General Forum

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Dave — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:22:29 GMT

It's easy, if B&o can't do it for you, then forget it and drape an acoustically transperant curtain infront of them - if you can't stand to look at them - ummm They're gorgeous creatures and i can not imagine them being a mismatch in any type of environment.

However, BL5's with chrome discs would look incredible. Hooly dooly, B&o should offer it as an option. Why oh why don't they offer any options with the BL5's?

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

a2bur — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:41:25 GMT

My dealer dropped off some Lutro bits last night and also had the larger of the two ally discs from a Lab5 and wondered if it could be converted into an ash tray or something , somehow it got a ding in it and had to be replaced , it has the moulded plastic part attached . With great care it could be polished , you or whoever would have to take time and avoid any heat build up and the outer edge done by hand . Can't see any way of separating the ally from the plastic without destroying one or the other .

Richard

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

beocool — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:17:23 GMT

Puncher:
Jandyt:
Ericvr6:
Jandyt:

See!
It's a piece of cake!
Now, anybody got some BL5s I can practice on?
I must admit, I got better at it as I practised, I just recently silver-plated an Audi A8 for one of my mates

what a nice job looks great
Och! It was nothing.
Completely off topic - but did you know that jandyt was the model for Oor Wullie!

So Andy is lying about his age, then?

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Puncher — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:41:26 GMT

Jandyt:
Ericvr6:
Jandyt:

See!
It's a piece of cake!
Now, anybody got some BL5s I can practice on?
I must admit, I got better at it as I practised, I just recently silver-plated an Audi A8 for one of my mates

what a nice job looks great
Och! It was nothing.

Completely off topic - but did you know that jandyt was the model for Oor Wullie!

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Jandyt — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:50:39 GMT

Ericvr6:
Jandyt:

See!
It's a piece of cake!
Now, anybody got some BL5s I can practice on?
I must admit, I got better at it as I practised, I just recently silver-plated an Audi A8 for one of my mates

what a nice job looks great

Och! It was nothing.

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Ericvr6 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:03:41 GMT

Jandyt:

See!
It's a piece of cake!
Now, anybody got some BL5s I can practice on?
I must admit, I got better at it as I practised, I just recently silver-plated an Audi A8 for one of my mates

what a nice job looks great

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

GuyHui — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:55:34 GMT

Jandyt:

I must admit, I got better at it as I practised, I just recently silver-plated an Audi A8 for one of my mates

It's even more expensive than my car, as a wreck after an accident...

Guy

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

beocool — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:42:18 GMT

So the discs are bonded. Agree with 10% that this is nearly impossible....

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Mr10Percent — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:39:32 GMT

I dont think it will be easy to change the aluminium disks on the BL5.

First, the supplied disks are very thin alu. Second, they are bonded onto the main lens by a rubberised bonding agent. This is thick and tarry. The bonding agent is allowed to ooze into 6 - 8 circular groves on the inside of the lens before the alu disk is pressed on.

Thus to replace the alu disk one is more than likely to damage the original (prising off against the glue) and would also need a serious effort removing the old bonding adhesive from the lens. Finally, new bonding adhesive would be required to eliminiate vibration between the new (coloured) alu disk and the lens.

To see what I mean, there is a video on the B&O site (factory tour) which shows this. Also look at the X-ray pictures of the BL5 and see the concentric grooves in the lens.

10%

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Daniel — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:30:45 GMT

Puncher:
There was a guy here on-site that was able to re-process the aluminium panels/speaker housings to a mirror-like finish. I forget his name but he may have produced some BL4000's for LEE as a demo - maybe LEE can help.

Andy is his name.

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

beocool — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:42:55 GMT

krdale:

Thanks guys, i really appreciate all the input, i'll come back with any other questions and keep you updated on how this goes.

How difficult is it do disassemble the Beo lab 5, so that the alu "plates" can be modified? And does anyone know what it will mean if the thickness increase with a millimeter or two..? Which i guess would be the result if a its got chromed? Or would all the new layers be extremely thin..?

The new layers can be extremely thin (in total about 100 microns or 0.1 millimeters I guess) I'm not sure how the plates are attached, but even if the plates are 0.1 of a millimeter thicker on either side, reassembly can proof tricky, if not impossible. Polishing the aluminium, like Puncher suggested is in itself a good idea, but the colour of mirror finished aluminium differs from chrome. The chrome has a slightly more blueish colour. Not anyone can recognize the differences between mirror finished aluminium, mirror finished stainless steel or chrome plating, so maybe polishing might be the best option, after all.

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Puncher — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:29:34 GMT

There was a guy here on-site that was able to re-process the aluminium panels/speaker housings to a mirror-like finish. I forget his name but he may have produced some BL4000's for LEE as a demo - maybe LEE can help.

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

krdale — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:23:42 GMT

Thanks guys, i really appreciate all the input, i'll come back with any other questions and keep you updated on how this goes.

How difficult is it do disassemble the Beo lab 5, so that the alu "plates" can be modified? And does anyone know what it will mean if the thickness increase with a millimeter or two..? Which i guess would be the result if a its got chromed? Or would all the new layers be extremely thin..?

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

camshaft — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:25:47 GMT

Polishing wouldn't be practical. If you really wanted to, you could remove the aluminum sections and send them to a place that chromes automotive parts. They'd be familiar with the process, and the speaker owner wouldn't have to worry about the details such as those beocool provided. This would probably cost less than having B&O do a custom job on them.

Austin

Re: BeoLab 5 in Chrome?

Jandyt — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:03:17 GMT

See!
It's a piece of cake!
Now, anybody got some BL5s I can practice on?

I must admit, I got better at it as I practised, I just recently silver-plated an Audi A8 for one of my mates