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 I would like some advice on installing a subwoofer onto my system. I purchased this back in 84 or 85 and it consists of a Beomaster 3000, Beogram 3000, Beocord 2000, Beogram CDX and 4 redline 45 speakers.
The speakers have all sufferd with the dreade ABR rot and I have managed to fix that with some foam flooring underlay and contact adhesive. However I find the bass sounds a bit lacking and having purchased a samsung TV with soundbar and sub woofer the difference is quite significant. The B & O sound is however, as expected, exceptional in all other aspects and the visual styling I think was, and still is, amazing.
So can I add a subwoofer to this system and if so what type (active or passive) and model would you suggest. As I am now retired and my income is not what it used to be, the lower end of the price bracket would be preferable.
Thanks for any advice.
Ian
Hi
I can see from the devices you have that they make up the 1980's BeoSystem 3000.
On the BeoMaster 3000 you have the four speaker sockets which fits nicely with your four BeoVox RedLine 45.
I have been searching the web for an answer to your question. Just out of interest and I'm curious. I have only seen the BeoMaster 3000 or BeoSystem 3000 with speakers. So the ABR = Auxilary Bass Radiator would take care of the bass sounds.
But..
The BeoVox Cona could give you some more bass. Connect with one pair of left and right speaker cables. From the Cona you can then connect two speakers.
If you can find extra speaker plugs to which you can connect copper wires then I guess you can also use a non Bang & Olufsen subwoofer.
There are probably other ways to connect also.
Good luck and I hope you get it to work.
Hi Champbeo,
Thanks for your reply and the info it's a great help. iv'e been thinking that maybe I have used the wrong foam to repair the ABR's I have used laminate flooring underlay which is a closed cell foam rather than the original open cell foam. Would that make a difference? I'm a bit confused as to how the ABR actually works. Maybe the closed cell foam is blocking some of the sound or possibly it is too rigid to allow front to back movement of the metal plate.
I have seen on here somewhere a modification using some pipe and a board with a hole in it to replace the foam. Maybe that would work better.
Meanwhile I will try and source a Cona sub.
Thanks again for your help
First off, a Cona is not a subwoofer, it's a woofer. Designed to augment the very small drivers on things like the CX50/100, it's only a single 8 inch woofer.
Second, you problem comes from your repair of the ABRs. They are not just a plate with some foam around them that you can replace with any foam, they are a tuned resonator, the stiffness and mass of which were carefully chosen by the designers to work with the woofer and cabinet volume. It's kind of like if you broke a guitar string and just said, well, a string's a string and swapped anything you had out for it.
Your best bet is to try and ask around here, maybe Martin/Dillen, might be able to repair the ABRs or source replacements. Replacing them with ports, maybe possible but the ports have to be the right diameter and length, the air in the port is analogous to the mass and springiness of the ABR, and ABRs are usually chosen in a design when the cabinet is too small for the size port needed.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Thanks for the additional info Jeff.
I'm a bit cofused about the Cona. When I searched for info on the Beoworld website re the Cona the description came up as "Beovox Cona Passive Subwoofer". Are there 2 variations on this with another one being just a Woofer.
I obviously need to research the ABR more to find out a bit more about their function.
Thank you for the tip about contacting Martin/Dillen I shall do that as well.
I had the Cona installed with Beovox s75 and you will get defenitly more bass. Not the same like an active one like Beolab 2 or 19.
iankw: Thanks for the additional info Jeff. I'm a bit cofused about the Cona. When I searched for info on the Beoworld website re the Cona the description came up as "Beovox Cona Passive Subwoofer". Are there 2 variations on this with another one being just a Woofer. I obviously need to research the ABR more to find out a bit more about their function. Thank you for the tip about contacting Martin/Dillen I shall do that as well. Ian
Well, they can call it a "subwoofer" all they like, but in general subwoofers have much lower low bass extension than the Cona. It's only a single 8 inch driver so it doesn't move much air. I'm used to the more common performance based definition, not the marketing dept that calls everything a "subwoofer" no matter how little bass it actually has. Bose comes to mind as a prime example of this. The Cona does a good job at what it was designed for, adding some heft to speakers with very small drivers, but properly repaired your Redlines are capable of moving a lot more air than a Cona can.