Best is always difficult to answer as your own choice will always be a personal one. I prefer good vocal performance over driving bass for instance. I have either owned or used most of the above so would characterise them as follows:

S120 - a B&O insider confided in me that these were the best passive speakers made by B&O. Very well balanced though a little bass light for some tastes. accurate and relatively compact - gave these to a friend of mine along with a BC9500 which worked very well with them.

M150 - I owned MS150s which are pretty similar - big but great bass - not booming but very accurate - you can hear the bass notes rather than the boom. I find this range of tweeters tend to shriek at higher volumes and are not as relaxing to listen to as the earlier range though.

BV Penta - very pleasant sound and easy to listen to for long periods - They don't shriek but the bass is a bit one dimensional compared to the speakers with big drive units - you hear the bass but the actual notes are less distinct - there is an upper bass hump which makes them sound bassier than they actually are. I have BL Pentas, which I bought new, and these are still my main speakers.

Redline 7000 - played with the very similar RL140 - big - better than the RL60 models which I really don't like. These were made to cater for other make amplifiers and in my view don't have the traditional B&O sound, which has a very easy listening sound - sometimes described as slightly veiled.

C75/CX100 ± Cona - not really hi-fi - but I like them - I use CX100s with my 5500 as they are small and convenient. The Cona has a very high top frequency for a sub woofer and is hence directional. As I like relatively bass light sound, I have never bothered. Not a great sub woofer either!

To say what would  be best also depends on budget and space. You have missed out the Beoworld favourite, the S45.2 - this can easily handle the power output of these amplifiers. Again bass light but very accurate sound and relatively compact - the later S55 is similar but much less sought after and hence cheap!

Hi.

Very difficult question to answer as speakers are always subjective. I believe your question relates particularly to the Beomaster 5000 which I understand is a very good amp, so getting the best out of it is the issue. 

Pentas are always a favourite here but the S120's are also popular. Bear in mind all the speakers you mention above will be old and in need of some attention if not had any already. Usually refoaming of the bass drivers and recap of the crossovers is normal for just about all of them. The M150's are rare and getting a good pair will be difficult. Space is also a consideration

I don't have any of those on your list so can't recommend any directly .

Graeme.

Thank you very much for your infos. I really appreciate your help :)

It's not easy for my to take a decision, because I couldn't find that many informations about the speakers. I tried to search the internet, but I couldn't find any frequncy chart of a vintage B&O loudspeakers.

I've heard that the m150 have a good reputation. A comparison with the Yamaha ns1000 would be pretty interesting. Both seem to be some of the best speakers of the late 70ies. There size is pretty similar, too.

The best thing is to have all of these B&O speakers :)

So the general advive is, always take the most expensive speaker of the line (redline 7000 instead of 6000)?

Last question, is there really some kind of an B&O sound? And can you comment on the differences between the M150 and the RL 7000?

(using an Beomaster 5000 or 5500).

Thank you very much for your help.

Stereomensch wrote:

And can you comment on the differences between the M150 and the RL 7000?

(using an Beomaster 5000 or 5500).

The M150s are fabulous speakers and, if you can't find/afford/accommodate MS150s then they would be my first choice. That said, the S120/MC120s are also very good.

The RL7000s, in my humble opinion, are best avoided!

As to your mention of Yamaha NS1000s, they are one of my favourite loudspeakers, but my experience suggests that they sound best when driven by Yamaha amplifiers. On this basis, I'd stick with a B&O model.

Thank you very much for your help 🙂

May I ask you, has anyone ever made a frequency response chart of these speakers?

Best regards,

Chris

Is the Beomaster 5000 powerful enough to drive the Beovox Penta speakers?

I read some complainments about the beovox amp. The beomaster seems to be the much better amp.

On the other hand, the beomaster 5000 has only IHF: 2 x 50 W / 8 ohms (or IEC: 2 x 110 W / 8 ohms).

A bit late but I use MC120-2 with my pizza boxes. I also have the excellent S45-2 - small but very competent indeed. 

I had a pair of MS150s repaired by a company also famed for making the BBC LS3/5A speaker at the time. He was so impressed with them that he put them on test and the frequency response was one of the flattest he had come across. This was some time ago but he said to get a similar passive speaker would have cost several thousand pounds. S45.2s are unreasonably good for what they are. Some of the manuals have frequency response curves - the 1976 for instance.

And what about the Beolab 5000 active speakers?

Are the redline 140/7000 are much better than these flat active speakers?

Has the Redline 7000 enough bass? Or is it bass light?

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards

Chris