Beolab 8000 - Dead Woofers?

Hi All,

About a month ago I bought a near-perfect Beocenter 9500 locally, and the seller decided to just include a pair of Beolab 8000s in the sale because he said they were faulty...

Initial inspection showed that the tweeters work, and music comes from one woofer only - but it 'buzzes'; gentle pressure on the rubber causes the buzzing to stop briefly and the music sounds fine until I release it again.  However, no sound comes from the other three woofers at all.

When I swap the buzzing woofer for each of the other three silent woofers, I can hear music in each position. This seems to prove that power is getting through normally to each of the three woofers, but that they are effectively 'dead'.

The speakers themselves switch on and off with the beocenter, and otherwise seem fine; they're also in great cosmetic condition, so they're definitely worth saving.

So, is there anything I can do with the dead woofers - or do I just buy new replacements? Can they be refurbished instead?  Also, can I do anything about the buzzing speaker, or should I just replace this too? 

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated...

 

On the silent speakers, do the cones move freely backwards and forwards if you gently push them - are the magnets blocked? You may need to remove them to check if there is any physical damage from being over-driven.

The on/off sensing seems to work so that's a start! Do you know how old these BL8000's are? The older ones are suffering from internal foam rot which then affects the PCB. This has been covered recently here on Beoworld. You can search for that. The foam needs to be removed and the PCB cleaned and any damaged traces repaired.

You can replace the speakers as they are available but they should be calibrated properly to get the best out of them.

Dave.

Thanks for coming back to me Dave,

I've already removed the woofers - the cones move freely, and the rubbers don't appear to be ripped; I can't see any obvious physical damage to them, but don't really know what I'm looking for beyond this...

The serial numbers are 150233xx - I think that's 2001?  I've been following the foam issue on the forum (I have another pair of 8000s...), and the foam on these seems fine.

It's a strange situation, because everything about the speakers appear to be OK to a 'non-electrical type' like myself - they click on and off, the tweeters work fine, there seems to be power reaching the woofers - but these three woofers just seem dead.  Maybe they've been driven hard in their previous life and just died a natural death, but since I don't know much about the internal workings of a woofer  - or what happens when they ARE abused - I wasn't sure if this was common, and what the best way forward was.

Any further thoughts appreciated.

Regards,

J

I'm not a techie either and don't understand 'electrickery'. I believe you can check if the speaker works with a battery but if they move freely, this probably doesn't help. I guess an internal component failure but maybe a visit to a repair shop is needed - they were free after all.

Dave.

Yes, I know... I shouldn't look a gift-horse in the mouth!

Actually, the speakers are in Edinburgh (where the B&O dealer has closed...), and I live near Liverpool (where the dealer will close next week...).  I was hoping for an obvious solution more to save having to go to a distant dealer rather than save any money.  I'll take the woofers to B&O Manchester next week and see what they suggest.

Thanks for your input anyway.

Regards.