Beolab Penta – No Display?

[CharlieWednesday]

I’ve manged to get hold of the speakers I’ve dreamed of since I saw them in the B&O showroom window in Warrington in 1990, when I was 17 years old – Beolab Penta!

I’ve connected them to My Beosound 4 using the Powerlink cables that are usually connected to my Beolab 6000s and they are working with those, but the display isn’t coming on.

I’ve heard people mention there are different types of Powerlink cables, so I’m wondering if my existing ones (bought only a few months ago and listed by the seller as ‘Powerlink Mk3’) are the wrong type; do I need Powerlink Mk2 cables instead?  I think I do, but before I order them, just wanted to be sure!

Other than that I think I’ve snapped up a real bargain here – a couple of small  marks on the base of one of them, but the cabinets don’t have a mark on them; a couple of loose bits, but unbroken and easily fixed.  Four of the middle speakers need new foams but even so, they sound pretty good, and will sound even better when I replace those foams (a job I’ve done before on my CX50s).

Also, they were sold as Mk2 but the type number is 6632 – I think that makes them Mk3, am I right?

[Madskp]

Wauv sounds like a nice find 😀

The MK3 powerlink cable do not carry the data signal that is needed to get the display data, so you will need a fully wired MK2 powerlink cable for that.

I do not know if the BS4 has any limitations in what data it is sending, but if you want to test before you buy a new powerlink cable you can test it by using a 7 Pin Audio Aux cable

[CharlieWednesday]

Ah, great tip, thanks!  I happen to have an audio aux cable, so I’ve used that to test both, and the displays are working, and displaying all of the data from the BS4 (source, preset/track number, volume).

The display colour is green rather than orange, and the Product Page here on Beoworld tells me that the display is green only on Mk3, which is also great news as they were sold as Mk2.

I started polishing the metal cabinets last night and they are going to look really nice.  I will order those foams I need for the middle speakers, and they’ll be almost like new when I’ve finished!

[Madskp]

CharlieWednesday wrote:

h, great tip, thanks!  I happen to have an audio aux cable, so I’ve used that to test both, and the displays are working, and displaying all of the data from the BS4 (source, preset/track number, volume).

Great to hear that it indeed is working. It might only be some Beovisions that have limitations in showing display data.

 

[CharlieWednesday]

I have ordered some Mk2 Powerlink cables, but I am curious – if the Audio Aux link cable worked, what exactly is the difference between an Audio Aux Link cable and a Powerlink M22 cable?

Also, I have managed to fix a couple of loose bits of finish at the back of the cabinets quite easily, and I have started to polish the cabinets – they are coming up really well, and appear to be in great condition.  The only bit with any real marks is the pentagonal base.  I haven’t risked removing them yet but it looks like a kind of mirrored finish, beneath a clear plastic cover.  That clear plastic cover is undamaged, but the mirrored finish underneath has some marks.  Does anyone have any experience of that – if I remove the bases, could I remove that clear plastic cover and then replace the mirrored finish?

Madskp wrote:

It might only be some Beovisions that have limitations in showing display data.

As an experiment I will connect them to my BV8 TV later, and see what display data I get (just out of curiousity).

[CharlieWednesday]

Update – I removed the bases to see if the clear plastic cover could be removed from the base, with a view to repairing the mirrored surface beneath (which has some marks).  Alas, it’s not practical.  The mirrored surface is in fact stuck to the underside of the clear plastic cover, it is not separate, so not replaceable (or at least not without a lot of work).

On horrible moment – when I was putting the bases back on, one of the bolts sheared off – I had overtightened it.  They are long bolts that go right through the amp unit and connect to the speaker unit at one end, and fasten the base on the other end.  While I’m pretty confident that the other four bolts will hold it well enough, if anyone happens to have any spares of these bolts, please do let me know!

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