General Forum

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

Soren — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:40:09 GMT

The Difference is because the 6500 and 7000 has 78 steps and 5500 has only 60, if you had your 5500 upgraded for use with Beolink 5000/7000 it also has 78 steps.

Søren

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

PD — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:53:45 GMT

Yo, yo! I've not been that well recently, signed off work since May & for the forseeable future, looking at a serious career change, though. In the process of going bankrupt and trying to sort out the old lovelife.

When it rains, etc, etc but there's good times a-coming, watch this space...

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

Jandyt — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:10:55 GMT

Welcome back PD!
Where've you been for two months?

Andy T.

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

PD — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:27:50 GMT

Might it also have something to do with the input? I know my 6500 amp needs volume at about 12 for CD, 16 for cassette, 20odd for LX TV & 50 for the PC!!

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

soundproof — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:33:54 GMT

Peter:
However don't worry! Apart from when you are outside and need a lot of power, most of us listen at about 1 W !

I know. Someone told me I would need at least 250W to drive my Dynaudio speakers in an adequate manner. Which turned out to be rubbish - the Beomaster 7000 handles them excellently. And I have seen huge speakers deliver wonderful sound from small tube amp's outputting 2x15W.

It's a little bit like the craze now for small tv's that must have 1080p resolution -- no one needs that on screens under 42". (Pioneer are adamant on that, and refuse to equip their smaller screens with 1080p). It's a numbers game, I guess.

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

Peter — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 06:28:14 GMT

soundproof:
So not 110W?
What happened? They just changed the way they measured the amp's? Not the amp's themselves?
I went by the ratings on the product sheets here on the site -- "buyer beware!"

Actually, if you look at the specs on site, both are rated as 110W IEC Long Term Max Power output. You will also note that the maximum power consumption of both is 225W. Leave 5W for the bilbs and other bits, divide it by 2 and you have ..... 110W!! They are measuring power output including heat which is of course ridiculous! The same applies to the power outputs claimed for the modules in speakers. The Pentas were originally rated at 150W but went ip to 300W before finally settling at 281W. The amplifier during this little trip hardly changed.

The advent of ICE amplifications has actually improved things as they are far more efficient. Power output at the speaker is now much closer to the quoted output.

However don't worry! Apart from when you are outside and need a lot of power, most of us listen at about 1 W !

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

Alex — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 04:57:32 GMT

The BeoSystem 7000 has 78 steps I believe, while the BeoSystem 5500 has a lot less (not sure of the exact figure). This would explain why you need to set the volume higher to get the same amount of sound. I have mine set to come on at 30.

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

MoglesMac — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 04:30:19 GMT

Thanx all for the input. I have no problems with the quality of the sound but just the "volumeness" of the specfic level, and if now its pretty much the same power and that the 7000 have double steps i would think its a totaly normal thing. Checked the connections at the back and all seems ok, the line-in plug is where its supposed too. I will consider tho to have it to Bang&Olufsen for a checkup since my Beogram CD 7000 is skipping in tracks wich i think it due to major dust-bunnies inside and im very awkward on opening it.

Cheers

MoglesMac

Sweden

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

soundproof — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:06:58 GMT

So not 110W?

What happened? They just changed the way they measured the amp's? Not the amp's themselves?

I went by the ratings on the product sheets here on the site -- "buyer beware!"

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

Peter — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:52:13 GMT

soundproof:
I doubt that B&O calibrated their sound setting indication to the levels of the 5500 when configuring the 7000. There are others here more knowledgeable than me on the topic, but I have owned both systems, and have both a Beomaster 6500 and 7000 now.
The 5500 was 2x60W at 8 Ohms; while the 7000 was rated at 2x110W. Which means there can be little doubt as to which was rated the most powerful - whether you ever use that power is doubtful. I have been running some very power hungry passive speakers from a 7000 with excellent results, which almost has me believing that B&O were conservative in rating the Beomaster 7000.
Both the 5500 and 7000 are very clean sounding amps - I think that if you ran both simultaneously, you would have little doubt that the 7000 packs a greater punch.
Do check the connection panel in the back of the 7000, and that the LINE OUT port has the proper stop in it. On mine this is the port at the bottom left of the connection panel, when you are looking at the rear of the unit. That should be plugged, with a special plug with leads in it.

The reason the amplifier was rated differently in the 5500 and 7000 was purely down to the way it was measured. To all intents, the power amplifiers are identical . Both are 55W RMS. I have had both running at the same time and they are much the same except when tested, the 7000 would switch into protection mode sooner with a 4 ohm load.

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

The Stig - ver. 1.7 — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:47:13 GMT

I don't have a 5500 or 7000 but it cut just be that 5500 has 30 steps and 7000 has 60. Todays audio/TV has 90 steps in vol.

just a thought

BTW BM5500 also has 2 X 110 W

Re: Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

soundproof — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:35:38 GMT

I doubt that B&O calibrated their sound setting indication to the levels of the 5500 when configuring the 7000. There are others here more knowledgeable than me on the topic, but I have owned both systems, and have both a Beomaster 6500 and 7000 now.

The 5500 was 2x60W at 8 Ohms; while the 7000 was rated at 2x110W. Which means there can be little doubt as to which was rated the most powerful - whether you ever use that power is doubtful. I have been running some very power hungry passive speakers from a 7000 with excellent results, which almost has me believing that B&O were conservative in rating the Beomaster 7000.

Both the 5500 and 7000 are very clean sounding amps - I think that if you ran both simultaneously, you would have little doubt that the 7000 packs a greater punch.

Do check the connection panel in the back of the 7000, and that the LINE OUT port has the proper stop in it. On mine this is the port at the bottom left of the connection panel, when you are looking at the rear of the unit. That should be plugged, with a special plug with leads in it.

Beosystem 5500 versus Beosystem 7000

MoglesMac — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:58:37 GMT

This might be a very strange question but it really is having me abit puzzled so here it goes:

I have a complete Beosystem 5500 with Beolab Penta A connected with speakerlink, then i was tempted to buy a Beosystem 7000 wich i now have connected the speakers above to however i think the degree of the volume is very diffrent. Is that a "normal" thing?

On my 5500 i had a startingvolume of 12 wich i thought was very ok and could even be abit high at times, while on the 7000 i now have set the startingvolume to 22 and i still think its abit "less" then my old setting on 5500. The sound itself i have no problem with but just the diffrence in "levels". Had the 5500 a diffrent signal to the Beolab Pentas? Like a pre-amp and then amped again in my Beolabs?

Gotta say im abit puzzled buy it since i thought the 7000 would be a more "powerful" machine... also in volumelevel so i really thought i would have to decrease my startingvolume...

Cheers

MoglesMac

Sweden