 2006 for a complete 5 piece Bs5500 plus S45-2 speakers. This figure includes ca. 300 Euro of professional repairs needed on the Bc and Bm, and is balanced against the 350 Euro that I earned in selling my assorted old hi-fi stuff (almost half of it for a nice Tandberg MB receiver). I bought e.th. separately, but have seen complete Bs5500 for 5-700 Euro recently on ebay. They're very much worth getting! mcrack