Thanks, that's interesting.  I have 2 8000s one displays 8s while the other is fully functional.  I listened to my MS150s and S120s alternating between the bm8000 and my bm6500 and honestly I found that while the bm8000 hit harder a lower volumes and filled in better, not to mention triggering the overload on my S120s, it lacked the warmth of my bm6500.  My wife even walked into the room not realizing I had switched to the 6500 and commented on how much better it sounded.  It really didn't start to lose it's appeal until I turned it up to 11.    

I have a large room, 25 foot ceilings and I would like to really fill the space.  If I were to invest in having my bm8000 refurbished would it drastically improve the experience? To my ears it's ... well .. meh.

Would recapping the bm8000 be a DIY project, I was thinking of starting with the non-functional unit just in case I mess up. 

Thanks for your advice

I probably wouldn't try as I had a BM6000 and that was very complicated, better to leave it to a professional unless you have good soldering skills and know what you're doing? The problem is you try and fix one thing and then break another and without technical knowledge it will be difficult to know where to look to fix it.

Interesting comments about the sound of the systems, to me the BM6000 (which is similar) sounded fantastic compared to BM6500 which sounded wooly and nowhere near as clear. I don't think there was anything wrong with either technically. I now have my M100-2 in the study hooked upto a BLPassive feeding a Valve Power Amp and the sound is wonderful and makes the speakers sound fantastic especially when playing Vinyl. But then again it is all subjective and what sounds good to one person won't sound good to another. Design plays another part - I love the BM6000/8000 looks over the 6500 range - it just looks the part. I experimented using a Linn Axis record deck with a  Shure M44-7 cartridge and it did sound better with some records better than my BG4002 with an MMC20EN, more bass and a warmer mid. However after comparing them for a while I much prefer the BG4002 in terms of looks, sound and convenience - so will be keeping that and giving the linn to a friend. Besides which the BG4002 looks perfect with the M100 - is all I need now is a BM4400 as I think that will give the type of sound I like.

I guess what I'm saying is if you like the sound of the BM6500 then stick with it and spend the money on more music. I've ended up wasting money experimenting and trying different setups only to come back to what I find gives the type of sound I like.

Andrew wrote:

Interesting comments about the sound of the systems, to me the BM6000 (which is similar) sounded fantastic compared to BM6500 which sounded wooly and nowhere near as clear.

I agree. My 8000 and actually most of all my 6000 both sound better than my 7000. My 7000 has softer treble, and even if I use the tone controls to compensate for that (I have to set treble to +3 to make up for the roll-off), the 7000 does not sound as clear and transparent as the others.

I've also compared it to my 9500, and the 9500 also beats the 7000 (I used the beolink outputs and beolabs for this comparison). This is what surprises me the most, as I expected the 9500 and the 7000 to be quite similar.I realise that it sounds like I have a faulty unit and that may very well be the case, but it has been like this since i bought it new in the 90s and both channels sound similar. I hope that it is a fault and not by design, it would be nice to get it to sound better because I really like its features and it also controls most of my lights and wakes me up every morning! :)

Be wary of reviews/comparisons of vintage audio equipment. Unless an audio component has been properly serviced (meaning fully restored to like new condition) then comparing the audio performance of 20, 30, 40+ year old audio gear is not going to produce any useful information. The audio component will most likely be operating at a degraded level from its design.