I have two rather fine Beovox 3800 speakers with the trumpet stands. I've been offered some 5700's but I haven't heard them before and have to collect from a long way. Can anyone advise on the sound quality the 5700's demonstrate compared to the 3800?

The 3800 has in my opinion the finest sound reproduction from any speaker that I've heard so I'm looking forward to the 5700.
 
Cheers,

Andrew
 

From very limited experience (I have only heard the 5700 playing once and not in good conditions) I would favour the 3800. I have a pair of these! Very interesting speaker as it was a UK only model designed to take advantage of some bizarre purchase tax regulations by fitting a really big woofer - bigger than that in the 5700. The 5700 compensates by being larger in cabinet size and having an Auxiliary Bass Radiator. I tend to find that speakers so equipped tend to sound a bit ponderous. I would still be interested in the 5700s though as they were supposed to be very fine speakers. They do suffer from rot of the ABR I understand though.

Welcome to Beoworld.  

I have a pair of Beovox 5700 speakers. Awesome speakers although you will need a powerful amp to drive them and the are BIG!! They don't suffer from any foam rot at all. Worth a look as they don't come around very often.

 P.s. They weigh 22.5kgs each!!

A B&O service engineer did tell me that the 5700 were very impressive speakers - but, as you say, huge! Not as big as M100s or MS150s though! Have you got the stands?

Unfortunately I don't have the stands. I can't imagine them on stands though due to their size! They take up enougth space as it is. As I said a powerful amp is needed for these speakers. I use a BM 4400. Sounds great

francoisvl:

Unfortunately I don't have the stands. I can't imagine them on stands though due to their size! They take up enougth space as it is. As I said a powerful amp is needed for these speakers. I use a BM 4400. Sounds great

So they are large and heavy...

I'll bet the shipping-costs to the Netherlands would be sky-high  

 

Ignace:

francoisvl:

Unfortunately I don't have the stands. I can't imagine them on stands though due to their size! They take up enougth space as it is. As I said a powerful amp is needed for these speakers. I use a BM 4400. Sounds great

So they are large and heavy...

I'll bet the shipping-costs to the Netherlands would be sky-high  

 

I'm afraid so!! total of 45kgs!

I'm lucky enough to have the trumpet stands which are a work of art. The 3800's really are wonderful and I'm sceptical if they'll be beaten. It's worth a shot...

 I run them using a Tripath 20W amp (T-class). IMHO beats the latest B&O stuff.
 

If you drive the 3800 very hard with certain types of music it can damage the tweeters.

They sound a quite a bit more top end than the 5700.

The 5700 are probably not as good as the 3800 at low sound levels, but crank up the volume and the 5700 are rather better, you'll need a big room though, and you might want to stand a goodly distance away because they have quite a kick.

 As for putting them on stands, in terms of floor space the 5700 don't take up much more room than 3800 on stands, its just that the fomer need to be away from a back wall a couple of feet.

Well I missed out on the 5700's but now have an opportunity to get some Penta Passives. How do these sound compared to the 3800?'s. I've found out the 3800's have distortion between 0.5-1% and Penta < 0.5% more than likely due to the bass reflex design.

 Anyone heard both and can comment?
 

I have active Pentas. I like them a lot though the bass is lacking at the very bottom in comparison. however there is a slight upper bass hump that disguises this. The problem with Pentas is driving them. The Beolab 150/200 that comes with the Beolab is fine but most other B&O amplifiers will struggle with the exception of the 8000 and 4400/6000. I don't think I could differentiate 0.5% distortion!

Peter, any chance I could pop down for a quick comparison if you have the Penta and 3800's? I'm in Newcastle so not far at all. I'll bring over my T-amp for you to listen to on the 3800's... the detail is guaranteed to melt your ears.

By all means! I have not actually had the 3800s that I have running! A good friend has a pair - I bought mine for another friend but am working out how to get them to him! It would be good to hear them working! You can have a compare with some other B&O speakers - I do have a few floating around.....

Most evenings are OK - not tomorrow though as I have to go to a meeting. PM me with an idea of when you would like to come and a phone number and we can sort something out! 

Personally I find the sound from the 3800 more neutral, (some might describe it as 'clinical') than the Beovox Pentas.

Mind you, I have been driving them from very differant amplifiers, Beolab 5000 for the 3800 and Beomaster 6500 for the Pentas.

 I have the Pentas disconnected at the moment whilst I decorate, but the good news is that they are upstairs, where the Beolab is, so its just a matter of dragging them from one room to another, I'll try them out side by side on the same amp and get back to you.

The 3800 make for good monitor speakers, but then the 5700s do as well, just at higher volumes.

 

My Beolab 5000 amplifier always sounded a bit exciting - we reckon it had a bit of a lift at the top end. I am not that impressed with the 5500, 6500,7000 amplifier in absolute terms. I prefer some of the older models.

casdave:

Personally I find the sound from the 3800 more neutral, (some might describe it as 'clinical') than the Beovox Pentas.

Mind you, I have been driving them from very differant amplifiers, Beolab 5000 for the 3800 and Beomaster 6500 for the Pentas.

 I have the Pentas disconnected at the moment whilst I decorate, but the good news is that they are upstairs, where the Beolab is, so its just a matter of dragging them from one room to another, I'll try them out side by side on the same amp and get back to you.

The 3800 make for good monitor speakers, but then the 5700s do as well, just at higher volumes.

Looking forward to it. Many thanks!

Andrew
 

I have just tried them out side by side, the 3800s were sat on a pair of Beovox 5000s so they were effectively on a stand, and the mid to upper range elements were, to all effects, at the same height as the Pentas.

First thing is that I was surprised at how lively the amp is, its a truism that a good amp can make average speakers sound better. I would have to agree that the Beolab 5000 amp is better than the Beomaster 6500 which came as news to me.

The Pentas are not as sensitive as the 3800s, which means you have to keep adjusting the volume as you switch between them. The Beolab 5000 is ideal for this as you can switch each set of speakers in and out independantly of the other, you can't do that on the Beomaster 6500.

It's as I expected, the 3800s have quite a bit more top end, and it can sound harsh when you turn them up, but they are very very clear. I was playing Alan Parsons Project - Pyramids and the harpsichord effect really comes out. Some instruments like cello solos sound uncomfortably harsh. I was expecting a bigger bass sound, given the size of the drivers. Its possible the crossovers need some work.They do sound bigger than you'd expect, but not dramatically so.

When you turn to the Pentas, the sound is much smoother, and you can wind them on a long way above the 3800s. The Pentas really have a punch when turned up, I was using vinyl, but I expect these would be very well balanced to suit remastered CDs.They seem to work better at moderate to higher sound levels.

The Pentas sound easier for listening, but for lower volumes go for the 3800s, as you wind on, you want those Pentas.

My opinion is that the 3800s are better for voice, acoustic and light orchestral where they bring out the detail, they are a bit cruel on vocalists who are not up to the mark, I don't think I'll be listening to too much Bob Dillon on these. You almost feel like the vocalist is singing to you personally so you could expect Tim Hardin and Dusty Springfield to show up well along with folk and blues folk, I bet western finger pick style music would be ok. These would match amps such as the Beomaster 3000 range.

The Pentas are better suited to amplified music, rock, electronic such as Chemical Brothers Prodigy, and big orchestral, huge film scores- imagine Bond themes, stuff with big atmosphere, maybe live music. As such you would think these would work best with more recent stuff.

The differance in sound between the Beomaster 6500 and Beolab 5000 is pronounced, I'm now wondering if the former would benefit from some work to replace the electrolytic caps or if its just a case of 'they all sound like that'.

You need to have a chat to Tim. He has been comparing the Beomaster 5000 against the 5500 and reckons the 5000 blows the only slightly later 5500 into the weeds. It would appear the pre-amp is the weak link as this is very different between the models. He actually reckons the BC9500 is better than the BM5500 but can't work out why as the pre-amp looks very similar. I use a 5500 quite a bit through CX100s and quite like it at low volumes. I will get my 3800s running - I am going to use a 4400 which I find to be flatter than the Beolab 5000 (gorgeous though this is!! - and mine is in Bellac anyway!) and I still prefer the sound to that of my 8000. Snoopy can compare 3800s against Pentas and also M100s and a collection of others! S120s and S45-2s are around as well as a pair of LS3/5As for comparison.

As a matter of interest, what are the bass units in your 3800s made from? Mine seem to be polypropylene drivers which seems odd as I thought they were supposed to be paper. They are still in the cut down Goodmans cage though. I am sure the pair I have heard before were paper cones. 

I would be interested in how the s45-2's compare with the other speakers.

I have a pair that I use as my main speakers, and would be interested to know if there would be  a sigificant increase in quality at low/med volumes if I was to upgrade.

Simon

Mine are polypropylene outer (where form rot would normally be) and treated (some sort of laminate) paper cones. I suspect the speakers were Goodmans finest as this sort of quality seemed rare in the 70's.

I have just taken a look at mine, and they seem to be some sort of shiny black stuff.

I'm not sure if this is just some sort of coating, it is very plasticky or if the cone is completely made of it.

The surrounds are neither rubber, nor foam, again some sort of soft black plastic stuff.

I remembered after looking at them, that it not the tweeters that are prone to damage with high sound levels, its the mid range units. I had to replace them from a pair of 3800s that had badly marker cases. You will know if they have been damaged as the sound is extremely harsh and grainy, almost as if the coils were scraping.

As for the S45-2, I rate them very highly, very clear and well balanced. If this sound is carried through to the S75s then these would be very good speakers indeed. The S45s are something of a gem in the B&O range.

 

Same materials as mine. If you look at rear of bass speaker it's still a paper cone but with a treated front.

The mid-range should be fine at high volume as it's got a big coil to handle the watts - the tweeter on the other hand has the reverse. Both of mine were damaged when I picked the speakers up and needed replacing.

I've not heard the uni-phase speakers like the S45 but took them to be a bit gimmicky. I'm looking forward to hearing the Penta's.

If you guys want really good amp technology skip a generation to: http://www.41hz.com/

I will make sure we compare the S45-2s as well - I'll dig a pair out and try to find the stands. Lovely speaker but doesn't have the bass of its larger bretheren. The S75 is the bigger brother but has a brighter top end and I find the bass to be a bit overblown. I chose them over S45-2s when I was younger and buying new because they were a good party speaker!! The ones I first had were also a wonderful flame rosewood finish which were gorgeous!

Won't the drivers have suffered if they've been buried??

I forgot - it's Wednesday! I thought you would be too depressed after last night!