ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi Folks,
I just got my first pair of speakers that someone didn't leave on the street for poor folk like me to spend their lives by, and I could use a little advice in getting to know them, protecting their life, troubleshooting issues, etc. These were already above my budget and agreement with my wife, so they'll probably be the only speakers I ever have if I can maintain them that long.
It's a pair of beolab 8000, and the ebay seller said everything's in working order, but I'd like to perform a thorough inspection while I still have time to haggle if necessary. Can someone point me in the direction of threads or manuals that could help walk me through this? I'm a total noob with speaker servicing. I did try searching through about 10 pages of threads before asking.
Also, it came with 6 of the 8 rubber feet, so I'm looking to pick up a couple more, and can't find them readily for sale online--any pointers?
Thanks.
I'd be willing to pay the right person to help walk me through this...
I have a pair of old, ca. 1997, Beolab 8000's, never have had any problems. I take it you're not driving them with a B&O stereo system? They have two inputs and a switch to select between them, one is the traditional DIN plug B&O Powerlink cable, the other is an "normal" female RCA plug.
Easiest way to check them if you're not a B&O system owner would be to get a long pair of RCA cables, or even a mini-headphone plug to two RCA cable adapter that could fit into the headphone out of something like an iPod. Either connect two RCA cables to the preamp outs on a preamp/receiver, or plug the headphone cable into the iPod whatever and run the RCA cables into the Beolabs. Make sure the switch is set to the RCA input position, I think you can still get the manual from B&O online as a download.
Start playing the iPod or whatever you're using, and listen to the drivers. If you can tune into something like FM hiss you get between stations that's even easier to hear with than music. First off, when the signal turns on the speakers should sense this and turn on in a couple of seconds, the lights should go from red to green at the bottom of the speakers. They should be red when the speakers are plugged in and there's no signal coming into them. If they are not lit, or if they light up yellow, you've got a problem in the speaker. If no light make sure the power cord is plugged in all the way, it's a funky connector and is sometimes hard to push in.
Once they're playing, put your ear close to them and move up and down, the driver arrangement top to bottom is, a 3/4 inch tweeter, and then two 4 inch woofers, tweeter, woofer, woofer. You should be able to hear sound out of all drivers, and a difference in response, that is as you put your ear over the tweeter you should hear bright highs, and less of that and more lows as you move over the woofers. If all drivers are working then just play a variety of music thru them and listen for distortion, rattling, etc.
As for the feet, I'd ping Lee, the site owner who also owns Lifestyle AV, should be able to help you find some. I lost all of mine when I had them on the little spikes (which I assume you also don't have) on carpet, and when I went to put them on tile floors he got some for me.
Anyway, let us know how it works out. And congratulations, if this is your first "real" quality speaker, you did good, you picked one of the most iconic designs B&O ever made, they lasted in production from like 1992-2014, and the new Beolab 18 is a similar styled follow on.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Thanks so much! Will give it a go and report back.
Got some rubber feets left so if you need two you may have them.
The cast iron black bases are not mentioned on the B&O price list so my dealer sold them to me for a few euro's new in box.
Brengen & Ophalen
Hi,
Exact same situation, I bought a house, so any speakers I got had to be used and would probably the only speakers I will be able to buy for the intermediate future. I was looking for 8000s but at the last minute changed my mind and went with a pair of late-model Pentas from 1998. I hope to keep them for as long as possible, and would like to have them professionally serviced at some point. But for now they sound very good.
For the more immediate issues, one of the Penta's is missing one "foot". It's pretty stable, but it could tip more easily than it should. Does anyone have a spare Penta "toe" or "foot" to sell?
-Brian