Others please correct if wrong but I think the following:

Mk1 - thick grey cables - fully wired with a good shield - have the display wires in. Will work with anything.

Mk2 - much thinner - easier to run but no display wires and shield not so good. Usually fine for non ICE speakers without displays.

Mk3 - thinner than Mk1 and have a triangle mark on the DIN plug. Better shield than 2s so can be used with ICE speakers - I think they might not have the display info though (that is the bit I am not sure about!) so no use if you need the display.

See Graham's entry!

Not like you to be so wrong Peter!

Mk1 are the original thin cables, shielding not good but work for most non ICE or display speakers.

Mk2 are thicker (3.5 mm) and are fully wired with good shielding, for speakers with displays and Beolab 5. Also required where  switching is required such as MCL2P.

Mk3 developed with more shielding for Beolab 3 and similar ICE speakers to overcome humm. Have triangles on the plugs.

There is yet another developed recently to replace Mk2 which is not yet familiar to me. It has been discussed on the forum.

joeyboygolf wrote:

Not like you to be so wrong Peter!

 

Mk1 are the original thin cables, shielding not good but work for most non ICE or display speakers.

Mk2 are thicker (3.5 mm) and are fully wired with good shielding, for speakers with displays and Beolab 5. Also required where  switching is required such as MCL2P.

Mk3 developed with more shielding for Beolab 3 and similar ICE speakers to overcome humm. Have triangles on the plugs.

There is yet another developed recently to replace Mk2 which is not yet familiar to me. It has been discussed on the forum.

Joeyboygolf,

Peter is right.

The fully wired cabels are mkI. They originate from the BL3000, BL5000 and Penta mkII series were you need the information data for the displays. Later with the introduction of the BL6000 & 8000 the thinner mkII were introduced.

That was very helpful.

Cheers all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys,

'Am still non the wiser - infact, 'am more confused now than i was before entering the forum.

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP.

Carolpa wrote:

joeyboygolf wrote:

Not like you to be so wrong Peter!

 

Mk1 are the original thin cables, shielding not good but work for most non ICE or display speakers.

Mk2 are thicker (3.5 mm) and are fully wired with good shielding, for speakers with displays and Beolab 5. Also required where  switching is required such as MCL2P.

Mk3 developed with more shielding for Beolab 3 and similar ICE speakers to overcome humm. Have triangles on the plugs.

There is yet another developed recently to replace Mk2 which is not yet familiar to me. It has been discussed on the forum.

Joeyboygolf,

Peter is right.

The fully wired cabels are mkI. They originate from the BL3000, BL5000 and Penta mkII series were you need the information data for the displays. Later with the introduction of the BL6000 & 8000 the thinner mkII were introduced.

 

So, next time I supply a pair of speakers with displays to one of my customers, I will supply Mk1 cables and put him in touch with you when they don't work. OK

You can believe what you like........ but Mk2 are fully wired and for display speakers.

This question has come up at least 50 times since I have been a member of this forum and still people get it wrong or introduce other spurious cables just to confuse the novice even more!!

The thick grey ones were pre the Mk1 when speakers with displays were the only powerlink speakers. They were simply described as powerlink cables at the time. Not many people will have seen these cables or indeed used them and those that have are slowly loosing interest, moving to iPOD or are dead.

Then the thin value models were introduced for Beolab 6000/8000. These were disignated Mk1

The 3.5mm were then introduced as Mk2, fully wired versions for switching applications and displays. they were disignated on the B&O boxes as MkII.

The Mk3 were designed with more shielding than Mk1 to overcome hum problems when Beolab 3 were introduced. They have triangles on the plugs. I suspect they are cheaper to produce than the Mk2 and are slighly thinner, to placate some people who thought the Mk2's looked ugly in some situations. They are not fully wired and do not support displays on speakers or trigger devices like MCL2P.

This is the convention that has been followed since I first became a member back in the Beoworold days that we don't talk about any more. To re-introduce another convention at this time would simply be confusing to those who STILL need to ask the question.

If you ask Lee at LifeStyle or Steve at Soundsheavenly for Mk2 powerlinks you will get the fully wired type.

Joeyboygolf is the one that's right, MKII is fully wired - And when I asked on the forum which wires I should buy for my Beolab 3000's and Beolab Penta's, the answer was MKII, which I use now with the 3000's and Penta's, and the displays works.

Happy to agree with Graham. I still think of the original ones as Mk1 which is my mistake - I have quite a few of those which can be used for anything but are very thick.

joeyboygolf wrote:

The thick grey ones were pre the Mk1 when speakers with displays were the only powerlink speakers. They were simply described as powerlink cables at the time. Not many people will have seen these cables or indeed used them and those that have are slowly loosing interest, moving to iPOD or are dead.

 

Rumours of my demise are however exaggerated! 😂