Beolab 8000 Speaker Not Powering On

[hippofan]

Hello, I have a pair of Beolab 8000 speakers I purchased over 20 years ago. Serial numbers start with “14”. For many years I have used them as front speakers connected to the pre-outs on a Denon AV receiver using RCA+trigger to Powerlink cables.

Recently one of the speakers has stopped powering on when the Denon amp is switched on. The light on the affected speaker remains red while the light on the other speaker turns green. Swapping cables makes no difference, the same speaker keeps failing to power on.
At the weekend I realised that the speaker will turn on and produce sound if I power it off/on at the mains switch after the amp is switched on.
I have seen reports of other types of failures due to “foam rot”. Is this likely to cause the behaviour I described? Any ideas how I can fix it?

[KolfMAKER]

The early models including your ser.nr. have been built with a type of foam that deteriorates after years of using the speaker. The foam then falls apart, sticks to traces on the PCB, components and connectors. Potentially causing shorts.

 

Did you open up the speaker casing, to have a look inside and see if the foam has deteriorated?

[Die_Bogener]

He would remember that…

… sticky black fingers, sticky black tools, sticky black floor, sticky black vacuum cleaner…

Nobody will forget it who has ever opened this Box of the Pandora… 😉

[hippofan]

Thank you both. I will have a go at opening it next weekend. Do you know a good source for replacement foam? The ones I have found so far are pretty pricey. I am UK based.

[matador]

hippofan wrote:

Thank you both. I will have a go at opening it next weekend. Do you know a good source for replacement foam? The ones I have found so far are pretty pricey. I am UK based.

For once, the best source is B&O. The original Foam replacement are like 10€ the set per speaker. I believe UK dealers are more flexible but if I’m wrong and they are like ours here in France, you may have to fight a little to have them order the parts. But parts are available and it don’t worth the hassle to try DIY or anything alike.

https://beoworld.org/forums/topic/beolab-8000-preventive-care/

[hippofan]

Thank you for the link. Did the gaskets survive or did you have to replace them too?

[hippofan]

Thanks again for the tips. Opening the speaker was less daunting than I had feared.

You weren’t wrong about the mess! I have black sticky stuff covering areas of both PCBs.

My local B&O dealer looked the replacement part (3332084) up on the system and told me that it’s not available. eBay next I guess.

[Author]

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