Hello! 

I will soon be the new owner of a Beocenter 8000 and at the moment I am trying to evaluate the different speaker options. One of the speakers I´m interested in is a pair of Beovox Penta´s. My question is if the built in amplifier in the Beocenter 8000 is powerful enough for the passive Beovox Penta? I am not interested in beeing able to blow down the walls of my room, I just wonder if it will sound well in moderate volume levels. 

Thanks in anticipation

Erik

Peter is probably right here. I have some Beovox Pentas connected to a Beomaster 8000, which is more than able to drive them comfortably. I have a Beosystem 5000 and have tried using the Pentas with the 5000 amp, and it's not really up to the job.

 I must admit though that I have not heard a Beocenter 8000 driving Beovox Pentas, but I imagine that it's probably got less kick than the 5000 amp. The S80s might be a good match, but I suppose it depends on what fits in your interior. I could have gone for MS150s with the Beomaster 8000, but the Pentas look much better in my living room. Have you thought about CX100s and a Cona sub? I have CX50s plus a Cona with my Beosytem 5000 in the bedroom, and they're more than able if you don't want to annoy all the neighbours! Plus you can entertain/bore friends by explaining that the Cona is on display at MoMA in New York and what a great thing it is to own such a piece etc!

I agree with John - the Beomaster 8000 can drive almost anything - I think the Beomaster 6000, 4400 and Beolab 5000 amplifier could also probably manage. I would not bother with much else - you could use Beolab 150s if you could find a pair of course.

The Cona and CX route is fine though CXs are not the easiest load either.  My 9500 seems more than capable though.

Thanks for your answer! As you suspected a S80 or MS150 wont really fit in to the rest of the interior. Actually the CX100 and Cona was exactly the other alternative i was thinking about.

But here is another question, at beocentral.com i could read this about CX100: "A replacement for the Beovox C 75. The construction was considerably simplified, with the woofers being mounted flat instead of on angled baffles, the log-line port and vent removed (though the shape remained on the back) and the crossovers simplified."

Do you think I should try to find a pair of C75s rather then a pair of CX100s?

And how do I connect a Cona to the Beocentral 8000?

Thankful for answers

Erik

Hi Erik

I'll leave it to others with more knowledge to fill you in on the differences between the C75s and CX100s.

It's easy to connect the Cona to the BC. You run normal speaker cables out of the DIN connections on the BC. These connect to the Cona with screw binding terminals, so the ends of the cables need to be bare wire. The Cona has another set of binding terminals to run back to whatever other speakers you are using (CX100s or C75s in your case) and these wires need to have a female DIN connection if you want to hook up to the CX100s or C75s. The crossover in the Cona lets the Cona handle the low frequencies and sends the higher ones to the other speakers. A lot of people find that despite the claims from B&O, the positioning of the Cona is important as the crossover is set rather high, meaning you can detect the 'boom' 'boom' sounds from it if it is not placed between the left and right speakers. I have it in a corner of my room as I do not have enough space to position centrally - it's not too irritating as I don't use it too much, but you might want to think about it if you are using the set up regularly and cannot position centrally.

For a while I had my Cona so it could be muted on my BC9000. When you press mute it only works on one pair of speaker connections. So I connected the Cona straight to these. Ran the CX100's straight from the other connections. Although the CX100's still play all frequencies , you can turn of the Cona when you want. Interestingly the best sounding speakers I used with my BC9000 IMO were a pair a Kef C20's.

Craig 

Great thanks!

It seems like the Cona and CX100 is a good option. But I am still thinking about the Beovox Penta´s. Is it possible to connect a pair of Beplab 150 to the Beocenter 8000, since the BC doesn´t have connections to active speakers? If yes, will both Beolab 150 and 200 work? And how would anyone describe the difference in sound between this setup and a pair of CX100 plus a Beovox Cona?

An awful lot of questions, but I have faith in your expertise

Erik

Just one more thing

What should I agree to pay for a par of Beolab 150/200´s?

Erik

Can I inject an element of realism into this discussion. The chances of finding a pair of CX100, beovox penta or S80 without foam rot are slim indeed. Be aware!

The amp in the beocenter 8000 is the same as that fitted in the rest of the series, It will need a full head of steam to get reasonable noise levels from beovox penta but not everybody wants to entertain the neighbours. They will work OK but not at their best, even so they will be better than CX100's and a boom box.

I use S80's as my test passives and they sound super, even with the start of foam rot. They are getting rarer in anything like working condition.I have just cosigned another pair to the skip.

My value for money selection would be RL60.2. They are available at low cost, look good, sound not bad and make a reasonable amount of noise with a 30wpc amp.

The problem with recommending speakers is that it is very subjective. To me, CX100's sound like the sound is struggling to get out of the box whereas RL's are more open and in your face. The same with penta vs Beolab 5000's. It just me and my ears!

My experience with CX 100's and 50's has meant that I now don't sell them unless they have had new drivers fitted. Unfortunately this means that they don't come cheap. I believe that RL 60.2 are a better second hand bet as they do not suffer from rot(?) At least, I've never had a rotten pair and they seem more efficient than CX's which suits the 30watt amp.

Actually I agree with Graham on this one - to a point. I actually prefer CXs personally but I like the type of sound they produce. However the RL60.2 does produce a better balanced sound as long as the cross overs are OK. Both pairs of my RLs sounded muddy with little detail in the top end and this was rectified by changing the capacitors (by the next owner!)

I would however choose Pentas over BL5000s....... 

Interestingly, I had nobby round to see me on Friday (on his way back home from a few days holiday) and he was not impressed by my 5000's! Said he preferred his pentas. His other half said she preferred my 5000's but I could not get her to pay my price!!!

I have 2 pairs of C75s with no foam rot or signs of it, a pair of CX100s again without (thankfully - although they are starting to go sticky), but my 2 pairs of CX50s have had there drivers or foam replaced.   Looking at the surround on the C75s it appears to be made from a different material and looks less likely to suffer than the CXs.    I wonder if the quality is better  - why the drivers cost more to replace.  Perhaps sometimes the drivers are swapped out of C75s to replace those in the CX range?

I am wondering if you would consider selling a pair of C75's?  I have a restored set, but i have one blown tweeter.  The foam surrounds if they have not yet failed will fail in time.  replacement surrounds are available on Ebay and they are excellent.

Best,

snakygator