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
Hello all
I just registered for the forum and would greatly appreciate some advice from the experts on here. I wondered if this should be in the vintage forum and so please accept my apologies and feel free to move the topic if so.
I bought a set of Beolab 4000 speakers on ebay from Italy. They arrived this morning and I excitedly unpacked them and set them up. I connected the power cables (they didn't come with the polarised c7 cables and so I used regular c7s after doing some googling and looking at the service manual diagrams for signs that they need to be). I set the mode switch to line and then hooked up a phono cable to each and then to a 3.5mm jack to my iPad to do some basic function testing. I noticed that even before I had pushed the power button on one of the units that it started to play audio. Thinking this was strange, I pushed the power button in and the led lit up red and remained so. The audio continued and seemingly the power button has no effect on whether or not the unit produces audio. It seems to be always live and always lit red.
The other speaker initially lit up red when the power button was pressed and remained so, even after ensuring that it was definitely receiving signal. After turning it off and on a few times, each time leaving it to rest for 10-30 seconds, it lit up green and I was able to get audio out of it. I did notice once or twice that the led slowly turned from green to red, going an amber colour in between and then the audio cut out and the led turned solid red.
Sorry for the long explanation, I just wanted to get confirmation that these are toast before I submit a buyer dispute claim on ebay. Maybe someone will tell me I am doing something stupid and I will gladly welcome that! :D I am scratching my head with this, as surely the seller would have known that I will be returning these and he will have to pay the return postage as ebay will surely rule in my favour? If it were only one speaker that was faulty then I could accept that perhaps the seller did not know it was faulty or flaky, but for both to be behaving oddly makes me think that he must have known.
Thank you very much for any advice.
Hi & welcome to Beoworld!
I'm fairly sure you've bought a pair of lemons I'm afraid. Sounds like the power supplies have gone haywire. I'm a big fan of 4000s and have several pairs. When you buy, make sure you're familiar with serial numbers and their implications - see below the thread I started a few years ago.
https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/23794.aspx
Hopefully the buyer will baulk at the cost of getting then back to Italy and let you keep them!
Good luck in your search for a decent pair - be patient and you don't need pay more than £200!
Cheers
Nigel
Thank you very much, Nigel. As with so many things I’ve bought over the years (usually cars!), a little research into the known issues would have saved a lot of hassle and aggro!I removed the tweeters to find one unit with no detectable foam and the other with foam that was definitely past its best. It was slightly sticky and deformed when I touched it, not springing back to shape. The seller is trying to tell me that I need to connect it with powerlink cables and that the phone input is “not advised”. I think I’m just going to request a return now that I know a lot more about these units. Clearly I need to take more advice from this forum and look for a set from a trusted seller on here!!!The information about the foam and serial numbers is very useful, so I guess I will be restarting my search. I was so hopeful for these ones as they are generally in very good cosmetic condition and are black/black.
Thanks again!
Living Room: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-2 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 8000 (Rears), no Subwoofer. Screen: Sony KD-85XH9096Dining Room: Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 4000 on stands, fed by Amazon Echo Show 8Home Cinema: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-4 (Center), Beolab 1 (Fronts), Beolab 4000 (Rears). Projector: Sony VPL-HW55Home Office: Beosystem 3, Beolab 7-4, Beolab 5000, Screen: Sony KD-55XH9005 on Beovision 7-40 stand, ML to Beosound 9000 MK3 and Beosound 5/Beomaster 5 (1 TB SSD version)Bedroom: Sony KD-65XH9077, Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 6002 and Beolab 11 (all white, wall-mounted)
In storage: Beolab 5000/Beomaster 5000 (1960s).
No, no other B&O equipment. I used to have some back in the 90’s and early 00’s but sold it. I’ve always loved the 4000s and have coveted them for years. Now that I am in a position to afford them, I thought I’d treat myself. They are being driven by a very high quality preamp. No powerlink facility to be able to perform further testing.