I joined a few days ago and wrote a little ditty about how I came to be a B and O owner. To the 5 people that read it, THANK YOU. No I h\ve an interesting problem. I have just purchased a beosound 5 system and a pair of Beolab 1 to replace my 5500 and pentalab 3. I have always been a great fan of the penta's and have just read a looong thread about how to upgrade them (99% of which i did not understand) but hey, as long as I know the sound that I like... And that is just it..fter the initial problems with getting my beosound 5 to work properly (required a new PCB apparently) I have spent many a happy hour listening to it. last night I thought that i would just fire up the 5500 to keep it warm whilst I advertise it. I popped in a CD (One that i had already listened too on the beosound 5) and away I went. The sound that came out of the pentas was warm, clear and dazzling and made me feel all kinda wow!!!

I continued to listen and the pentas continued to grow on me again. So, I wired them up to my Mk 2 9000 and tried another couple of CD's same thing "all kinda wow" So simple question to any one who is willing to answer. (please try to keep the jargon to an acceptable level for a numpty like me) Do I sell my prestine mk 3 Pentalabs/ No foam rot, no dents or scratches almost as good as the day they were born or do I sell my 1990 beolab 1's which i think are awesome speakers and blow things like the 6000 and 8000 away but do not have the clarity and warmth (to my ears anyway) of the Pentas. i am worried about keeping old technology and how it will survive the future. parts are already getting had to aquire for the pentas ( so i am told). Is it a good move or not?

Contributions really welcome to help me solve this issue. BTW the beosound 5 despite its limitations is as sexy as hell and a pleasure to use. It does however need to be updated with a few tweaks to make it more user friendly and I have sent some suggestions to B and O for their consideration. Iteresting to see what they say.

Cheers

iain 

I love my Penta's (3 one of each mark) although I have always fancied a set of Beoloab 1's although it seems like you need a Beolab 2 to bring the bottom end out.

Mind you I am partially deaf so what do I know!

LOL

You'll not get a lot for Pentas these days I am afraid. You can play with the settings of the Beolab 1s if you want though I actually rather like the sound - it should be very clear and detailed. Pentas sound nice because they have a bass lift - a bit like having the loudness on!

I actually have a pair of Penta MK3's, they are placed in my parents house. I don't think I would ever sell them, but I once bought them for pure looks only. It's not the most neutral of speakers in my opinion. I bought them used 9 years ago, and payed then 2500 euro (Finnish marks converted). Sell them today and I would be lucky to get <1000 euro I guess. So they are worth more to my parents and to me too. 

The Beolab 1 is one beautiful speaker, I haven't listened to it much, but I would from my memory call it more of a high-end speaker than the Pentas.

Hello bluestreak!

Beolab Penta and Beolab1 have a very different sound charachteristic, so as it is very often said: It depends on your ears and your listening preferences.

Owner of a pair Penta MkIII I know Beolab1 only from listening to it in different B&O Shops. My personal (and therefore subjective) verdict:
I prefer the more full and warm sound of the Penta although the sound tends to be a bit unprecise/muddy in the middles compared to Lab1. Lab1 has a very clear and detailed sound in the middle and high frequencies but they do lack in the deep/bass. Overall I find them sounding hard/harsh, cold and a bit unbalanced due to the "overrepresentation" of the middle frequencies.  

The Pentas lack of precision in the middle frequencies is mostly due to the old concept of the speaker but there are ways to tweak them (as you already read). Personally I am happy with the way my Pentas sound right now.
What I remember from a listening session with Lab1 (mostly with classical music from Bruckner, Schubert and Bach but also pop/rock and electronic music) is that after about 1 hour of listening I began to feel sort of tired/exhausted and had to pause. I never felt something similar with Pentas, Lab8000 or Lab5.

Concerning spare-parts: The middle drivers (can be affected by foam rot) are still available, the other drivers shouldn't be affetced by foam rot as they have rubber sourrounds. The internal electrical components (like capacitators, etc..) are quite common and most of the outer parts (stell panels, floorplates) are to my knowledge still available. I know that the displays/dsiplay covers are not available anymore.

From an economic point: You should be able to raise more money when selling the Lab1 than when you sell the Pentas.

My suggestion is to listen to both speakers in direct comparison and then choose the one you prefer. Personaly I'd keep the Pentas and sell the Lab1.

Just my (rather long) two cents.

cheers!

Foxtrott

Soundwise I prefer the Pentas, I like the display, but not the overall look - due to the copper/brown stripes.

But I also think the Beolab 1 is not so good looking, sound is not as good.

So I would stick with the Pentas (...even though I sold mine a while ago - the WAF was not hight enough...but that is another story...)

Ralf

I turned down the midrage units on my Lab 1's and really like their sound, would you consider trying a BL2 with them? Keep the 1's they're rare and you won't get all that much for them either (all things considered)

Dave, I would be interested to hear more about how you tuned your beolab 1's

cheers

iain

Well,hi all and for all those of you that are joining me from my other thread "new kid on the block" welcome. Well this question has returned the answer that i was looking for with you all being a split on the outcome. When I bought the beosound 5 i spent 4 hours in my local dealer listening to a pair of 8000.My wife and I took a hand full ofour favorite Cd's sat down , drank loads of complimentary coffee and listened and listened... They sound great in the shop acustics room. We listened to a pair of 6000 nto for us. I came home confused and listened to the same Cd's on my 5500 and the pentas. there was that warm, mellow almost frinedly sound that I had got used to and that was missing fromthe 8000.

You see,you have to remember that I am of the old school. My first album purchase was Status Quo "Dog of Two Head" 1969 I think and Rolling Stones "Satanic magisties request". I was then into heavy metal.sice ten my tastes have gown and now I am just as happy listening to Judie Tzukes as Jethro Tull, Deep Purple as Andrea Bochelli, Bond, Vangelis what ever although I do draw the line at the spice girls (I wonder if that will be auto cut by the forum. After all it is nearly a swear word).

I like old Minis, they make me smile. i like the funky new Fiat 500 it makes me smile even more. I used to work for a famous manufacturer of valve tecnology guitar amplfiers, so i am a bit retro. I appreciate the sound of a valve amp over a transistor. I think that the Penta styling is classic and timeless. i have the Beolabs and the Pentas all wired up to my beosound 5, my 5500 and my 9000 and listened to loads of music (well except on the beosound 5 but that is the subject of a whole new thread) and I simply cannot make my mind up. i love the warmth of the penta and the fact that you can turn them down to virtually zero and still hear just about every note. But then Ilike the 1's for a whole different set of reasons.I know that if I seel the pentas at some time in the future I will regret it. I now know that parts are still available but some are in short supply and this worries my plus the fact that you can't get boxes for them any more and this.

If I keep them I may end up with a pair of obsolete speakers that are worthless because I can't get parts.I DON'T KNOW.....

The idealwould be tokeepit allbut then i would be looking for a divorce lawyer. I have been made an offer for the whole 5500 inc pentas and am dithering which means that i am not sure. Perhaps i should sell it all and buy a £20 CD player from currys...perish the thought

cheers iain

Iain,

I can't resolve your speaker selection, but I can offer a diagnosis: BeoVirus... Welcome to BeoWorld! Straightjackets on the right!

Have fun!

Make it yourself easier, buy yourself a powerlink wireless box and place either the penta's or the 1's in the bedroom, office or bathroom?

In my opinion, the Pentas have a better all-around sound. I've owned a pair of MK 3 Pentas for over 13 years and have had no trouble with them. I never owned the BeoLab 1 speakers, but I have sold many pairs when I worked for B&O and did much comparison listening. I simply couldn't justify replacing my Pentas with BL-1s. The Pentas may look a little dated by B&O standards, but still look pretty modern when compared to current conventional speaker designs.