Beocenter 9500 sound problems

[Epic B and O]

I have a question. I have a pair of Beolab 6000 from the 90s connected to my Beocenter 9500, and I have noticed that both speakers sound muffled.
I’ve bought new 8pin dins and there’s no difference. Is there a fault in the 9500 I need to look out for, or is it possible the drivers on the 6000 have gone at the same time?

I connected my Penta’s to the 9500, and they seem ok.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Best regards

[filip_kbh]

Take off the fret and inspect the speakers. Quite sure that they need a refoam job which is quite easy.

[Epic B and O]

Thank you for your help.

Yes I did notice that one of the speakers drivers had a split in the foam, but would that cause both speakers to sound muffled?

[Epic B and O]

The cables between the Beocenter and Beolab are new, but I’ll check the sockets for the 8 pin din cables.

I did connect my Penta speakers to the Beocenter, and they sounded ok

[filip_kbh]

Whoever did that refoaming job should have left it to somebody else. Besides the excess of glue, it even looks like the speaker cone is not touching the rubber surrounds. If the other speaker looks anywhere near this, I can totally understand that you would not get the expected sound results.

[Dillen]

I agree.

Martin

[Epic B and O]

Yes it wasn’t done by a professional unfortunately.

I will order new drivers off eBay. My only concern is the part numbers don’t exactly match. The one’s on eBay are 8480232, and mine is 8480239

[filip_kbh]

Why don’t you just order new foam surrounds and do the job properly? It really isn’t complicated to do. Cut of the old misalligned surrounds and rinse of the glue with isopropyl alcohol. Order new foam surrounds from a certain store in Holland and do the job properly.

[Epic B and O]

Can you recommend a good quality foam kit?

I live in Australia

[Glitch]

Epic,

I suggest that you try to remove the old surrounds and glue before ordering replacement surrounds. You may end up fatally damaging the driver cones, depending on the glue used and your skill at removing the olds parts. This also opens up the possibility of ordering surrounds that will conceal any flaws left from the previous work.

I would also be very careful with using any solvents. They can have unintended consequences. When they work, they can work very well. When they don’t, it can be a real mess. Small test areas are the prudent way to proceed.

Glitch

[Epic B and O]

Many thanks for your help mate

[trackbeo]

Also notice the existing surrounds were made up of two half-circles pasted together — must not have had the correct diameter on hand.  You can see the seams at 9:00 and 3:00. And it looks like two (2!) repair efforts were made, given different colors of dried glue.

So I hope somebody can tell you if the part number substitution buying whole drivers is OK.  Best choice given that mess.  But if not, read on…

[Edit: Before wasting time on foam, double-check with an ohmmeter that the speakers are about the same resistance.  A reading of infinity (open, split wire) or of zero (short, fused wire) is obviously bad, and not worth wasting more time on.  Nobody mentioned this prior because it’s really unlikely, but given that photo, anything is possible!]

As to the solvents, what you use will depend on how crummy the glue from previous attempts turns out to be.  First try up to 91% isopropyl alcohol, and a long fingernail is the finest tool you have or will need.  Failing that, a stronger solvent, like “denatured alcohol” or (USA) Goof-Off™, don’t get the stuff on your skin — you should probably use the *back* edge of an X-Acto knife straight blade (actually a triangle).  The blade would cut the speaker cone, but the squared-off rear usually catches the glue without ripping into the driver.

If the previous attempt was particularly horrible, the driver might be ruined anyway.  Once you remove the old foam, examine the remaining, probably now jagged, edge versus the overlap of the new foam.  Also follow the instructions with the re-foam kits to press/piston in&out to make sure the driver coil isn’t rubbing against the magnet or frame before you waste time gluing.  Not sure why being coy about where to order parts from Holland, but here in the USA: https://www.simplyspeakers.com/bang-olufsen-speaker-repair-foam-edge-kits.html (International shipping might be expensive, but the basic parts are cheap.)

[Epic B and O]

Thank you for your help mate.

To be honest I think I’ll just buy new drivers. Had these speakers since the 90s, and want them to sound like new.
One thing I noticed which I’ll recheck later, was that there wasn’t much sound coming from the tweeters. If there’s a n issue with them, that would also explain the muffled sound.
I’ll check the 8pin din sockets also

[Glitch]

Epic B and O wrote:

I will order new drivers off eBay. My only concern is the part numbers don’t exactly match. The one’s on eBay are 8480232, and mine is 8480239

If you can’t find drivers with the exact same part number, try to at least get a replacement with the same impedance. They probably will not sound the exactly that same as stock, but something with the same impedance has a much better chance at sounding OK than something with a different impedance.

Glitch

 

[Epic B and O]

Ordered 4 new drivers from Austria.

Hopefully this fixes the muffled sound.

Another thing I noticed was that the tweeters would occasionally cut out. I’ve checked the connections, and they all seem ok.

[Author]

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