No longer having a need for a single Beolab 4000, I'm trying to find a mate for it to have a proper pair. Naturally, I'll look for the Left to complement the Right. All things being ideal, I'm sure it would be advisable to find an original pair in the first place. Still, I have the unused orphaned Beolab 4000. Has anyone one had a bad experience when finding a speaker mate? That is, has anyone noticed a difference in sound between the two speakers that were not an original pair?

beojeff:

Has anyone one had a bad experience when finding a speaker mate? That is, has anyone noticed a difference in sound between the two speakers that were not an original pair?

That will only happen if there is something seriously wrong with one of them. Chances of that happening are slim  that. Make sure that you are covered when buying on ebay.

I've seen it a couple of times on ebay where there has been a single 4000 available

MKI and MKII have a different sound, so make sure your other half is the older MKI model.

I just saw a single bl4k on the us ebay site a few moments ago. (Blue if I remember correctly)

Thank you all for the helpful feedback. Do you know how to tell an MKI from an MKII? Underneath the grill, the label indicates Type 6638. There is no indication of MKI or MKII. If the label doesn't indicate an "MK" would that mean that it is an MKI?

Here we go, this is what you need! It's a right-hand unit.

beojeff:

Thank you all for the helpful feedback. Do you know how to tell an MKI from an MKII? Underneath the grill, the label indicates Type 6638. There is no indication of MKI or MKII. If the label doesn't indicate an "MK" would that mean that it is an MKI?

Easy way of detirmining whether or not it's a MKII or not, is by its LED indicator. The MKII has simply a power indicator LED light, where as the MKI power indicator doubles as a power button. Almost all second hand BL4000's are MKI.

Are you certain about that? I have 3 BeoLab 4000 speakers that I've had for over 5 years and they all use the LED as a power button. Is the MKII ICE powered?

beojeff:

Are you certain about that? I have 3 BeoLab 4000 speakers that I've had for over 5 years and they all use the LED as a power button. Is the MKII ICE powered?

Yes of course i'm certain. Going by that, all 3 BL4000 that you had owned so far were MKI. The MKII is ICE powered, and frankly, doesn't have the same natural tone that BL4000's are loved so much for.

I'm sorry. I had misread your earlier post. I had thought that you meant the MKI had no power button. It's strange that B&O changed that.

:)

It was just strange, full stop, that they decided to "update" the 4000's in my opinion.

Like the saying goes; if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it!