So I’m planning to build a stereo purely to play vinyl on, would any one have suggestions for great but affordable speakers from bang and Olufsen that I should get?

I’ve never really dealt with the company before but my dad loves the stuff so he suggested buy off them.

Things to note ; I’m not planning to buy any thing brand new it will just be second hand stuff probably quite old that I can find on ebay

My price range is that of a university student so under £500

Is it worthwhile buying any second hand B&O products regardless of age? and should I consider purchasing a second hand turntable off them (ive read a few horror stories).

Thanks for any suggestions or advice 

Totally worthwhile!!!

For speakers I would suggest the BeoVox S45-2 or similar.

If I were looking for another receiver, I would probably get another BeoMaster 3000 or 4000. Both have built in RIAA preamplifiers.

Thank you Evan i shall have a look into that now 

I would look for a Beosystem 5500 with possibly some S45.2 speakers - excellent sound, easy to wipe clean (you are a student!) but good performance and will work with the modern equipment. If remote is not your thing, then the world is your oyster - a Beomaster 4400 , Beogram 4002 and some S75 speakers will blow away almost anything on the market today, all for less than £500.

Thanks for your help Peter thats a really impressive set of equipment i was looking at the turntables from this earlier.

Any opinions on the B&O Beolab 2500 active speakers , i like the fact i wouldnt need a preamp for them ? and i see them priced at £375

aidyanimal:

Any opinions on the B&O Beolab 2500 active speakers , i like the fact i wouldnt need a preamp for them ? and i see them priced at £375

They have their place, but will not have the depth and warmth as all of the above equip.

Back to you're old account Peter?

Beomaster 4400, Beogram 400x and Beovox S75's are one of the best B&O systems available, Beomaster 6000(80's version), Beogram 800x with the S-75's also works great.

You can get active speakers - the Beolab 2500 are a little specialised as, in my view anyway, they look a bit odd separated from the music system. If you want actives, Beolab 4000s are the best value by far. A Beomaster 4400 and S45s will sound better though! (I have both). The 2500 is probably the weakest of the Beolab speakers - only the Beolab 4 will be less powerful and less capable.

Changed back to this log in despite having to post a number of times!!

My 2c - don't go for a B&O turntable. With your sort of budget, you can't really afford to buy a lemon. A B&O deck is likely to at least need a service if it hasn't had one recently.

Having heard one recently, I was extremely impressed with the Rega RP1. They cost around £225, which is a fairly smart amount of your budget to spend on a deck IMO. Cheap turntables are generally awful, verging on unusuable. A low quality, badly set-up turntable will sound terrible, and in many cases, can actually ruin your records. The Rega RP1 comes with a pickup/cartridge, and is already configured and ready to go when you get it out of the box! Don't faff with the playing weight, anti-skate or tracking angle as they're already set correctly...

The RIAA preamps in the 3000 and 4000 aren't the greatest. They will get you by, but a good future upgrade would involve buying a good quality RIAA/phono preamp.

My favourite B&O amp is the 4400 (probably because it's one of the ones I own ) - a seriously good amplifier which will run in circles around many modern hi-end amps. I've been meaning to line it up against a Bryston amp we have in the recording studio simply to see just how good it really is! The 4400 also has an RIAA amp, but I haven't actually used it!

As far as speakers go, you've got a large choice when it comes to B&O. Be wary of rotten foam-surrounds on speaker drivers! Not all the BeoVoxes suffer from it, but if it has degraded, then you'll need to factor in having the drivers re-foamed, or avoid them alltogether!

For a student (like myself), the S45-2 - rubber driver surrounds, sealed boxes, and three way. A little bass light but in a smaller room that's a good thing!

Here's a link.

The B&O active speakers are to be avoided IMO. You really need to look at spending £2.5k plus before you get anything worthwhile (with the exception of the BeoLab 4000). The older BeoVox models will blow a lot of the B&O active models out of the water if you put a decent amp behind them...

Alex is right - go vintage! The systems are simply incredible!

I will never forget the time when my sister rushed into the house thinking I was playing the piano, when it was really my BeoMaster 3000-2 and BeoVox S45-2s playing a track on my iPod! All original and unserviced, incredible stuff.

I have never heard a 4400, but by judging what everyone says on here it has to be out of this world if it sounds better than my 3000!

The 4400 is bacally the same as a Beomaster 6000 (80's model), the Beomaster 8000 is similar in specs too, but with two more darlington configurated output transistors for more power

Double post!

aidyanimal:

 

 

My price range is that of a university student so under £500

 

Let's see today's conversion rate.....<Google>....1 pound equals $1.62, so 500 pounds is about $810.

In the last year on Ebay in the U.S. I've purchased:

Beovox S40, $50 plus $35 shipping = $85

Beogram RX 2, $25 plus $30 shipping = $55 (Thread in Vintage)

MMC4 Cartridge, $100

Beomaster BM2400, $25 plus $30 shipping = $55 (Thread in Vintage)

Other investments:

Parts to refoam S40 woofers, $25 (Thread in Workbench forum)

Caps and other parts to refurbish S40s, $40

Antenna, conversion cable, and speaker wire for BM2400, $30

Total investment:  $390 and maybe 12 hours of my time

That's my current garage system, and it can freaking rock.  The BM2400 and S40s (which are hanging on a wall for crying out loud) paired up very nicely, thank you very much.

As to some of the other comments, The RX 2 and MMC4 (had one since 1987, now I have two) get no discussion here, so I'm assuming noses are thumbed at them.  But I adore my first RX 2 (21st birthday present from the future Ex Mrs. Rich) which I'm listening to in my bedroom with a pair of Beovox S45-2s.  Perhaps the RX 2 wasn't sold in Europe, but there's ALWAYS at least one of them for sale on Ebay here in the states.

If you can get a pair of S45-2s, by all means go for it, as was noted above by more than one person.  No foam rot to worry about, but you may have to recap as I did (failing midrange).  I got my pair (flawless exterior except for grill cloth - frets I believe you say across the pond) on Ebay in 2007 for $95 plus $40 shipping.

So, in short, vintage B&O, big fan, wish I would win another auction, highly recommended, etc.

Nothing wrong with the RX2 though I would maybe go for a 1700 instead - I just like the 4000 series and they have more of a wow factor in the styling department. My first system was a BM2400, BG1902 and P30s, rapidly changed to S75s. That did me for quite some time till I got a BG4004. My more recent systems are sometimes more convenient but not better looking and any sound improvemnt is marginal.