Has anyone had time to listen to any combination of these and would like to compare them? I am a several hours away from a B & O store but am wanting to make a HT with B & O speakers. I have a non active pair of BeoVox Penta's hooked to a Beomaster 6500 in the bedroom and they are excellent. I am just wondering if the newer speakers are better.

I have compared all of these (Beolab Penta rather than Beovox).

My favourite is the Penta. Works best when you are sitting down (the tweeter is then at the right level ) and has extended bass. If one was being critical, the sound is softer in the treble region, but they play loud and don't distort.

The 8000 has better treble than the Penta but lacks ultimate bass - I chose Pentas when I chose between the two but was very tempted by the 8000. The 8000 shrieks at high volumes - sounds like treble distortion - I put it down to the drive unit.

The 4000 is a great small speaker. Plenty of bass though more one note than the Penta and not as deep. I have mine wall mounted which emphasises the bass. I use one pair as rear speakers and they are completely wasted really.

6000s are my least favourite. less bass than the 4000s and nothing that really made an impression on me. Like the 4000, they too shriek at high volumes.

Now for a controversial view. The older range of passive speakers will outperform the 4000 and 6000 by a good margin when used with a decent amplifier. The S45.2 and something like a Beomaster 3000 will certainly sound better and move up to the M speakers and you will have better bass than any of the speakers above, Penta included. You simply cannot beat a good big bass driver supplied with adequate power. You will hear detail in the bass that simply isn't there in column speakers. The Beolab 5 is the only modern B&O speaker that can do this that I have heard for any length of time. The Beolab 9 was badly set up when I heard it and simply didn't impress. Properly set up, it is probably very good but I am not in a position to judge.

Doctor:

I have compared all of these (Beolab Penta rather than Beovox).

My favourite is the Penta. Works best when you are sitting down (the tweeter is then at the right level ) and has extended bass. If one was being critical, the sound is softer in the treble region, but they play loud and don't distort.

The 8000 has better treble than the Penta but lacks ultimate bass - I chose Pentas when I chose between the two but was very tempted by the 8000. The 8000 shrieks at high volumes - sounds like treble distortion - I put it down to the drive unit.

The 4000 is a great small speaker. Plenty of bass though more one note than the Penta and not as deep. I have mine wall mounted which emphasises the bass. I use one pair as rear speakers and they are completely wasted really.

6000s are my least favourite. less bass than the 4000s and nothing that really made an impression on me. Like the 4000, they too shriek at high volumes.

Now for a controversial view. The older range of passive speakers will outperform the 4000 and 6000 by a good margin when used with a decent amplifier. The S45.2 and something like a Beomaster 3000 will certainly sound better and move up to the M speakers and you will have better bass than any of the speakers above, Penta included. You simply cannot beat a good big bass driver supplied with adequate power. You will hear detail in the bass that simply isn't there in column speakers. The Beolab 5 is the only modern B&O speaker that can do this that I have heard for any length of time. The Beolab 9 was badly set up when I heard it and simply didn't impress. Properly set up, it is probably very good but I am not in a position to judge.

First of all thank you. Then on to your "controversial" view. I have a set of  S 120's and Beovox Penta. Main listening is done on the S 120's and my bedroom has the Penta's. And I am guessing you believe that the M series would be a step up in clarity. So would you believe if I can find a pair of MS 150's with three CX 100's I could create a very good HT set up? Or are they different enough to not be a good system? I was looking to go active but to buy 5 speakers even used is quite a chunk of money. I already have a good 5 channel, 300 watt amp, with NHT speakers but I am not satisfied with the sound I am getting for Movies. Any suggestions?

S120s are very well balanced medium speakers. They lack the bass of the MS150s though which really are very good. The problem with this however is space. MS150s are, by any measure, huge. My wife was delighted to see the back of mine, though she tolerates my M100s still. I would be tempted to go for a Beovox Cona sub-woofer and small passives front and rear. The Cona is however not an 'in your face' sub-woofer - you may want more than it will give. If I had the space, and a very understanding partner, MS150 fronts and something like S80s rears would be rather good. An S80 centre channel would be fine.

Part of what makes a good system is the audio processing though - I believe this is one of the reasons B&O sounds good.

Recently i did test a cona with RL 6000 as front and a pair of S45-2 as rear. Was dissappointed, however i had one mlc2p power both the front and cona via BS1. Hoping to get a dedicated amp just For cona, that may fix the issue