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This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hello everbody,
Recently bough a pair of silver Beolab 4000 mk1 by a secondhand B&O store. I love the speakers but when idle (or silent moments in music) they produce a soft hum. The left one a little bit more then the right one. There connected with a RCA cable on my NAD amplifier. I tried a lot of different cables but it’s not making a difference. When I shut down my NAD I still hear the hum. So it’s seams to get out of the speakers themselfs. I must say when i’m sitting on the sofa you almost can’t hear it. To hear it better you have to get quite close to the speakers. My questions are is this a common thing? Can I do something about it?
It's normal for BL4000 MK1 to have little hum :)
Ok, thank you. So changing cables would not help? Before I'm buying the local electronics store empty or bringing them back.
Hi Mick35,
Welcome to Beoworld!
The hum level on the speakers should be very quiet, ie. in a quiet room, you should not be able to hear the hum more than 50cm from the speakers.
Moving the speaker cables away from mains power cables is often an easy way to prevent humming through the speakers. If the cables are professionally made versions with sealed 8 pin DIN plugs, then there won't be much to gain from replacing them on Beolab 4000 mk.1 speakers - however if they appear to have been "home-made" or damaged in any way then upgrading them to the correct cables can give improvements:-
https://soundsheavenly.com/powerlink-8-pin-din-connection/20-266-powerlink-mk-3-compatible-8-pin-din-cable-with-4-cores-wired-low-profile-cable.html#/1-length-05m
Kind regards, Steve.
Steve.
www.soundsheavenly.com
Founder of Sounds Heavenly Cables and Brand Ambassador for Bang & Olufsen
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Steve,
Thanks for your answer! There not much cables around the RCA cables I use. I’m using double shielded RCA cables. Tomorrow i’m home again and gonna do some tests from how far I can hear the humming. Is there a difference using din cables instead RCA?
Gr!
Hi,
For connection to a B&O system, please use DIN cables, for connection to a non-B&O system, please use RCA cables with Beolab 4000 mk.1 speakers.
Please let me know how you get on!
I would say a hum is not normal. Perhaps a very slight "white-noise" (like most speakers) when there is no audio playing, but not a hum. B&O or any speaker manufacturer would never be ok with releasing a product whereby they intend for customers to have to put up with a hum as part and parcel of owning the speaker.
Beolab 9 | Beolab 8000 | Beolab 6000 | Beolab 2 | Beolab 3 | Beosound 9000 | Beoplay A9 | Beomaster 8000 | Beovox M75, / S75, / S45.2
Hi Howzit,
I would agree with you that when the speakers were new, they should not hum. However, with the earliest Beolab 4000 mk.1 speakers now being over 20 years old, I would expect a small amount of hum to present due to degradation of components inside the amplifier. However, this should be a very low level and it should not be intrusive during normal listening.