Beolab 8000 and 6000 230v

I managed to come across a set of Beolab 8000 and 6000, but only when I got home I noticed that the guy who sold them to me didn’t know that they were the Euro version being 230v.

I searched the forums and I see this question has been asked before and results I found were that some people settled for using an external step up transformer. There was a little discussion on changing the internal transformer. Someone was thinking there was a jumper you could solder and that was all that would need to be done, however I didn’t see what ended up happening with that solution.

Does anyone have any updated ideas or easy solution to get them to work at 110v?

You can reconfigure the connections to the mains transformer to allow for 110/120v,but you will also need to alter the connection of the standby transformer.The latter is not usually possible in practice though,and you will probably need to replace this transformer with a "market specific" version,ie U.S.A/Canada.

The part number for this item is 8013009,and they should still be available.

Take the unit's to a Service Agent if you are not confident doing this type of work,as the pcb's are quite delicate,so soldering needs to be kept to a minimum.

The "official view" on this is btw,that the whole power supply module should be replaced,but it's quite straight forward to reconfigure the board if you have soldering skills

Nick

Thank you Nick!

Ill take it in to a service shop that deals specifically with B&O, I called them this morning and they were guessing $200USD a piece, so you are looking at $800USD. That what I paid to get the 2 sets in the first place! 

This is to replace the transformers for "market specific" as you mentioned.

Ill take them in and try and talk them into $300 for the lot. I feel like im not going to get anywhere.

Would anyone or you not recommend just running an $80 step-up transformer? This might start lookng like the way I have to go....

$200 each does seem a bit steep,but hey ho,praps I don't charge enough?

As you suggest,there is an alternative,but rather than having to accommodate one of those ugly building site tool converter's,you could use small in line converters.

These have a U.K.output socket and a trailing lead with one of those horrid U.S.wall plugs on the end.

Neato!

I've sent the details to you via e.mail.

Nick

Hey Nick, great! Thank you for sending that. Those look pretty good.

I was thinking, and had a question... The Beolab 6000 is rated IEC 30W, and the Beolab 8000 is rated IEC 210W.

If I got a transformer rated 800W, can I just plug in a power strip/splitter and connect all 4 speakers to the one transformer? Im not as familiar with Volts, Amps and Watts as much as I wished, but would this work in that configuration? It would help lessen the amount of clutter needing to have 4 separate transformers for each speaker 

Howzit:

If I got a transformer rated 800W, can I just plug in a power strip/splitter and connect all 4 speakers to the one transformer?

Yes, provided there's enough headroom from your transfo, step up 120 > 230 get a euro power strip + euro power cables. You should be good.

Not the most efficient thing to do but it will work.

Also did you check if this was already modded for 120v mains? Perhaps the prior owner forgot, why would someone bring over a Euro 230v unit and not use it?

This is how I suspect they ultimately ended up in my hands. A series of people not wanting to deal with it all, and consequently, me getting a good deal. These speakers might be 3rd or 4th hand, who knows, as the guy that sold them to me seemed like he didn't know much if anything about them... and suffering from the Beovirus myself, it leads me to believe that the lack of their enthusiasm meant that they were not afflicted by the disease, leading me to believe very little effort was put into getting them to work on their part.

You do bring up a good point however. Will plugging them into a 120V result in any damage if they are still looking for 230v?

And thanks for the info on the power strip idea. Now, you say very inefficient. Is this in regards to using a power strip, rather than individual transformers per speaker, or you meant inefficient when compared to having the internal transformers replaced?

Right, might explain the passing around ...

It is more efficient to use one larger tansfo than a bunch of smaller ones, but as with everything it's never going to be 100% efficient. Loss with any sort of conversion in unavoidable.

As well in reality there's actually three conversions in your case 120v mains > 240v > 240v (internal) > (guess) 30vAC > rectifier > 26vDC etc. Not sure off hand the rails those STK chipamps utilise. I think in those units there's two internal transformers 1, small standby always on and 2, larger main unit for amplifier chip.

Ok, all makes sense. So i will look to see what options are available to either stack two speakers per transformer, or all 4 (with headroom)

Ill up date you all on my progress, thanks again!