Hi,

I've just joined the forum because I'm looking to buy a Beosystem 5500. I'm new to B&O and don't know that much about it apart from what I've read on here.

I've seen one advertised privately for £325 with all parts apart from the CD player, and includes a pair of Beovox MCX35 speakers. It's supposed to all be in good working order, but not absolutely mint (few light scratches etc). Is this cheap, fair or overpriced? Based on what other pieces of B&O of this age are going for on Ebay it seems fair enough to me but I would appreciate the advice of the experts!

Of course if anyone reading this has a full working Beosystem 5500 (or similar system) they want to sell please let me know.

Thanks 

 

Welcome to the fourm!

Steer clear of the X35 speakers - they're rubbish and will not do the rest of the system justice.

£325 is a bit steep unless the system is mint and includes the Beogram record player with a decent cartridge (stylus) at this price? I'm guessing you'll want a CD player as well, so you should factor in around £150ish for a CD5500 in good condition. Have you tried looking on eBay - you might find something on there as these systems do come up regularly

Yeah I'd read the speakers weren't that good. I was planning on replacing them at some point if I bought this system. The seller says that the stylus was in good condition, but he also says that the system hasn't been used for 5 years - will that mean the stylus will need replacing? I don't know much about record players - they were before my time!

I've had a look on Ebay - there's no 5500 system for sale atm but there is a full Beosystem 5000 going for £450 on buy it now. But I'm guessing that's a bit steep too? 

rgs218:

Yeah I'd read the speakers weren't that good. I was planning on replacing them at some point if I bought this system. The seller says that the stylus was in good condition, but he also says that the system hasn't been used for 5 years - will that mean the stylus will need replacing? I don't know much about record players - they were before my time!

I've had a look on Ebay - there's no 5500 system for sale atm but there is a full Beosystem 5000 going for £450 on buy it now. But I'm guessing that's a bit steep too? 

Welcome from me as well! The problem with all modern (since the mid-70s) B&O record players is that you can't replace just the stylus, you have to replace the entire cartridge. If the stylus was good five years ago, it probably still is, but the cartridge may have become a little stiffer. However, if it still works, there's no hurry in replacing it - I understand you don't have any records to begin with yet?

The 5000 system has a better amp, and the tape recorder is better as well if you ever plan on using it (but not auto-reverse)... However, the 5000 requires you to use its own remotes, whereas the 5500 will work with all the modern remotes from Beolink 1000 onwards. The 5000 stack will probably have CD50, which I suppose is a good deck, but getting old and may need service soon. I'd say £450 is a bit steep, again depending on the condition and what cartridge the Beogram has.

And finally, if you don't think you can do repairs yourself (this forum is an invaluable help, though!) it's worth it to pay a premium for good working condition, never mind some scratches here and there. Perfectionists will pay a lot for mint exterior, since most of these will have some stacking marks because of, well, being stackable.

Thanks for the advice so far. I emailed the seller and he's saying his bottom line on price is £275. He's also saying the cartridge is definitely in working order and is promising to have it set up to give a full demo if I go to see it. Does this seem more reasonable then?

I like the Beosystem 5500 - lots of connection options. The Beocord is worth very little but the Beomaster and Beogram are both perfectly reasonable and these with the MCP5500 would be a very pleasant system. A CD5500 would be very desirable though (A CD50 would also work). I use a 5500 system every day and like it despite also having a BC2. There are some thoughts that the power amplifier is not the best - the 5000 is supposed to be better - a friend has identified that this is due to a few extra capacitors not itemised on the circuit diagram and says removing them makes a huge difference! I'll let you know though I actually find the 5500 perfectly acceptable! 

I don't think £275 is a bad price at all and if it all works, I would go for it. Things to look out for are the stylus as mentioned, the mute relay on Speaker 1 and the belts on the cassette player. The 5500 does not have powerlink sockets which limits the use of newer Beolab speakers but you can get pre-amp out (sort of!).

I'm with Peter here. At £275 with a working Beogram/Stylus it is good value.

Thanks everyone. In that case I think I'll go for it and I'll keep an eye out for a working CD player on Ebay to add to it later. How much should I be looking to pay for one?

And what are the best speakers to upgrade to, bearing in mind I'm on a relatively tight student's budget!?

rgs218:

Thanks everyone. In that case I think I'll go for it and I'll keep an eye out for a working CD player on Ebay to add to it later. How much should I be looking to pay for one?

And what are the best speakers to upgrade to, bearing in mind I'm on a relatively tight student's budget!?

Anything from £70 to £150 for a CD player (CD50 or CD5500 - preferably the CD5500, it's newer, although some compliment the sound of the CD50). For speakers I would suggest S45.2's or RL60.2's.

Puncher:

anything from £70 to £150 for a CD player (CD50 or CD5500 - preferably the CD5500, it's newer, although some compliment the sound of the CD50). For speakers I would suggest S45.2's or RL60.2's.

Hi there

Just happen to have a pair of S45/2's and a pair of RL60/2's sat here doing nothing if interested pm me

salut

tony s

Peter :

I use a 5500 system every day and like it despite also having a BC2. There are some thoughts that the power amplifier is not the best - the 5000 is supposed to be better - a friend has identified that this is due to a few extra capacitors not itemised on the circuit diagram and says removing them makes a huge difference! I'll let you know though I actually find the 5500 perfectly acceptable! 

I know now which friend you're referring to:-

http://notebook.beocentral.com/beomaster-5500-6500-and-7000/

I intend to try this on my 6500, although I don't really believe I'll hear a difference, I've never considered my ears that much golden...

 

He says the differences are marked! I think the addition is probably related to stability in a multi-room system.

I'll admit to occasionally finding my BeoMaster 6500 a little dull from a sonic viewpoint! For example, my NAD C300 (which cost me £46.50 brand new, closing down sale!) has a much more lively and musical high-end. None of my amplifiers deliver with the same weight and timing of my BeoMaster 6500 though, with the exception of my (currently defunct) BeoMaster 4400. The 5500, 6500 and 7000 are all very good amplifiers, but don't have the most exciting high-end. It seems as though quite a few people have modified their 5500s, 6500s and 7000s to good effect - I would be interested in hearing the differences and may look at doing it to my own.

I can believe Peter's theory about these caps having been fitted to improve stability with long speaker wire runs; these amps are said to have problems in that area. It might well affect the highend enough so that even I will hear it... I might even have time do this tomorrow and will then report back.

There is also the upgrade workshop by Die_Bogener, which to me sounds to have even more potential for improvement... but it requires you to replace stuff also, and not simply to remove parts!

OK, job done - it took almost an hour including de- and restacking the Beosystem and I don't have another amp from this series to make comparisons. A revelation may be too strong a word, but there definitely is a difference. For a test drive, I listened to Dire Straits' Telegraph Road before and after, and I'm pretty sure the percussions sound clearly nicer now.

It's not a quickie job since you have to open both the top and bottom of the Beomaster and the caps are under the fan channel, but fortunately the bottom is much easier to expose than it seems at first. I'll try and post a couple of pictures after Keith lifts his curfew

Percussion is something that I too have found to be a little disappointing with the BeoMaster 6500. I remember listening on my B&W DM7s (which I have since sold) and finding them a little on the dull side when it comes to percussive transients when connected to my Beosystem. However, when listening to them on the end of £14k of Naim amplification at my local hi-fi dealer, I couldn't believe the sound produced! In fact they sounded so good that even a pair of Linn Ninkas (admittedly not the most exciting sounding speaker) sounded comparatively dull and lifeless with percussion.

Now this I would expect seeing as the Naim power amps, power supplies and pre-amp cost £14,000, and my Beomaster 6500 cost me ~£200 But upon listening back at home, the differences between my Nad amplifiers and my Beomaster 6500 seemed quite large.

As soon as I ditched the DM7s and went for a (much) easier to drive speaker, the issues became much smaller. Therefore I can conclude that the Beomaster 6500 does seem to struggle with higher-than-normal loads. These modifications would be quite interesting to hear, although I doubt I'm skilled enough to attempt the modifications.

Alex:

As soon as I ditched the DM7s and went for a (much) easier to drive speaker, the issues became much smaller. Therefore I can conclude that the Beomaster 6500 does seem to struggle with higher-than-normal loads.

As some readers probably remember already, I have Beovox Pentas which have been said to bee "too difficult" for these Beomasters. I recently upgraded their crossovers with new (and considerably better) caps, and now I begin to feel it was worthwhile - this combination sounds now so silky smooth that I probably have to relisten through all my CDs

Encouraged by this, I will probably tackle the preamp board later, as well. Most equipment has some components that from purely audiophile standpoint are unnecessary - the most notable of these IMHO are the small bypass caps across each input. They are probably there to filter out some noise and/or to protect the Beomaster from external interference (or vice versa) - or just to keep the signal/noise ratio great on paper -  but I can't see them doing any good to the actual music in environments where they are not needed. In fact, the CD5500-7000 seems to have two HF filter caps across both signal outputs, and I'm sure they need to go...

It's possible any high-pass filters are there to eliminate or reduce quantization noise. There's a high probably I'm talking absolute nonsense though!

You of course mean the low-pass filters. This filtering is done before the output buffers, and the bypass caps are after them, right before the signal exits the player. The CD5500 service manual has an enlighteningly thorough discussion on the filtering that is used in the B&O CD players that have similar electronics.

I'm not really sure if I came up with this myself or if I have read it somewhere years ago (I'm getting old you see), but in the early days of CD it had to apologize for its existence by beating the analogue audio by every means measurable. One of these was signal to noise ratio. Even though the antialiasing filtering is good this time, it may pass through high frequency components that can be mistaken for noise especially if the measurement bandwidth approaches the upper limit of theorethical bandwidth (22.something kHz). I believe the puny 2.2nF caps are there to help shunt these HF components and I'm sure they shortcircuit some of the music as well... I'll have to do some tests

(sheesh - I'm supposed to be an engineer in digital signal processing, and here am I discussing the musical merits of tiny button caps )

Corrected, I of course mean low-pass filters.

I would be interested if you find any issues related to the filters - I for one have always been impressed with the transparency and musicality of my CD7000.

Interesting! I've never been impressed byt the sound quality of my bm7000, some of my older beomasters (a 6000 and two 8000s) sound clearer and also have better control of the lower frequencies.

Some of this probably has to do with the M150s I use with the 7000, and I plan to renovate them (I've talked to Martin/Dillen about this), but a couple a weeks ago when I temporarily replaced the 7000 with an 8000 I realised that the main problem in my livingroom system is the bm7000 and not the speakers (I still plan to renovate them, though).

I find this subject very interesting since I want to keep my 7000. However, I've got two rooms (with MCL2AVs) connected to the 7000 via MCL2, so I can't do any alterations that disrupt the MCL service.

.

I realise that the main problem of the 5500/6500/7000 is the power amp, and I'm tempted to try a good external power amp via the mysterious "line" connector - is this a normal "pre out"/"main in"-loop or is it more of an "exernal eq"-loop? On the other hand, the MCL outputs will be silent if I use the "line" connector. Hmmm. :-/

What about the powerlink outputs? Are they connected at the "correct" point in the signal chain (that would imho be after the volume control and tone controls, but before the power amp), or has the PL signal passed the power amp? Would they provide a good, non-degraded signal for an external power amp and still allow me to use the internal power amp for the MCL rooms?

The signal is from just after the tone, balance and volume controls. I've never used the PowerLink outputs for driving other amplifiers with the exception of once driving a subwoofer from them for a party.

Just finished talking to the author of the capacitor removal wheeze! He says leave the other capacitors alone - he did have a look at this and they will make no difference and do serve a purpose. And don't play with the CD5500 as it is very good already!

On the line out plugs, there are two. The line in and out which are normally linked are before the volume and tone controls - I use this for my headphone amplifier. The so called Pre-Amp out is nothing of the sort and is just attached to the speaker outputs but with big resistors attached! The 5500 doesn't have Powerlink sockets. 

On the 6500/7000, the line out is before the volume and tone controls - the circuit diagrams are on site.

Peter, are the PL outputs of the 6500/7000 done in the same ugly way as the "pre-amp" output of the 5500?