Hi there

I am fairly new to B&O ownership and i am needing some help please. I have recently bought a Beocenter 9000 at a great price from an auction and i am eager to get it up and running.  My only stumbling block is, what are the best or more importantly, which speakers are most compatable with this system.

the ones that i have been looking at are the passive Beovox Redline range (I love the 80's retro vibe of these speakers, very Miami Vice) and the passive Boevox Penta speaker. I have also looked at the active speaker range(Beolab 4000) but there are so many to choose from, i feel a bit lost.

Can anyone give me some advice.

 

Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul and welcome to Beoworld.

Redline speakers are OK, but not the best Beovoxes ever made. I agree that they look good, but stay clear of the Rl45's & RL60's as these will have foam rot in the bass drivers and disintegrated ABRS. The later RL45.2's & 60.2's don't have this problem and the 60.2's would be my choice - much better than the 45.2's and take up the same amount of wall/floor space.

Personally I prefer the sound of the earlier 'S' series of speaker and the S45's upwards would be my personal choice but all of these speakers now require some work to put right. They all suffer in some way with either foam rot and/or aging capacitors and benifit greatly from having these replaced in the crossovers. Foam rot can be solved with a refoaming kit but you need to know what you are doing as it is easy to make a fatal (to the speaker) mistake but not especially difficult with the right advice and some DIY skills.

There are also the C & CX range of compact speakers which are surprisingly powerful for their size and the CX100's are aguably the best (although I personally prefer the C75's) and these too will most likely have foam rot but replacement drivers are still available form B&O or you can refoam them. These compact speakers really do benifit from the addition of a subwoofer and the beovox cona fits the bill perfectly.

Of course any non- B&O speakers can be used too - all you need are the correct cable plugs fitting to the speaker cable.

The best of the lot as you've already seen are the Beovox penta's as these combine stunning looks and performance but these too are likely to have foam rot in the mid range drivers.

That's about it as far as the passive speakers go, as for the active ones well my adviice would be to call in at your nearest B&O dealer and listen to all of them and make your mind up from that. The boecenter 9000 won't have much affect on the performance of these as they all have their own amps in built so what you see is what you get.

This debate will probably run for some time so this is just my tuppenceworth'

 

Chris.

Agree with Chris that the Beovox Pentas are the best of the lot, but is the amp in the Beocenter 9000 man enough to drive them at anything more than moderate listening levels?

No not really. The amps in the BeoCenter 9/8xxx series weren't the beefiest B&O have made (although they are still good amplifiers). Only something like a BeoMaster 8000 or BeoLab 150/200 can really drive them to good volumes. Ideally, BeoLab Pentas would be used (BeoVox Pentas with a BeoLab 200 at the base).

I might be wrong, but I think the 9000 being the first in that range wasn't equipped with Powerlink Sockets so the beolab range wouldn;t work easily. Best bet if that's the case may well be Beovox Penta.

Correct, I missed the mark a little!

I wouldn't want to go for Pentas for that very reason. The amp in the 9000 just isn't enough to drive them to good volumes. I would look for speakers like the S45-2, which are very good speakers. How large is the room?

ajames:

I might be wrong, but I think the 9000 being the first in that range wasn't equipped with Powerlink Sockets so the beolab range wouldn;t work easily. Best bet if that's the case may well be Beovox Penta.

You're right! But one could use speaker link instead.

Christian:

ajames:

I might be wrong, but I think the 9000 being the first in that range wasn't equipped with Powerlink Sockets so the beolab range wouldn;t work easily. Best bet if that's the case may well be Beovox Penta.

You're right! But one could use speaker link instead.

Not for the Beovox Pentas you couldn't (you'd be using the internal amp) - that would be for the Beolab Pentas, and the discussion was more geared around the passive end of the product line, hence the comment on the power delivery of the Beocenter's internal amp.

What about the displays then. Aren't they used? (Penta Vox)

I really thought speaker link was invented to connect the passive pentas with display info with an amp.

Alex:

I would look for speakers like the S45-2, which are very good speakers. How large is the room?

Indeed they are and they don't suffer foam rot as they have rubber surrounds. One thing to note with these though, which has reared its head recently, is that the magnet can become detached from the bass driver during shipping and once this has happened then that's the end of them so if you're going to buy some then try and collect in person.

Chris.

Christian:

What about the displays then. Aren't they used? (Penta Vox)

No - it's just a piece of coloured plastic with nothing behind.

Christian:

What about the displays then. Aren't they used? (Penta Vox)

I really thought speaker link was invented to connect the passive pentas with display info with an amp.

Nope - the displays are not even present in the Beovox Pentas. There's a connector present but the displays were not fitted at the factory. Speaker link is for the active speakers, as the Beovox Pentas only have two binding posts present underneath.

 

Hi

Thanks for the advice everyone, it is all really helpfull. My house is a new one which means that the main room is small and the walls are very thin ha ha. I received my Beocenter 9000 today and i can't wait untill i get it up and running. I have my eye on a few speaker sets on ebay at the moment and i am glad the ones that i am now looking at are the type of speakers that you are all, very kindly, reccomending.

I have now been on ebay and found a set of moulded 5m speaker cables (2 pin) which i am about to buy, I take it that this will fit my system and my speakers, when i eventually get them.

Again, a big thanks to everyone for helping me with this 

Before you buy the cables on ebay you may want to look on the Maplin site who also sell these - probably cheaper. These are exactly what you want for any of the speakers mentioned - except penta's which have screw terminals but Maplins also sell Din to open end cables which are listed next to the link I've posted and will also be fine for any non B&O speakers.

 

Chris.

Medogsfat:

Christian:

What about the displays then. Aren't they used? (Penta Vox)

No - it's just a piece of coloured plastic with nothing behind.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Thanks to you too j0hnbarker.

Be speaker link is amplified, isn't it?

I am sorry but it disturbs me that people who do not have personal experience comment on issues like this. It is always hearsay to me.

Based on my personal >20 years experience (and increasing) about BC9000 I would say that BV5000s are really excellent, their looks is still up to date, RL 60.2.s are also excellent (depending on installation), BV 3000 lack bass, like CX 100's. Personally I do not like Cona, some do. Beolab Pentas up to mk2 have speakerlink and are also excellent, probably be the best choice. The foam rot is an easy fix, just did the repair myself. The only other speaker I have tried with BC9000 were a set of Jamo concert 7.1 and I would not recommend them.

BC9K series is my all time B&O favourite!

Mico:

I am sorry but it disturbs me that people who do not have personal experience comment on issues like this. It is always hearsay to me.

Based on my personal >20 years experience (and increasing) about BC9000 I would say that BV5000s are really excellent, their looks is still up to date, RL 60.2.s are also excellent (depending on installation), BV 3000 lack bass, like CX 100's. Personally I do not like Cona, some do. Beolab Pentas up to mk2 have speakerlink and are also excellent, probably be the best choice. The foam rot is an easy fix, just did the repair myself. The only other speaker I have tried with BC9000 were a set of Jamo concert 7.1 and I would not recommend them.

BC9K series is my all time B&O favourite!

Mico - please don't be disturbed. We all know the amp in the BC9000 is not really man enough to power a big speaker - that's why B&O put the Beolab 150 at the bottom of the Beolab Penta, because a speaker rated at 150w really needs an amp more powerful than approx 40w to drive it. 

I had a BC9000 for a short while that I fixed a broken tape door on, then sold for a small profit on eBay. It's a lovely looking unit, and sounded ok with my CX50s and a Cona. It was poor with the BV Pentas. I have a BM 8000 and that is the only B&O amp man enough for the job. The BM 5000 and 6000 do decent enough jobs driving these speakers, but I'm afraid the BC9000 doesn't cut it.

Do you have a BM5000, 6000 or 8000? If so, what do you think is the best sounding amp with BV Pentas? The reason I ask is that of all the people that commented to the OP, most (if not all) have owned or heard a BC9000 at some point. I wonder how many alternative B&O amplifiers you have owned/heard, because there are many better than the one in the BC9000!

I agree with Johnbarker.

None of us have tried all possible combinations of B&O's, still I don't see
the above commenting people as the least experienced bunch of Beoworld'ers,
that's for sure.

I don't see any of the above comments as hear-say either.
Even if you never actually had a given combination, you could be familiar with
the discrete items and their pros and cons and that would give you an idea of
the outcome of that particular combination.

F:e. I would imagine a good old Beomaster 4000 or 4400 as a far better match for the
passive Penta's than the, we must face it, definitely lovely but powerwise a
bit weak Beocenter 9000, even if I never tried any of those actual combinations.
Could actually be fun so I will probably do it.

I've tried Beomaster 5000 etc. with passive Penta's and it sounded good but
the power handling - well, I was not overly impressed.
Actually, I had the same Beomaster 6500 in for repairs a couple of times for
intermittently cutting out. It never burped one single time while I had it but
as soon as the poor thing was returned to the owner it "failed" again.
Turned out he was using it with passive Penta's and mostly at fairly high volumes
proving that this was not the best combination.

Mico, your thoughts and comments are just as welcome as any others, be they based on experience, guesswork
or even hear-say.
20 years of experience is respectable and it will be respected, still it won't
even take us back to the production days of the Beomaster 8000.

Martin

Mico:

I am sorry but it disturbs me that people who do not have personal experience comment on issues like this. It is always hearsay to me.

Based on my personal >20 years experience (and increasing) about BC9000 I would say that BV5000s are really excellent, their looks is still up to date, RL 60.2.s are also excellent (depending on installation), BV 3000 lack bass, like CX 100's. Personally I do not like Cona, some do. Beolab Pentas up to mk2 have speakerlink and are also excellent, probably be the best choice. The foam rot is an easy fix, just did the repair myself. The only other speaker I have tried with BC9000 were a set of Jamo concert 7.1 and I would not recommend them.

BC9K series is my all time B&O favourite!

Well now, I bought what was probably the first BC9000 to come into the UK back in 1986 and I kept it and used it until about 5 years ago.

During the intervening 16/17 years or so I used it with many kinds of speakers including Beovox and Beolab Penta, RL 60 and 140 and Beovox and Beolab 5000's.

I can state quite categorically that the built in amp in the BC9000 is NOT man enough to drive the bigger speakers like Beovox Penta and RL140 to high sound levels.

I would say that the amp seems to lose control of the speaker and the bass gets kind of indistinct and woolly sounding. In desparation, I started experimenting with external power amplifiers and found a cost effective solultion to the problem in the shape of the QUAD 405. It made my RL140's, which I had at the time, really come to life.

I too am in love with the BC9000 series but like a good woman or a good wine, it does have it's failings. Later versions with powerlink outputs make it easier to connect the complete range of active speakers, thus it is easier to overcome the deficiencies in the range.

joeyboygolf:

Well now, I bought what was probably the first BC9000 to come into the UK back in 1986 and I kept it and used it until about 5 years ago.

During the intervening 16/17 years or so I used it with many kinds of speakers including Beovox and Beolab Penta, RL 60 and 140 and Beovox and Beolab 5000's.

I can state quite categorically that the built in amp in the BC9000 is NOT man enough to drive the bigger speakers like Beovox Penta and RL140 to high sound levels.

I would say that the amp seems to lose control of the speaker and the bass gets kind of indistinct and woolly sounding. In desparation, I started experimenting with external power amplifiers and found a cost effective solultion to the problem in the shape of the QUAD 405. It made my RL140's, which I had at the time, really come to life.

I too am in love with the BC9000 series but like a good woman or a good wine, it does have it's failings. Later versions with powerlink outputs make it easier to connect the complete range of active speakers, thus it is easier to overcome the deficiencies in the range.

I agree that the amp of the BC9000 is not the greatest of the B&O range. The only personal comparison I have is the BM6500 which serves as my primary audio master today in a MCL setup. I have never tried the Penta voxes with  BC9000 but based on the Jamo experience I thought that the amp just can not cope with power hungry speakers. The problems occurred only during relatively high volumes but you could feel the lack of power.

BTW I did want to hurt or insult anybody! I love this forum and the lively discussion.

j0hnbarker:

[

Do you have a BM5000, 6000 or 8000? If so, what do you think is the best sounding amp with BV Pentas? The reason I ask is that of all the people that commented to the OP, most (if not all) have owned or heard a BC9000 at some point. I wonder how many alternative B&O amplifiers you have owned/heard, because there are many better than the one in the BC9000!

My parents have a BS6500 setup with Beovox Pentas, the sound has always been excellent. They purchased a complete B&O setup based on my design 19 years ago. I have listened the 5000 series as well and would rank them as the best of the 5, 6 or BC9X00. I used to have some Japanese amps for home theatre as well but got cured from that disease. Their sound with serious music was torture to me.

hi all

i use penta voxes with a bc 9300 and currently a bc 8500 the room ic 'l' shaped, 17 x 12 with the short leg 12 x 8 std height of around 8 (all dimensions in feet)

speakers sit at the bottom of the long leg facing up it at normal volumes they sound fine to me but in that sized space with a raised volume my(and my wifes) ears begin to suffer before any other problems manifest themselves(music is normally mor ,rock blues etc occaisional classical)

With s45/2's the sound strikes as much mellower!

Just finished a refurb on some rl60/2's and also some rl45/2's i shall be 'roadtesting these units over xmas  / new year = so maybe watch this space!

salut

tony

Forgot to add - maybe the acoustics of my listening space are not ideal but it is what i have to live with!

tony

ajames:

I might be wrong, but I think the 9000 being the first in that range wasn't equipped with Powerlink Sockets so the beolab range wouldn;t work easily. Best bet if that's the case may well be Beovox Penta.

Good point ajames.

Another option is to use attenuated speaker cables to drive any active Beolab speaker that has a line input from the speaker level outputs of the 9000.  Ask any good B&O reseller (eg. Lifestyle AV, MoreThan AV, Iconic AV), they should all be able to obtain attenuated speaker cables.

Best regards,

Steve.