Hello.

I love my white 'Star Wars' RL60 speakers, but the other day I noticed one of them won't take much bass before distorting the sound in a very ugly way (too much 70s reggae I suppose). I want to take a look at it but I'm worried about the straps. If I open the speaker, will I need to replace them or can I just remove them and put them back afterwards? If I've managed to 'burn' one of the speaker elements, are there new ones/comparable ones available?

Best regards,

Nixpix

Welcome to the forum!

I am afraid that new ones are no longer available.

It is a sure bet that those fitted to your speakers will be very fragile by now and there is a good chance that one or more will break if you interfere with them.

They have to be removed to look inside the speakers so you will have to be prepared to either live without the straps or remake them from another material.

As far as I know there has been no favoured alternative material recommended and we would all be most interested in the outcome of your particular quest since many of us have searched and gave up on what seems such a simple task.

Good Luck

Hi and welcome to beoworld

To be honest the straps are the least of your problems here. It is a very common problem with the first generation RL60 speakers that the ABR's have disintegrated. If you shake the speakers you will hear the plates rattling around inside the cabinet. There are several fixes for this which can be found in the "workbench" section of beoworld.

HERE is one example.

Chris.

I managed to buy some automatic strap machine material from a local packaging supply shop, they had 10 metres of 7mm white Polypropylene machine strapping, it was about £10 from memory.

Then I used some red letraset to carefully transfer the RL60.2  writing on the strap

So don't worry about the strapping, mine definately looks as good as new 

Thank you both for your quick answers! Medogsfat, you're right - I can hear something's loose inside. Have to go check with my local dealer about that modification.

About the straps: question is if they are supposed to break if you just open the cabinet (like some kind of 'warranty void'), or if there is a chance to remove them in one piece. My speakers have been standing in a basement most of the time, so I think the straps might be in good shape.

Oh no, don't break them!  This thread  on my RL6000's should give you an idea what you're up against if you decide to open the speakers. They are mechanically very similar.

Hi nixpix2

Do you need speakerunits or what I have four compatible units brand new

regards

jan

So it is possible to remove them. Thanks!

@ birgerbum: I don't know the exact problem yet. I have to open it up first. But if it happens to be one of the speaker units, where are you located?

Hi

nixpix2

I am located in denmark

regards

jan

Ok, so I checked with my local Bang dealer, and sadly, the modification kit is no longer available - at least not in the Nordic countries. A strange thing happened by the way; I replugged the speaker today to try out my newly aquired Beogram CD 4500 (birthday gift from wonderful and understanding girlfriend), and it now seems to work! Question is for how long. I'd better go find another pair of RL60's to use for spare parts.

Hi, I've recently had the same problem as you with my RL60s. To answer your question directly the straps come off very easily. Each one is attached to the casing with one screw on the back. To remove the strap just undo the screw and slide the strap off (carefully!) to one side. Opening up the speakers is then fairly simple. Just undo all the screws you can find and remove the back casing. I am a complete technophobe and was nervous about doing this in case a broke something but I managed it easily so if I can do it I'm sure you can!

With regard to fixing them, I don't think a spare set of speakers won't be much for sorting the ABR plates as the majority of these will have the same problem unless they have been refurbished. The only way to get them fixed is to have the ABR plate refoamed. Beoworld member Dillen should (I think) be able to do this for you if you don't want to do it yourself (he is based in Copenhagen). He has just refoamed the drivers for my RL140s.

Sadly when I opened up my RL60s I discovered a previous owner had just taken out and discarded the ABR plates to stop them rattling so mine were unfixable (unless anyone has a spare set?) but you shouldn't have that problem!  

Hope this helps.

you don't have to use ABR plates on RL60 speakers, they were a design failing that B&O resolved 10 years later by offering an "RL 60.2 Bass Port Kit"  part number  8480128 for about 100 euros, the kit basically converted the old RL60's to the later RL60.2 design, sadly the kit is no longer available from B&O

However, Mike at Speaker Hobby has modded his RL60's to great effect

http://www.speakerhobby.com/bangolufsen.htm

So that could be a better bet long term to consider  !

Also, do remember if you do any work on the RL range of speakers to upgrade the caps to 250 volt polycarbonate capacitors in the filters, they sound better for it.