Pentas will definitely sound better. Despite that, my Pentas (-vox) are in storage while my BL5000s are on the living room wall and in daily use.

Pentalabs are much more likely to need repairs, and both of these speakers will most likely be useless as investment objects. A pair of BL5000s might sell faster, but a couple of scratches and dents will ruin that.

Unless you plan to play very loud on a regular basis, I’d say you can decide on the looks. Forget passive Pentas if you are going to use the BC9500, the amps in the Beocenter (very similar to the ones in the BL5000s, actually) will struggle with them.

I'll echo Mika about the Pentas. But be aware that the Pentas mid range can suffer from foam rot and needs attention.

Steffen

Both are great speakers. I have both connected to the same Beosystem 7000 and can compare. Not much between them I'd like to say. Pentas have better bass but lack in treble. 5000s can sound astonishingly good for what they are. In my opinion Pentas have the edge, but not by a big margin. It's a matter of taste. Both are considerably better than Beolab 8000s though.

Greetings,

Kai

The Pentas are among the best speakers B&O ever built. Although I don't have a pair of 5000s, I recall hearing them in comparison to the Pentas when I worked for Bang & Olufsen decades ago. The Pentas are fuller. I still own a pair and even after purchasing a pair of BeoLab 5 speakers, I refuse to part with the Pentas. They have their own unique sound characteristics.

So who has a set of ether for sale currently? I guess I can also base it on which set is more available and more affordable :)

I had a pair of every penta up to mk3 and own a pair of bl5000 in mint condition. 

The penta have better bass for sure but this is a cause of issue depending of your environment. It will be better to deal with the bl5000.

The 5000 have a far better design. My wife would kill me if I sold them and nobody went in my house without mentioned them in a positiv way.

whatever you choose, your choice will be good unless the condition of the penta woofer is bad.