A revamp of my hifi system – Ideas

[Nicholas West]

Hi all,

For many years my Beosystem 2300, Beogram 5500 with a new SMMC4 cartridge, Vivanco Phono Pre-amp and Beolab 2500 speakers have kept me blissfully entertained and content, playing my old vinyl and CD collection. Unfortunately the 2300 doors have stopped working, the glass on the door chipped and various parts of plastic have become so brittle that even after buying a defunct 2500 for spares, I have realised that my skills are not good enough to refurbish it any longer (lots of spares……all working order)

So I would like to keep the speakers, the Beogram and build myself a new hifi set up including DAC (I think the WiiM Ultra?)

I’d love suggestions, maybe get some better speakers? I also have a Gen 2 A9, which I only use with the B&O app for Spotify connect and radio.

Budget is small when I look at the sky hight prices one can pay…….but not cheap! quality at a reasonable price.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks very much

Nick

[Guy]

Quick question – do you want to be able to control the Beogram by remote control? (you possibly do at the moment if you have the datalink bypassing the pre-amp).

If not, you could go with a BeoSound 3000 (or 3200) if you want to keep the aesthetics with the BL2500s.  Otherwise, BS2, BS4?

[Evan]

I have almost no experience listening to BL2500s. If the bookshelf category is a constraint for this project, you could consider BeoLab 4000s, those are indeed very affordable these days. However, not sure how “close” these two speakers are in power and spectral capability.

If the speakers aren’t confined to a bookshelf then I would recommend a floor stander. 8000s are also great value these days.

[Nicholas West]

Thanks Guy,

Yes I considered the BS4 and have a couple of the BEO4 remote controls also. I have heard that the BS4 suffers from the ‘sticky’ issue on the black plastic and that put me off. Australia doesn’t have too much B&O up for sale second hand…….I bought all my stuff in the UK back in the early 2000’s. I’m thinking of getting a new set up to be honest.

Cheers for the help

[Nicholas West]

Thanks Evan, will look at the 8000’s

Cheers

[Nicholas West]

Guy…..Oh and yes, I guess I’ll need something to control volume if the BS2300 is out of the mix…….is that what you are referring to?

[AdamS]

You’ve got the first component in a Beosystem 5500 – a logical next step would be to buy the rest of it!

[Guy]

Nicholas West wrote:

Guy…..Oh and yes, I guess I’ll need something to control volume if the BS2300 is out of the mix…….is that what you are referring to?

Volume control will be a requirement, but when describing your original system you said that the Beogram was connected to the BC2300 via a pre-amp, which of course it would need because the BC2300 doesn’t have a pre-amp built in.

However, the Beogram 5500 can be remote controlled via datalink*.   The DIN output of the Beogram would originally have two extra pins (pins 6 and 7) to allow remote control of the Beogram via the BC2300.  If these appropriate pin was connected direct from Beogram to BC2300 (bypassing the pre-amp) then remote control of the Beogram should still be possible.

* Added complication is that Phono uses pin 6 for datalink, unless RIAA Pre-amp is built in (to the Beogram) in which case it uses pin 7.  So in your case any datalink bypass would need to take the Beogram output’s DIN pin 6 to the BC2300 Aux input’s DIN pin 7 (in effect, to trick the BC2300 into thinking that there is an RIAA/pre-amp equipped Beogram connected.)

[Nicholas West]

Adam,

Yes a great idea, but I’m struggling to find here in OZ.

 

[Nicholas West]

So………True to form, I have complicated my problem even further.

I have just bought a pair of Beolab 17’s! Great bargain and heard fantastic reviews!

I have now, Beogram 5500 and want to connect to the Beolabs, but also have an A9 Mk11 and want to add a non B&O CD Player, and WiiM Ultra.

The BS2300 and 2500 speakers will be sold (I’ll also have a 3000 that I bought for spares for the doors that I’ll gift to anyone who wants to do postage from Australia)

I’m struggling here as you can probably tell……….So any help to get me up and running would be brilliant! I want a mix of new and old and definitely want to keep my beogram 5500 even if not the best turntable……..I love it.

Thanks to all.

[Author]

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