Goodwill score (lets hope) B&O Penta

I stopped in yesterday and saw these towers that looked kind of cool and saw B&O on them. I knew they looked special but foams were rotten and I couldn't power them up to see what would happen....and they looked sort of space age and multimedia esque, so I passed....and they were $50.

Well I couldn't stop thinking about them and found a few threads about restoration and decided to go back this morning. Today was green tag day so they were 1/2 price $25 plus tax. I grabbed them

Now I know B&O is not talked about too much around here but I have found a few threads on these. They look very cool but I imagine this will be a long haul project if the amps need work.

Does anyone have any helpful opinions about working on these, what not to do, what to do first etc.... and, how to use them with a non B&O amp? I do not plan on finding one of those for $25.

nice start to a cold Saturday

Wow - Great find - I've had three pairs - Good looking speakers -

on the very bottoms there are normal speaker terminals (you will need to lay them down to get to the speaker terminals) - There should also be a sticker with the model number - would you mind posting that? It would determine if you have the penta 1's, 2's or 3's (3's being the most desireable)

I don't know those speakers, but B&O is one of the most inovative design companies around. there design processes are followed by many companies outside of the audio market.

I've never heard B&O gear I didn't like.

here's the sticker, a few of the numbers I can't read but there is a 1.0 there. maybe version 1?

I plugged them in and one came on, with a big THUMP, the other, nothing. I can find no way into these things without getting out the screw driver and disassembling. I think I'll wait. can't get the top screens off either, must be a trick.

There is a single RCA on each so I imagine they are designed to be used alone

An acquaintance of mine has a pair and loves them. I haven't heard them, sorry. Good luck with your restoration.
John

whathahell said:

here's the sticker, a few of the numbers I can't read but there is a 1.0 there. maybe version 1?

I plugged them in and one came on, with a big THUMP, the other, nothing. I can find no way into these things without getting out the screw driver and disassembling. I think I'll wait. can't get the top screens off either, must be a trick.

There is a single RCA on each so I imagine they are designed to be used alone

Click to expand...

the 6223 is the penta II - amp work on these is very expensive and it seems like almost every pair needs work - The first two pairs that I had had amp issues (either loud hum, or not recognizing input, no output) - The last pair I had was NOS in box and sounded great - The tweeter foam is always rotted - The top covers are held in place by clips underneath the grill cloth, if you feel around you will be able to remove them but it is rather difficult - dont remove them if you dont need to- the grills are pretty thin.

I used to have the number of a place on Long Island that serviced these amps but I cant remember the name or find the number - But I remember the price of repair was outrageous - I have not poked around with the amp section on these but BO made a early version that is essentially the tower without the amp - Mabe these can be modded to bypass the amp

WmartinB said:

Wow - Great find - I've had three pairs - Good looking speakers -

on the very bottoms there are normal speaker terminals (you will need to lay them down to get to the speaker terminals) - There should also be a sticker with the model number - would you mind posting that? It would determine if you have the penta 1's, 2's or 3's (3's being the most desireable)

Click to expand...

one is currently cranking out music from my phone. sounds impressive alone and with an mp3

The displays do not work, I think I may need the amp to speak to the speakers for this to read, the mids need foam but are not horrible. I'm hoping there is a fuse or a simple burned relay in the other.......

WmartinB, what do you know about this, no mention in the manual....

( posted at the same time as you, thank for the info.....)

whathahell said:

one is currently cranking out music from my phone. sounds impressive alone and with an mp3

The displays do not work, I think I may need the amp to speak to the speakers for this to read, the mids need foam but are not horrible. I'm hoping there is a fuse or a simple burned relay in the other.......

WmartinB, what do you know about this, no mention in the manual....

( posted at the same time as you, thank for the info.....)

Click to expand...

The displays need the beo link to readout anything I belive

Does non working amp power up? Is the light red/orange or green?

no, I get nothing on that one. The other turned from red to orange and quit. a protection circuit is mentioned in the manual so perhaps there is a fuse or relay that can be replaced.

My best quick fix hope may be to bypass the amps and use as simple speakers.

We service B&O, give Mike (our tech) a call or send him an email and he'll get you on the road.

whathahell said:

no, I get nothing on that one. The other turned from red to orange and quit. a protection circuit is mentioned in the manual so perhaps there is a fuse or relay that can be replaced.

My best quick fix hope may be to bypass the amps and use as simple speakers.

Click to expand...

Sounds about right - the amp section can be removed from the towers - really shouldn't be that hard to bypass the amp - I think the xovers are inside of the tower portion so you should be all good

I'll start taking them apart as soon as I can make room and progress on my other speaker projects, although hearing sound from one got me giddy to start on these....

thanks for the info. When I was in my 20's this kind of equipment got me all bugaboo, and the earlier B&O stuff when I was a kid.

hionfi----I may give you all a call if shipping just the amps is an option and I can't get anything going..., thanks.

My dad has a pair of those, they look very elegant.
The chassis has a lot of small parts that can rattle, so it's a good idea to tone sweep them slowly to see if there is a problem.
My dad is quite an expert on relays, and says the relays in the amps in the Pentas are a sealed kind, that is very unlikely to cause problems.

Heh, stumbled on this thread totally by accident. I am a major B&O aficionado, and have a pair of the Penta 3's. Firstly, you have to look at these speakers as a stack. The main upper body is a passive 3.5 way speaker with the crossover boards housed inside. The grey plastic base houses the amplifier, with the heatsinks encircling the inner walls. The front plastic panel should pop out an inch or so when pressed to show some basic tone controls. You’ll also see the display panel. Normally there’s a smoked acrylic cover over each, which appears to be missing on yours. Sometimes spares pop up on ebay. These speakers are meant to be connected by “Powerlink”, which is a B&O specific means of carrying a line level signal. A single Powerlink cable carries left and right line level audio (allowing you to daisy chain the speakers, running just one cable from the pre-amp). It also carries display information and triggering functions. Only Mark 2 Powerlink cables are wired to carry display information from a Beomaster pre-amp.

If you aren’t interested in using the amp or display, you can actually separate the speakers from the amps. There are threaded rods connecting the stack of speaker-amp-base. Between the speaker and amp inside is a regular speaker connection. B&O also sold these in passive form, with just the speaker-base and no amp sandwiched in between. You can if you wish modify them to this configuration to run as passive speakers. If you decide to try to service the amp, the schematics are available on the Beoworld forum for an annual membership fee. The members there are also very helpful

I’ve always been a fan of the Penta’s. To me they were somewhat of a turning point, and to me one of their last speakers where sound wasn’t severely sacrificed for the sake of looks. Those tweeters for example were made by Seas.

I was able to separate the non working amp and may send it out for repair depending on cost. The other seems to work for now and it sounds fairly great for having my phone hooked up to it. If the cost of amp repair is crazy then I'll make some secure bases for the speakers, although the sound makes me think it's worth fixing. I'm sure both could use servicing

I'll be looking for the display covers and cleaning them up, refoam etc...

very cool find, digging into the info all over the web

They need a preamp? My phone provides a good signal on it's own but if I can use another amps' pre outs then I may have a great system here

Yes, they need a preamp.

Looks like it will be a very involved restoration but it also looks like they are worth the work. Very interesting. Have fun!

There's alway some B&O receivers for sale on eBay that will work with the powerlink - I picked up a beosound 9000 with beolab 8000 speakers - there have been a bunch of the Pentas that have popped up around here - I remember seeking those when I worked in an audio store years ago and really liked them - they have very good sound and look very unique - we sold a bunch to people who lived in the high ends condos around here

well, I'm thinking of putting off the Beolab 150 amp work these Pentas need for a while. Since I can bypass the amps altogether and use the towers as passive units, I really should get some other pieces fixed first. I have a feeling I'm looking at over $100-150 each for repairs

question, does anyone have any experience with using these as passives?

Foams should be here in a week so I will definitely get that done...

Considering how much you have invested in the speakers including the amps and how good these sound hours have a lot of budget room before getting near the value vs sound performance barrier.

I remember listening to the Penta line and almost came close to opening the wallet. They were in that gray region between audiophile and easy listening that was so enticing. For what you paid, investing $300 for the amps is a deal. Go price a pair of mono amps of any quality. B&O did make some really fine hi end products.