If you wanted to connect the Beomaster 8000 to the Penta then you would take the speaker output of the amp into the speaker level input of the Pentas. However, you have 4 very decent and capable amplifiers there and it would seem pointless to use them in this configeration. Not to mention the fact that the displays on the labs will be redundant!

If you like these later speakers I would personally drive Beovox Pentas or RL140's off the 8000, or the earlier, larger uniphase M series speakers if you wish everything to remain true to age?

Hi,

Thanks for your answer and your advices. Actually, when I was looking for decent speakers for the BM8000 I wanted Pentas I, but I found Pentas II for a good deal, so I bought them. I know that I am wasting the amps of the Pentas with this configuration but it is what I have for now. What more suggestions are there?

Thanks. Regards,

Juan

Well as far as I can see that is it really. Talk to Soundsheavinly for leads it is unfortunate there is not a preamp output from the 8000 as that would IMO be a preferable way of achieving the connection. But like I said why not sell your PentaII's and get some Vox pentas which I am willing to bet could potenitally sound marginally better than your current combination going through two amps - I know low levels are involved but it is still a lot of unescesary signal path and potential distortion from a source not originally designed to drive signal level loads!

As an example I personally think my Pentas sound slightly better driven directly from my Yamaha amp than they do driven from the preamp out of my Beomaster 5500 using the penta amps. This is akin to you doing the same with your 8000 as the 5500 preamp out is basically the amp output through some resistors! (not quite, the 5500 amp is not in the same league as the 8000!) I hope to better the yamaha by using powerlink with a 6500 and just perhaps my master 5500 would benefit from a recap (I would controversially bet against!) but who knows?

It would be nice to see someone else's opinion but I think everyone must be too busy christmas shopping - oh cricky that reminds me 😉

I think we are missing a big detail here..

Can't the Labs be bypassed so the Pentas are driven directly by the BM8000? I wouldn't bother with finding a different pair of speakers or attenuating cables, just drive the Pentas regularly.

I'm not familiar with the cabinet structure of the Penta so I may be wrong here, but can't the Pentagonal foot be taken off the amp and placed onto the speaker itself? If so - I'd go this route and save the amps for later.

Congrats on your purchase Juan!!!

Hi Evan I was going to suggest this but it still seems a waste really.. I dunno would he be better stripping and selling parts or sell the speakers whole and get some vox's with change to spare for a CDX or other nice addition?

I would first try to connect the Penta's you have now as a BeoVox, so bypass the amp of the Penta. In that way you know if you like the sound of the setup. After that you can make your choise.

Many many years ago I have actually made a modification to my BM8000. I have changed the pre-outputs so they were between the pre-amp and the amplifier, so I could use an Onkyo Dolby Surround decoder with the volume control of the BeoMaster 8000. I think this could also be used in your situation, but in that case it is a shame that the amplifieres of the BeoMaster 8000 are not used anymore. Maybe a pair of Red Line 140 would be a good combination with the 8000?

If I were a new member and came to ask this question, I'd be wondering why people won't just let me use my kit! 😂

This is of course because you have a pair of very respectable active speakers, and arguably the best amp B&O ever made, so it is a bit of a shame to leave any of that unused... The most sensible thing would be to remove/bypass the Penta amps, as the BM8000 probably also sounded better when it was new - but it is also more likely to suffer from aging now.

But really, my advice is to just get a pair of 2-pin DIN speaker cables, switch the "input level" control on the Pentas to one stripe, input select to auto, be done with it, and play some music 🙂

Hi everybody,

Thanks for your answers and advices. All your posts are great information and help to me. Really I do not want to stripping the Pentas and taking out the amp Beolab 150. Reading the post of Blackrix I was wondering if I can make a modification in the BM8000 to obtain a pre-amp output without interferring the original amps. Therefore, I can use the Pentas II with the "line in" RCA and buy another pair of speakers to use the amps of the BM8000.

What do you think? Is this possible?

Thanks

Juan

It has been done........😕