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From my own experience my secondhand Beolab 8000s sounded awful compared to Beovox S45-2, S60 etc. However this may have been because the foam rotted. Certainly several years before when I bought some brand new ones the bass was fine and i thought they sounded amazing.
Same experience here when BL8000’s MK1 replaced S45-2 and then P50’s.
I changed the foam (black rotten with brand new white) and get a little increase in bass but not that much. They still didn’t even compete with my BL4000’s.
But the pencils are now driven by a Playmaker with the bass cranked up a little and mostly used to listen to analogue music (Beogram) and I must say I’m happy with it: not those deep chest striking bass but bass low and round enough to my taste. When listening to digital sources they are more “average” but as this is often background music it works also. And as already said, the benefit of the iconic design. It’s not a perfect deal but it’s ok right now. Sometimes I’d like to add a BL2, sometimes not because it is hard to place in my room and wires, etc… The Beolab2 is also quiet expensive even in second hand. There is one around for 350€ but it’s faulty and i don’t know how easy/difficult repairs are on this unit.
aJames, you also compare second hand BL8000’s with brand new you bought years ago. Were the the same mark because the brand new may have been MK2 with improved bass and the second hand MK1, couldn’t they?