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
Despairing of ever getting my Beocentre 4000, and also seeing just how expensive a CDX could be, I bought an 8000 on eBay for £90. Now I need a record deck and some speakers; I don't think I can afford a tangential deck with a cartridge at the moment, so in aid of being able to listen to my vinyl, I'll just try to scoop something B&O that works. Am I right in thinking that the likely options in passive speakers are CX100 or RL60? Are there other things I'm missing?
You can use almost any of the Beovox range - the 8000 produces what would in the old days be described as about 40W a channel. I would suggest S120s are the best speakers of all but S45.2s are also excellent. CX100s are very compact - I use a pair regularly - but cannot really be called Hi-Fi. RL60.2s are an interesting looking speaker (steer away from the RL60 which has an ABR prone to foam rot) and when stand mounted sound rather good - they do suffer from capacitor aging which is massively improved by replacing these - the treble can become very dull with time. Another interesting choice would be P45s - these are wall mounted panels but produce and excellent sound when so positioned.
Peter
I thought the 8000 was 80 watts per channel? My assumption was that it would be unwise to have speakers rated a lot lower than that; my teenage son might succumb to the temptation to test the upper limits, and that would be goodbye! Can you say more about the CX100 not being "hi fi"?
B&O, in common with many manufacturers, started quoting music power. This lead to a number of remarkable increases in power quoted for systems! The Beomaster 5000 type stacking system went from 55W a channel to 110W! The 9000 series of Beocenters went from 35W to 85W. I think the later models were slightly more powerful but I suggest an RMS figure would be about 40W. This would be about what I found when testing these a few years ago with a watt meter.
The CX100 is incredible for its size, but it is very small! Compare the frequency response curve to one of the bigger speakers and you can see the difference. I use CX100s every day but that is for convenience. They lack bass obviously but are a bit coloured also. I do have a soft spot for them though! They are also not that sensitive.
Thanks, that's all extremely helpful, and it's handy that my loudspeaker hunt is now much wider! There's actually a pair of S45.2s on eBay fairly locally, and maybe I can get those within my budget, otherwise I'll have to be patient.
I have used all the speakers Peter mentions with my BC 9500, which has essentailly the same amplifier as the BC8000, and would second his recommendations. However if aesthetic matching is a key factor for you, the RL60.2s are visually a much better bet, with their grey cabinets echoing the grey panels of the 8000.
Cleve
Cleviebaby:However if aesthetic matching is a key factor for you, the RL60.2s are visually a much better bet, with their grey cabinets echoing the grey panels of the 8000.
I'm actually using a pair of RL60.2 with a Beocenter 8000. I can confirm they work very well together both audibly & visually - not a disco PA system obviously, but quite enough for a normal domestic setting.
--mika
Thankyou all. I'm now on the hunt for S45.2s. The Beocentre 8000 will be sitting on top of an art deco walnut display cabinet, and whilst I think it'll fit the room reasonably well, the older style speakers will look better in here than Redlines, so I'm happy with that solution. Still on the hunt for an affordable turntable; it seems like any tangential deck with a cartridge goes for silly money. I'd still like one, but it would take some saving up, so I'll probably buy something radial in the meantime, so I can actually listen to my vinyl (the aim which got me started looking at vintage B&O!)
SamWise72: Thankyou all. I'm now on the hunt for S45.2s. The Beocentre 8000 will be sitting on top of an art deco walnut display cabinet, and whilst I think it'll fit the room reasonably well, the older style speakers will look better in here than Redlines, so I'm happy with that solution. Still on the hunt for an affordable turntable; it seems like any tangential deck with a cartridge goes for silly money. I'd still like one, but it would take some saving up, so I'll probably buy something radial in the meantime, so I can actually listen to my vinyl (the aim which got me started looking at vintage B&O!)
You should take a look at some of the normal (radial tracking) turntables from B&O; they are underrated and often go for little money. Good models to look at would be Beogram 1700 and derivatives thereof, it is a very reliable deck and the whole older series does share the same pickup cartridge which tend to have a better longevity than the newer cartridges (MMC1 through MMC5) because of their bigger physical size.
Vinyl records, cassettes, open reel, valve amplifiers and film photography.
Well, progress has been made. I've just won a pair of S45.2s, which are very local, and I pick up the Beocentre on Saturday. Covering my bases, I also won a Beocentre 2002 with a pair of S30s for next to nothing. Turntable wise, I'm tracking a Beogram 1202, which I hope will end up at a sensible price. Not sure what I'll do with the 2002; it has a non working channel which the seller reckons is just dry joints, so I might use the S30s as a second pair for something like surround sound, and if I can fix the dry joints, I might just be able to resell the Beocentre for more than the £16 I paid for it plus the speakers. It's a shame, as I rather like it, but I'm not sure where I could keep it!
Perhaps someone in the know can tell me; I'll want to connect my (eventual) Beogram, and also my iPod to the Beocentre, but it would be cool to connect the audio from my TV too. Are there sufficient inputs?
The Beocenter 8000 will have a Phono input for the turntable, a tape 2 input and an auxiliary input. I would recommend an audio switcher if you want more sources connected to the Beocenter.
The Beocenter 2002 is a Japanese model and not a good performer compared to other contemporary B&O. It's decent at best, but at that price, it was dirt cheap with S30's.
If there are 3 inputs, that'll do me fine. Are S30s not worth having either? I guess at £16, it was worth it just for the MMC20EN cartridge, regardless.
S30s are fine - however listen to then against the S45s - why not post your thoughts?
I'll certainly do that. What I'll be particularly interested in, however, is the sound of all 4 against just the S45s. Not certain where I'd place the S30s, and I'm sure I'd need to buy longer speaker cables (not a cheap operation, this!), but it might be nice to have that effect.
In some of the earlier receivers, there was the ability to have a system called ambiophonics - this used a pair of side speakers to give a greater spacial awareness - S30s would be a good ambio speaker.
Oh the pain. Having seen tangentials going for £3-400 for the last couple of weeks, today a Beogram 3000 with an MMC4 in good condition went for £104.15. My bid? £102.15. Argh!
Yes, but the high bidder may have bid £200.
I know, but it's still painful coming so close. Good news and bad news today; BC8000 is here, and I've seen and heard it working, S45.2s are here, along with their promised cables....which are to bare ends, for connecting to non B&O amps. So, I still can't listen! Oh well, I'm picking up the other Centre with the S30s tomorrow, and those cables should do the job.
The poor chap with the 8000 was clearly sad to let it go for £90; he'd owned it since new, and was clearly remembering the thousands he'd spent. On the other hand, he has a shiny 9500 of his own, and if you will make things collection only for directly in the centre of nowhere......
2 pin DIN speaker plugs are still available on the big auction site and at many local electronics store at very good prices.
I may do that, but honestly, these cables look like bell wire. I'm inclined in the short term to connect my S30's to the crappy Aiwa system that's now moved to the back room, so they get some use, and that sounds better; these cables are perfect for that. Then I'll figure out whether I want to run 4 speakers in the front room, or just sort out the Beogram 2200 and give it away to a friend.
You can of course just push the wire in the DIN plug sockets whilst you are waiting - a bit of blu tac will hold them there!!
It would feel like heresy! I'm just off to Wokingham to collect the other unit, so I may as well wait and plug the real thing in. Got iPod connecting gubbins coming from Heavenly too, plus a doohickey for connecting to the base of the iPod rather than the headphone jack (for better sound quality, I believe), and I've just won a Beogram 1202, so nearly all systems go!
Got the Beocenter 2002 back, and guess what? The S30 cables are hardwired. So, I'm now listening to the 8000, but through those speakers. Time to just buy a decent set of speaker cables. It sounds wonderful through the S30s though, so I can't wait to hear the S45.2s.