General Forum

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

h1npw — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:58:46 GMT

Hi Steve

2 areas to bear in mind - speaker foam rot as already mentioned - if you do a thread search for foam rot on this site you'll see which speakers suffer and which don't.

Also the older the CD player, the more chance that the laser will have less life in it, although this is very much pot luck. Tell tale signs that a laser is on it's way out is that the player will take a long time to find tracks whan you ask it to go from track 2 to 10 for example. When the lasers go in the older machines, it's pretty much impossible to get them fixed as parts are non-existent.

Re what i said about being patient in getting the right item in the right condition - also applies to the right price of course! I'd been waiting to buy one of these for myself for over 12 months... was mighty pleased when I got this one - A Beosound 2500 recently went on ebay for £410 and a MCL 2P amp for £103.......

Cheers

Nigel

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

stevnp — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:28:53 GMT

Many thanks for all your helpful and informative replies. I'm going to look into the various options you've outlined.

One last question: are there any pitfalls or problems to look out for with the equipment mentioned?

Steve.

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

V13WNG — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:39:05 GMT

With £900 you should easily be able to obtain a BeoSound 2300 CD/Tuner (with AUX socket), a nice pair of BeoLab 2500 AND a lead to plug your iPod into....

I probably shouldn't say too much as it could be percieved as selling (!), but I'd definately buy as modern as you can afford as parts for the older systems (however lovely and vintage!) are now becoming scarce!

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

Alex — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:26:14 GMT

I'd second the BeoSystem 6500/7000 approach. They're still 'up-to-date' in most ways and perform very well. As far as speakers go, you can't go too far wrong with a pair of BeoVox S45s - rubber surrounds (so no foam rot, unlike CX100s or Pentas), IMO great looks and they sound very good indeed. You can always run a subwoofer from the PowerLink outputs if you want more bass...

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

Peter — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:46:07 GMT

It is also worth remembering that the 5000 system, when introduced was effectively a separates version of the top line music centres and was below the 6000 and 8000 in the hierarchy of sound systems. The 2500 when introduce was also very much below the 7000 system in performance parameters with the CD and Tape machines of the 7000 in particular being a notch above those in the 2500. The 9500 was possibly slightly better than the 2500 but when it became the 9300, the parts were made standard across the range.

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

h1npw — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:47:00 GMT

Hi Steve

£750-£900 is loads!! Well.... it is in my book

As you only want CD + radio I would seriously consider a 5500/6500/7000 system - you then have the choice of using active or passive speakers. A Beogram CD + Beomaster can be had for £200 (5500) up to £400 (7000) leaving enough for passive or active Pentas. If you must have a single unit, then I guess it's the Beocenter 2500/2300 route.

If Pentas are too big you could consider a CX100 + Cona combination (but you'll need a MCL 2P amplifier to go with a Beocenter).Allow £90 for replacement drivers in the CXs unless you're up to replacing the foam surounds yourself. Decisions, decisions....

The secret when you're after specific 2nd hand items is patience...don't go after the first item you see - try and wait to get a mint or near mint one.

Cheers

Nigel

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

Puncher — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:09:12 GMT

Why not take a look a Lifestyle-AV's rather attractive new website to get an idea of the range and relative prices of the various sytems already mentioned.

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

bayerische — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:04:06 GMT

For that amount to spend, I would recommend a Beocenter 2500. Beocenter 2300 CD/radio and Beolab 2500 speakers.

This is what I started with 12 years ago, and it's a wonderful setup.

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

stevnp — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:19:08 GMT

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I had thought of adding speakers to the BS1, but decided against for two reasons:

1. I want to move the BS1 to another room

2. It somehow seems 'redundant' to add speakers to what is effectively a loudspeaker!

Budget £750-£900, I know it's not a lot, but if I had the cash... that's why I'm going secondhand.

I think I'm looking for something more integrated than the stacking system, more one box and I think the 9500 is a little too big.

I think I'm being way too picky given my budget.

Perhaps I should save up and buy a BS4!

Is there a cheapish overture/2500/3000 style option, with speakers on stands for that kind of money, or am I way off?

Many thanks,

Steve.

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

Chrisreunion — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:01:33 GMT

If you're looking for better stereo separation, why not buying only a pair of second hand speakers? All BeoLabs can be connected to your BS1 via the earphone output, and you can greatly improve your sound with a "simple" pair of BeoLab 4000s, or if you have more cash step to BeoLab 3!

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

Peter — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:56:35 GMT

The Beocenter 9500 and the stacking systems offer good performance and looks at a reasonable price.

Re: Advice on buying a used music system.

jk1002 — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:58:25 GMT

What is your budget? There is lot of decent best value system combinations. From BS2300 BL2500 to BC2 BL5 ..... You will find that people will recomend systems from a few hundred quids to 10k otherwise.

Cheers

Advice on buying a used music system.

stevnp — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:58:37 GMT

Hi, I've been using my Beosound 1 as my main music system for some time, but I'm starting to miss the stereo separation achievable with a separate speaker system.

My question is; what's the best value decent system, including speakers, I could get reasonably easily secondhand and what approximately would be the cost? I'm in the UK.

I need something controllable by Beo 4 and need only cd and fm radio, and an aux in.

Many thanks,

Steve.