beaker wrote:

I sold a stunning 7700 with MCP and all its boxes and paperwork for not alot of money a few years ago.  I regret it now!

Me too! £93 with a perfect MMC4 cartridge. If money had been my motivation for selling I'd have split the MCP/cartridge & system on seperate auctions (ebay) but my nostalgia circuits cut in so I decided to sell it as complete working system to plug & play for the winning bidder as I thought it deserved to be sold as such🙂 The winning bidder sent me emails for quite some time afterwards gushing about it.

I agree completely with Beaker - stick a CDX on & you'll have a sound system which is very hard to beat (no remote control with the CDX but well worth walking a couple of yards for the sound it produces). Speakers should be MC120.2's/S120's which are probably the best balanced passive speakers ever made by B&O but the bass drivers will probably require refoaming & recap the crossovers while you have them apart - absolutely sublime!

Chris.

Why not try to put together a Beosystem 6000 or 8000? A 6000 amp is widely recognised as being one of the best ever made by B&O, and you could add a nice Beogram 6000 or 8000 series turntable, with a CDX to boot. All have LEDs so have a common thread running through their lineage, and you could pick and choose some passive speakers to suit room size. Should you want a bigger banger you could trade up to a Beomaster 8000, and then you've got the biggest sausage in town!

Hi Kevin,

I'm with John, I think the 6000 system is a excellent introduction.... This was my first piece of vintage B&O and I love it....

Also I made this decision after much research and consideration... Living half way around the world away from most of the vintage B&O I wanted to make the right decision...

My first thought was to get the big, powerful flagship the 8000 w MS150 speakers but as space was a consideration at that time, i started to look at its little brother the 6000... eventually after much additional research i realised that its very well regarded... often said to be sweeter sounding than the 8000, and the amp largely based on what is considered the 'audiophile 4400' (as you can see Peter and Cleve love it).. it also has remote control, smaller footprint, the great big LED and the powerful looks of the 8000..... so for me it represents an excellent all rounder when all things are taken into consideration. 

Pair it with some S/MC120 as chris recommends and I think you'll have an excellent system that will give you many years of enjoyment. Mine is my main system our living room, I just added a beautiful BG8002 and am extremely happy...

Good luck with the search...

Laurence.

Laurence made a good point about space considerations, which I think can be partially offset by choosing smaller speakers and then potentially upgrading to bigger speakers if your living space is likely to increase over the coming years. I would also add that for many of us collectors, old B&O gear makes up only a part of our ecclectic interior design tastes, and that your own preferences in this regard will shape what you want to buy. For me, the Beolab 8000 system that I have looks great in my open-plan living space, with high ceilings and subtle wall colouring. If I was to take it to my parents' house, with their fussy fleur-de-lys wallpaper and patterned carpets, it would look awful! System building is therefore more than just choosing what you like the look of, but also what will grow with you, and what will look (and of course sound) best right now. In that respect the possibilites are almost endless if you're prepared to cherry-pick items from across the years/ranges :)

Have to agree with Peter about the Beocenter 9500. This series have always been my personal favourite. If you are intersted in one of these let me know. At the moment I have both a 9000 and 9300 for sale.

Craig🙂

Hi guys.

Thought I'd post a quick message to say I'm trying to digest all of the helpful - and friendly - advice after a weekend away.

I've no doubt it will raise more questions so I'll be back soon. For now my priority is dinner!

Kevin

Space is a consideration, not so much in terms of size of the system but its output.

I'm in a flat at the moment so I'm not looking for something with a huge amount of power. I'm more concerned about the quality of the output than the level

kb1981 wrote:

Space is a consideration, not so much in terms of size of the system but its output.

I'm in a flat at the moment so I'm not looking for something with a huge amount of power. I'm more concerned about the quality of the output than the level

What about the industrial design? What do you prefer: a Beomaster 4400 or a Beomaster 6000? Inside there's not much difference, but the exteriors are poles apart.

Hi Kevin.  Might I suggest you get hold of a copy of the link

A wealth of knowledge, and charts that explain which amps work with which turntables/CD players etc.
That way, when a Beomaster, Beocenter or Beosound turns up on eBay in your price range, you can instantly see if it is suitable.
Good luck, and rest assured that we will be here if you need us.

Andy T.

Very good advice from Andy. Tim and Nick's book is superb and shows a good number of systems with excellent summaries. The only problem is you will want more than one. I wouldn't worry about the power output - most music will be listened to at about 1W. Bass output is what annoys neighbours - for passive speakers, the MS150/M100 will produce lots of bass but the smaller speakers like the S45-2 will only cause annoyance if really blasted! And you can do this with a 25W amplifier!