I have collected quite a bit of B&O gear over the last couple of years and not surprisingly most of it was woefully designed so that when it failed (not if, when) it's completely uneconomic to repair. I don't really like the new stuff mainly because I feel it's way over-priced for the performance but hey I totally get why people like it. It's unique, damned sexy lookin' and sounds good enough
I did happen to notice that most of the older gear (the pre-80s black & silver 'space-ship' looking stuff) seemed to be a lot better made. Still cutting edge for its time but utilising timber & aluminium and nice solid dials & switches instead of fancy touch-screens. I managed to rescue & restore a pair of Beovox 3800s from a council collection and the sound quality from those still surprises me now. I also managed to score a mint condition Beolab 5000 Amplifier which is pretty rare as most of them had scratched, damaged or even missing screenprinting from the sleek aluminium panel from years of use.
My wife and I have now decided to setup the Lounge as a proper space to enjoy rather than the dumping ground it has been for the last year since we moved in. We've collected a few basic pieces of Danish furniture and today I took delivery of my Beovox HT 5000s that seem to be even more 'unobtainium' than the Beovox 2500 Tweeters I managed to score a couple of years ago.
Here's the result:
We're still pushing furniture around to see what fits where but I think this is about right. Hang some art on the wall, throw a rug on the floor, add a retro lamp and this area's done :yes:
Sound-wise they sound typically 'vintage'. I need to recap the crossovers but know they'll never cover the range of modern speakers however in saying that what they miss frequency-wise they make up for in imaging, whoa! I had my little test box connected to them earlier and walked away into another room. I turned around and the imaging had followed me, I had to beat it off with a stick! Absolutely amazing, like a flood of sound but definitely not for everyone.
I know I'll still enjoy listening to my other gear more but asthetically this gear is pretty incredible and it's so nice to now have a full system from the same era (1967) and in pretty good condition to boot :thmbsp:
I did happen to notice that most of the older gear (the pre-80s black & silver 'space-ship' looking stuff) seemed to be a lot better made. Still cutting edge for its time but utilising timber & aluminium and nice solid dials & switches instead of fancy touch-screens. I managed to rescue & restore a pair of Beovox 3800s from a council collection and the sound quality from those still surprises me now. I also managed to score a mint condition Beolab 5000 Amplifier which is pretty rare as most of them had scratched, damaged or even missing screenprinting from the sleek aluminium panel from years of use.
My wife and I have now decided to setup the Lounge as a proper space to enjoy rather than the dumping ground it has been for the last year since we moved in. We've collected a few basic pieces of Danish furniture and today I took delivery of my Beovox HT 5000s that seem to be even more 'unobtainium' than the Beovox 2500 Tweeters I managed to score a couple of years ago.
Here's the result:
We're still pushing furniture around to see what fits where but I think this is about right. Hang some art on the wall, throw a rug on the floor, add a retro lamp and this area's done :yes:
Sound-wise they sound typically 'vintage'. I need to recap the crossovers but know they'll never cover the range of modern speakers however in saying that what they miss frequency-wise they make up for in imaging, whoa! I had my little test box connected to them earlier and walked away into another room. I turned around and the imaging had followed me, I had to beat it off with a stick! Absolutely amazing, like a flood of sound but definitely not for everyone.
I know I'll still enjoy listening to my other gear more but asthetically this gear is pretty incredible and it's so nice to now have a full system from the same era (1967) and in pretty good condition to boot :thmbsp: