Beolab 6000 impressions and questions

Hello from a long-time-no-see member.

I have purchased a pair of pre-owned Beolab 6000s (1992) for my living room. My first impression is that they perfectly fulfil their promise: they blend seamlessly into interior and yet they maintain their appearance and presence, and they are able to fill 25 sqm with any sound requirement short of floor shaking. Not less important is that they do not require any audio components to work and this is exactly what I wanted to avoid - to begin piling electronic boxes - so as to maintain the ambiance dominated by books and paintings (and a 40" TV set).

I admit that I bought these speakers without listening and I had never heard Beloab 6000 before. However, I found out that they sound dark, with recessed treble. I can confirm that both tweeters work, but it takes treble boost preset in Apple Music equaliser (1dB@2kHz, 3dB@4kHz, 4.5dB@8kHz and 6dB@16kHz) to make them sound right. I was wondering if these twitters are prone to deterioration, such as sticky ferrofluid, or other problem, that would require replacement. Another possibility is failing adjustment trimpots, however I would rule this out because both speakers sound the same.

Woofers on both speakers were replaced with foam suspension. This is supposed to be more flexible than rubber, however on touching and pressing, these surrounds seem harder and tighter than rubber. While I have no complaints on bass and midrange, should these be replaced with rubber, which is recommended here on forum? And, since the drivers already went through foam replacement, can it be done again?

Finally, after 32 years, should recapping be considered at this point? One speaker seems quicker on automatic turn-off than the other, by 20 seconds.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Milan

 

 

So, I went inside to check the overall condition of electronics and damping lining. While the elctronics is in very good condition (all Elna capacitors are well within spec), the foam linings and bungs have crumbled and need replacement.

As a side note, speaker drivers do not bear dB measurement marks on themselves. These must be stamped on packaging, then, I assume. It is, therefore, important to measure and note down treble and bass range voltage settings before doing further work. In this speaker, twitter output was set to 2.8V, while bass was attenuated to 2.6V, which corresponds to 0.5dB.

There is indeed an adjustment for treble at the base, with the grille off. I had the same impression, dullness, so I raised treble level all the way up to make it sound acceptable.

Not sure the tweeter use the nasty ferrofluid – a bad idea, they are all stuck after 15 years!

But that would definitely explain them being so dull.

They are my TV speakers now.

They switch off roughly at the same time (1 sec one after the other).

My set switch off simultaneously, and I’ve no impression of lacking treble. If anything my main criticism is a lack of bass, but I’m not looking to shake the floor. Perhaps mine are slightly newer in the production run?

I wonder if changing the compliance of the surround material has affected things sonically (I suspect it will have). Whether or not that change is considered an improvement or not is subjective and depends on preferences, but obviously things will be different to the original design of the speaker.

To my ears my BeoLab 6000s (fronts for my TV) are reasonable main speakers for tv viewing and audio. Nothing particularly earth shattering about the sound but they do the job, are visually un-intrusive and offer a nice listening experience. I prefer my BeoLab 4000s (which I have connected to the audio master) for music listening.

Welcome back, Beoworld.

I have rebuilt one Beolab just to try: replaced sponge lining, bungs and double-sided gasket tape, all locally sourced. I also did clean the contacts and matched bass and treble levels to 2.80V and 3V, respectively. 

It does not only sound better now, but I think I have found the reason for the dull sound mentioned before: as the bottom foam bung crumbled, the bass volume increased, giving extended low end, which was overwhelming the treble. As a matter of fact, there was so much bass that I could not understand why owners were complaining about the lack of it. Now, with new bungs and damping lining in place, there is indeed less bass than initially, but it is more articulate. So, those foams really need to be in place.

Will carry on with the second loudspeaker and will make some photos then, to post here.