I think I accidentally deleted a comment with a funny story, about a TV and an ice cream box. I'm sorry to whoever that was. I read your comment though and enjoyed it. :) EDIT: The new YT Studio app is really buggy for me and it’s doing weird stuff to your comments. I’m sorry if I delete or block or do something to you that you’re not expecting. I promise it’s me, not you… well, actually it’s the app.
It might go a little bit further than app issues. There seems to be an _issue_ with YT auto-deleting comments without justification, and this seems to disproportionately impact users with certain forms of diversity and/or disadvantage associated to it... ♿🔇
The larger dome is a midrange (used as an "upper midrange" in this design), not a tweeter; it's a classic Philips AD0210. The smaller cone is a lower midrange or, in Infinity parlance, a "midbass coupler".
This is an excellent video. Just imagine that in a decade or so from now someone is going to inherit or buy a pair of these obscure speakers and come to your video on how to refresh them. Then they will thank future you for the help! Nicely done.
@@AudioThriftresidual TH-cam income 😂😂 indeed better to do it for history and future owners. Never liked din equipped gear, so for me that is a big upgrade, losing "questionable" adapters
Trick for enlarging holes. The thread on the mandril is often longer than needed. So first attach the hole saw for the size of hole required to the mandril. Then find the hole saw that fits just inside the existing hole and attach that to the excess tread on the mandril inside the the hole saw for the size you want. The smaller hole saw will will petrud out and will act as the guide to hold the correct position when drilling the larger hole in place of the original smaller hole. I have these speakers as well and the Beogram 5000. Sadly not the matching casset deck or turntable. The DIN speaker connection on the speaker was a little unusual that it was a reassessed male connection and you needed male to female pre-made speaker cables. The tolerance is quite tight so if you weren't using the original B&O cables it could be a bit of trial and error with finding cable mounted female connectors to fit or a bit of sanding of the outside of the outside of it. I can understand why you would have difficulty finding that exact panel mounted plug. The only way I can think to replicate it is to use the terminal part of a cable mounted plug and fabricate a panel mounted housing for it. Most other hifi manufacturers at the time had the speaker cables hard wired into them with just the male connectors on the other end to plug in to the amp. In Europe DIN cables and connectors are still available from electronic component suppliers. Again from the European side Phono (RCA) connectors were typically only used for low level inputs such as turntables, casset decks, CD players, connecting pre-amp to power amplifiers ect... Later with early surround sound Phono connectors were often used for the surround speaker connections to keep home users from muddling up the connections. With DIN It wasn't uncommon to use Phono to DIN adapter cables then. Things eventually moved to just Phono connections for hifi source components / devices, and sprung terminals, binding posts and 4mm Banana jack connections for power amp to speakers. Guessing likely because there were cheaper for the manufacturers to implement. Finding component hifi systems in homes now is becoming increasingly rare.
My parents bought a pair in the late seventies. They have been using them for over fourty years and they still sound good. (or at least we got used to how they degraded over time) I might follow your recap instruction one day. I still think it is a cool fact that these speakers came with their own stand. They still have the original DIN socket.
Great video, the speakers came out a treat with a rub down and fresh coat of polish, and the new speaker cloth makes them look brand new, I bet they sound amazing with the new caps, great job.
i was working as sous chef at Beardsley's restaurant in Northampton < AM early 70's and the owner replaced his dinning area & Bar stereo system and i notices a pair of B & O 1270s sitting on shelf in downstairs pastry chef area. so i asked the owner what he was going to do with them, I said i don't know if they still work but i'll give you $25 for the pair. at the end of my shift he said just take them . I stlll have them in my living room they sound great. i always loved AR , EPI, and JBL and i had a large pair of Advents. I miss my Sherwood Receiver
We had a pair of those EXACT speakers that we took on trade, and they never sold for as long as I was there. I did not like them. But I am shocked at how good the inductors are in the crossover. Really quality parts. Bravo, B&O.
Great video. Nice to see a straightforward objective approach to hi fi and it proves there are some great bargains to be had if you are prepared to put a little time in.
Nice video! Someone who restores and repairs vintage audio equipment for a living one tip I would like to give you is to always replicate what is in the speaker unless it looks altered. Those silvers were 100% original, changes were made after initial production and those changes weren’t reflected in the service material. Sansui is the worst at this. It’s true true even today, I repaired mono amplifiers that cost $80k for the pair and what was on the circuit board didn’t exactly match what was on the schematic or in the service manual. The rule is always replicate. What is in the actual piece of equipment. There’s a reason those changes were made. You altered crossover frequencies, making changes in filters. Though the Audible difference would probably be minimal. As for the crossovers, polypropylene better benefit the higher in frequency you go. so for the 50 micro Aaron capacitors you could have used the electrolytic and gone film higher up. There were film in there already for the tweeter which you left, but you could’ve gone with film for the mid range and it would’ve benefited. Opposite is true for inductors, spend your good money on inductors for the woofers, not so necessary as you make your way to the tweeter. They are not in series with the drivers (cap for woofer and inductor for tweeter)
Here is a trick to expanding the existing hole. hole saws will nest, i.e. you can put two different size hole saws on the holder at the same time. when you do this the smaller one sits proud of the larger one. so get the smaller one that fits the existing hole and the larger one that is the size you want. the small one centers the larger hole saw. ;). this way you don’t have to worry about patching the original hole.
The _kopfschmerz_ comes when you have to refer to DIN in multiple contexts. DIN connectors for speakers and audio connections, DIN sizes for paper, DIN tools and wire gauges... 📜🇩🇪😉
Previous owner has removed the Two Pin Din Plug socket . I actually have some Din Plugs in the spares drawer.. I was on Tottenham Ct Road London in 1973 . Hi Fi heaven.. I actually sold B @ O. There very good speakers....
Man, you did an _amazing_ job with these! I used to own a Beogram CD-X (B&Os first model of CD player) and it was a beautiful piece of kit. Being digital CDs _shouldn't_ sound any better on high-end equipment compared to everyday brands, but _something_ about it seemed to make playing Bal-Sagoths back catalogue on it even more epic than usual! 🎸💿🤘 I keep throwing ideas around for YT videos of my own, though my eclectic tastes - Everything from French high-speed trains through data forensics to HVAC and plumbing - Make it hard to pin down any one subject to focus on. Regrettably I also had an _extremely_ problematic upbringing of faith - All of the Leviticus, none of the Jesus 📖✝⛓ - Which has completely destroyed my confidence in every area, seemingly making YT projects an impossibility for me. Heck; Thanks to a heavily enforced Lev. 19:28 I'm still a blank canvas even at this stage in my life, and I absolutely can't bear that. 🥺 (Gotta say though, your ink is absolutely _amazing._ I am envious as fc🇬🇧! 😍💯🤘)
@@AudioThrift I was _„Lucky“_ in picking mine up for £5,- from a car-boot sale, but that _„Luck“_ was short-lived: I was forced to move to a very small flat about six months later and had no choice but to sell it on grounds of limited space. 🥺 But yeah, they looked really nice. They were made to fit in with the early 90s BeoMaster(?) main system (One makes a cameo in _Home Alone_ (I think) where it's speared by a large flying icicle) and the complete set-up visually resembled the control desks on the bridge of the _USS Enterprise,_ right down to the touch-sensitive illuminated controls. Never learned how those worked, but they were a world apart from the usual capacitive touch-buttons of the era. 😇 If you ever spot one, definitely grab it if it doesn't have an _Audiophile grade_ price hung off of it! At this point in time though they _will_ need maintenance to bring them back to life; Mine had a cranky enough door mechanism after only 14 years, and I could imagine the caps and PSU being pretty shot after such long times in storage. ⚠
@@AudioThrift I was _„Lucky“_ in picking mine up for £5,- from a car-boot sale, but that _„Luck“_ was short-lived: I was forced to move to a very small flat about six months later and had no choice but to sell it on grounds of limited space. 🥺 But yeah, they looked really nice. They were made to fit in with the early 90s BeoMaster(?) main system (One makes a cameo in _Home Alone_ (I think) where it's speared by a large flying icicle) and the complete set-up visually resembled the control desks on the bridge of the _USS Enterprise,_ right down to the touch-sensitive illuminated controls. Never learned how those worked, but they were a world apart from the usual capacitive touch-buttons of the era. 😇 If you ever spot one, definitely grab it if it doesn't have an _Audiophile grade_ price hung off of it! At this point in time though they _will_ need maintenance to bring them back to life; Mine had a cranky enough door mechanism after only 14 years, and I could imagine the caps and PSU being pretty shot after such long times in storage. ⚠ Also, YT: This is a reply to the creators reply, which I have the right to post here. It is immune to your unjustified, comment deletions against LGBT users under applicable equality statute. Thankyou. 🧑⚖
For using the hole saw, if you do a lot of speakers you probably have some scraps of MDF around, I just glue a block in the hole and then drill into that to center the hole saw, superglue works well because it dries quickly and if your block of MDF is only just big enough, once you've drilled through it you can just cleanly break off the little remains.
Thanks for sharing. I saw a set of these for sale but the seller wanted a lot more than what you paid all-in and were in as-found condition. One note: Take a look at the Howards line of wood restoration/rejuvenation products instead of Old English. Will get a surprising result!
I recently scored a set of S75s at a local auction house (no stands unfortunately) and I immediately swapped out the inputs with new binding post/cups like you did. They sound fantastic, but I think I am going to swap the caps like you did. Thanks for the video!
Next time I am going to repair my speakers myself too. If you dont hear from me after I try, my electrostats probably killed me when I was fixing them 😂 Just saying research what you want to repair thoroughly first. Some speakers are way harder (and deadlier) to repair. Great video and a very nice result indeed 👍 I subscribed, owning a lot of old gear, mostly 3 pair of quad ESL 57, a set of acoustat x. Mostly driven by harman Kardon citation (12deluxe, 22,23,25) Marantz CD 80, Thorens turntable and revox b77. All of that is also connected to a Marantz atmos processor (used for 400 😂) and a 4 channel sony poweramp. Because yes, I use all my speakers for a home theatre setup. And since I done that my wife isn't nagging me to sell gear any longer 😂😂😂
Always fun to get something working again. Bought a set of crossover and cup terminals for 9 bucks. Added to a set of old RCA speakers and amazed me! The smaller RCA's just need a quality cap swap. Good luck with the new place!
got myself a set of Beovox Penta speakers and after seeing your video I think I will replace the capacitors,. they sound nice right now but maybe better when I replace them. Use to own the beovox MS 150-2 and always regret selling them. the bass poort was in the underside and by moving the speakers on the stand back of forwards you could control the bass.
Good job. If you ever have these apart again, you may want to stick a piece of sticky-back neoprene foam sheet on the backs of the crossovers to stop them mechanically "buzzing" against the back of the cabinet at high volume levels. I use it on the bottoms of large floorstanders to provide a little mechanical isolation from the floor and it works wonders according to my ears and the frequency response graphs in Denon's Audyssey MultEQ Android app that I use with my Denon AVR.
I've got some vintage B&O speakers that sound amazing (C40s with matching Cona subwoofer), but these S75s are my dream upgrade. I just imagine them sounding huge and airy but detailed. I bet the stands alone would be worth more than $50 now.
You will also have considerably more sound coming out of the S75 at a particular volume setting, much more effecient than the C / CX lineup. Always curious how the Cona redefines the signature of that setup - never had the opportunity to hear them. Your imagination is pretty accurate, if you like classical you will appreciate those sounds in full bloom. Small ensemble jazz, rock, blues, and digital are a cake walk compared to a full pit orchestra and opera.
Hi thank you very much for your excelllent video and restoration of a great speaker By the way i am not sure why they decided for a 4 ways The cone mid can cover easily the band up to 3kHz Maybe they loved complex solutions
@AudioThrift good morning and thank you very much for your kind and helpful advice These vintage speakers have a really great potential for good sound and I am sure that an expert can get even higher performance with the right mods The only problem could be the aging of parts in the xovers and drivers I bought a pair of nice ITT dome mids just to discover that they are out of specs and different one to the other These Beovox have really good drivers but who knows how they have aged?
@@dieseldragon6756 Hi i have the feeling that the midcone has a great sound indeed Very transparent a 13cm cone should have no problem to cover up to 3kHz And any decent tweeter can take care from 3kHz up These speakers are still quite expensive But if i had to buy a pair i would make them 3 ways for sure I can measure and redesign the xover Moreover i would move the upper tweeter closer to the midrange to make the centers of emission closer I see a greater potential in an already very fine speaker
Just a note, there aren’t two tweeters, but two midranges. Both the midranges are from Phillips (from the Netherlands, but probably made in Belgium), the cone model was quite common in various speakers from the early 1970s. The paper dome midrange was introduced around 1973 or so. The tweeter is a very common (for the period) Peerless tweeter made in Denmark (and, later, in India). Lots of speaker companies used this tweeter including Polk, Cizek and others. The dual midrange design is really uncommon as there is a lot of overlap between the two. I didn’t get a good look at the woofer, so I can’t say that I recognized it, but it was, possibly, a Phillips or SEAS unit.
in the uk the original format was with a long grey speaker wire with the two pin plug, prewired through ther back of the speaker cabinet. but those speakers had amazing tolerance. with no other speakers to hand i once 'borrowed' my dads and put 600 watts through them for 6 hours, after chopping the wires. like in weird science, i had them back before he was, and he never noticed.
Seems we have pretty much similar music taste except the Dido part. :P However, I have been pretty into speakers lately after having upgraded speakers I have been using for 20+ years. Things I have learned are that many new speakers don't fit all music, especially metal. Brands like Klipsch speakers and Marantz receivers only sound good when playing certain kinds of music. Mainly pop or something, not metal. Anyway, the point is that when you have identified the correct brand for your ears, most new speakers, about 400-1000 USD, will sound better, and I would never go for anything vintage again. The truth is that most vintage speakers from the early 90's and back in time were an era with very little clue about what was going on. Cabinet build, insulation, signal path disruptions, driver positioning, and even cabinet size (especially for vented speakers). You can even see the air coils on the crossover here are just laid out across the board without considering the magnetic field it creates. They should not be that close, or at least every second one should be surprised, and the whole should not be in the neighbour's direction. Also, they did not have proper measuring techniques back then, so it was probably a kind of okay crossover. Overall, your method is probably the cheapest way to do it here, but apart from this one not working at all, I think fixing it like this is a waste of time. At least get newer second-hand speakers. Don't get me wrong, I like vintage stereo. I have just given up on the speakers. I collect cassette decks and even record tapes still for fun, and my experience is that all this equipment should be listened to more modern speakers. If not, then at least do complete upgrades of the old crossovers of speakers, and insulate the cabinet properly and remove as much of the distortion as possible. Cheap new speakers might be lacking there too most of the time, but one can just open and stuff more in there.
Yeah, I think they were leaning more into form than function. I was not a fan of working on that crossover. That was a headache. And I think you make a very good point about modern speakers outperforming vintage ones. My only counter point to it being a waste of time is that, IF you've never done anything like this before, the experience and confidence gained from even repairing a totally crap set of speakers (80's Fishers anyone?) is worth much more than the speakers themselves. My hope is that showing simple repair jobs like this can encourage people who have no experience whatsoever to feel a little more confident in making an attempt at this type of thing on equipment they already have or found for cheap at the Goodwill. In the future (hopefully in the new studio space) I WOULD like to delve a lot deeper into the stuff you're talking about. There's a lot of interesting stuff to talk about there. Cabinets and venting are a rabbit hole in and of itself but I don't know how much that may or may not alienate my novice target audience... though I find it fascinating! 🤘😁🤘 I think the REALLY important question, fellow Metalhead, is do you have any band suggestions? I need new stuff. lol
@@AudioThrift Yes, I did find the repair video interesting, even though I have kinda stopped with vintage speakers. When looking into more modern speakers and this hobby, I would rather suggest getting into the DIY speaker community as it is basically the same. I am not an expert at designing crossovers or cabinets as that takes a bit more learning, equipment and skills, but get kits that you can just put together. I can suggest CSS audio of GR Research here (GR is the one I have, and I can recommend it for metal). Specifically, the XLS Encore is a ported box, eliminating the need for subwoofers and keeping it more old-school. It should give you proper bass and kick in the right places and clarity for guitars managing the most compact stream of sounds. Heck, it even makes bad recordings shine. BTW the way, GR also have some other models that no one has made videos on yet; that would be great to see. This would maybe help you understand more about cabinets and crossover, especially re-enforcing cabinets, as this company has a lot of instructional videos. I have a ton of bands but I must admit that this last decade has been lacking a bit since it seems that core bands are more popular now, but there are some new bands in the underground now and then that gets my attention. It would be easier if I had more info on the approximate total count of albums in your collection and where the limit is within what genres are? Like traditional, thrash, power, death, prog etc....? Based on what I heard and saw in your videos, the outro music sounds right up my alley. I saw Angel Dust on your phone, which is on the spot, and of course, classics like Maiden, etc. Of new bands based on that, maybe Eternal Champion could be something. It is heavy metal with melodic riffs and a heavier sound. But you might have heard about it already. From my part of the globe, I would always recommend German 80s and 90s bands like Rage, Running Wild, Scanner, and Abraxas. I can narrow down albums if there are any of these you have not heard yet. Just hit me up on messenger Larse Rockit if you would like to see pics and clips from what I have done with some speakers, or just casual metal exchange. :)
Having been to B&O in the 1990s, they definitely did know what they were doing. They had the largest anechoic chamber in Europe and I met the engineer responsible for development , Geoff Martin. The S75 shown is from their midrange line up. B&O make some very high up speakers - Beolab 90 is the flagship but the Beolab 5, an older model is still an incredible speaker.
@@-triumphgt667 yes, but that speaker had some issues just by looking at it and the crossover. 1990 is a loooong time ago, and they might have been onto something then, but nowa days the correct cheap speakers can do amazing things, but there are some that like to have a special signature sound and forget to check all types of music while concluding that they are done. And therefore end up with speakers that does not sound great on everything. I have a theory too. That is that speaker snobs as I call them who just like good recordings and stereo usually listen to only some pop, jazy things and classical. That is what is most often played if u ho to speaker and stereo conventios. I have tried a fair amount of stereoes and speakers lately, and found that dome make some music sound amazing, but put on som kaotic music with rough edges and you have some issues instantly. Its like speakers are being EQd to a spesific genre. I must admit that the music that did sound good sounded amazing, but so can a neautral speaker do to to all kinds of music. B&O has never been bad in a way, but they are experts on design over everything else
I’ve got some S45 MkIIs that are my absolute favourite sounding speakers. Would love to have a listen to the S75s, but I also have a set of Pentas waiting to be repaired and I suspect they will sound epic as well.
Nice! I don't want to act like these S75's are the greatest thing I've ever heard... I think my modern speakers sound better with more things... but those Beovoxes do sound mighty tasty. Like Taco Bell when you're hungover. lol😁
S45.2s are the best medium passive speakers B&O made - Pentas are good but very tall. If you went to the B&O factory in the 1990s, the speaker that was in every room was the Beolab 4000. Small but powerful and remarkably good.
Buy the best Capacitors you can afford. And, if you buy a vintage speaker with Electrolytics, and they are more than 10 years to 20 years of age, plan on replacing them. The Electrolyte solution inside evaporates over time. I don't know if the Polyproplynes have the same aging issue. Not sure if you can test a Cap in situ, I only tested them on the bench back in the day.
Did similar upgrades to a pair of Wharfedale 3XP Linton's. Handy thing with them is the screw terminals have the same pitch as common speaker posts. So just screw them straight into the terminals for an instant no-skill upgrade.
Here's the really annoying bit... I checked ebay again right when I was editing the video. What do think came up immediately? The exact original DIN plug for these speakers that fits the hole. Talk about frustrating...
Absolutely outstanding video 😮! I really enjoy your videos! This one was particularly excellent. Looking forward to your next one, cause I learn a lot. Hope you find another receiver to restore in the future as well. May your move go smoothly!
Dude SOOOO GLAD you're back, your channel is excellent. Superb job on the restoration of these speakers, the look is so iconic for that period. For me I'm not a fan of B&O gear as the components (not necessarily the speakers) are a pain to repair due to their specialised components, often it's 'look' over 'function' with B&O. Must admit, the crossover set up in those speakers looked very rough from a company like B&O - in fact I had to laugh, it looked like a PCB board a child would make up as a science experiment 😂 . Cheers sir and as you say, _Stay Metal_ :)
@marktubeie07 Thanks! Yeah, I know what you mean... I had a Beocord that I ended up taking to a repair guy and even he couldn't get the rewind to work. It was disappointing. :(
Interesting video and a really nice result. A few observations. Another reason that the alligator clip hack was bad is that it left a hole for air to escape ruining the box's tuning. That's probably the biggest reason the bass improved after you installed a sealed terminal cup. Also, I would have done the grill cloth differently, although you got a nice result. That glue product wants to be sprayed on both surfaces and then left to tack-up. Installation is supposed to be immediate and permanent. I would have stretched a piece of cloth with tacks, sprayed the material (using paper cutouts to mask the speaker locations), sprayed the grill, and then placed it on the stretched cloth. Then it's just a question of trimming and gluing the edge on the back. Lastly, I think I would have re-stained and finished the wood veneer after scuffing it. I don't think furniture polish is a permanent solution. Regardless, you did get a very nice result with a minimum investment of money and time.
I definitely like the tack idea. I will try that next time because it felt like I didn't have enough hands to do it and the tacks would have helped a lot. I think the decision to use Old English as opposed to refinishing them stems from my own preference for raw wood. I'm not a huge fan of the feeling of varnish... but you're right, it would have been a longer term solution. I'm sure you could tell from the closeups that the back panel is warped a bit and one corner of the frame is separated. I wish I could have repaired that too...
I recently bought a pair of S45-2 speakers. While the sound is decent, I find myself a bit underwhelmed. I’m considering whether a recap might bring a noticeable improvement. Do you think upgrading to film capacitors could significantly enhance their performance? For me, this would also come at a much higher cost compared to electrolytics. Or is it unrealistic to expect these speakers to compete with modern designs?
Truthfully, the sound improvement comes by virtue of the capacitors being new more than what type they are. The old eletrolytics eventually dry up and severely degrade the sound quality. I think any recap will be a massive improvement. You can probably get away with the ones like I used here. They're still pretty decent quality.
That's something I don't really know. I've never seen the service manual not match the actual speaker. But, as I said in the video, I'm following the manual... mostly out of sheer curiosity.
I think I accidentally deleted a comment with a funny story, about a TV and an ice cream box. I'm sorry to whoever that was. I read your comment though and enjoyed it. :)
EDIT: The new YT Studio app is really buggy for me and it’s doing weird stuff to your comments. I’m sorry if I delete or block or do something to you that you’re not expecting. I promise it’s me, not you… well, actually it’s the app.
Did you ensure the phase of the signal did not get reversed on any of the drivers? (Two wires swapped)
It might go a little bit further than app issues. There seems to be an _issue_ with YT auto-deleting comments without justification, and this seems to disproportionately impact users with certain forms of diversity and/or disadvantage associated to it... ♿🔇
@@dieseldragon6756yes, it is youtube.
They will get sued about it in europe, soon.
The larger dome is a midrange (used as an "upper midrange" in this design), not a tweeter; it's a classic Philips AD0210. The smaller cone is a lower midrange or, in Infinity parlance, a "midbass coupler".
Purchased the S75's new back in 1979, - ordered them in the rare white edition and they still serve me in the most faithful way !
This is an excellent video. Just imagine that in a decade or so from now someone is going to inherit or buy a pair of these obscure speakers and come to your video on how to refresh them. Then they will thank future you for the help! Nicely done.
Thank you. I hope I can lave a positive impact on the world wide web.
@@AudioThriftresidual TH-cam income 😂😂 indeed better to do it for history and future owners.
Never liked din equipped gear, so for me that is a big upgrade, losing "questionable" adapters
Dude! Certainly one of the greatest video I saw on the subject! Very informative but understandable by the layman. Thank you!
That’s very kind!
Trick for enlarging holes. The thread on the mandril is often longer than needed. So first attach the hole saw for the size of hole required to the mandril. Then find the hole saw that fits just inside the existing hole and attach that to the excess tread on the mandril inside the the hole saw for the size you want. The smaller hole saw will will petrud out and will act as the guide to hold the correct position when drilling the larger hole in place of the original smaller hole.
I have these speakers as well and the Beogram 5000. Sadly not the matching casset deck or turntable.
The DIN speaker connection on the speaker was a little unusual that it was a reassessed male connection and you needed male to female pre-made speaker cables. The tolerance is quite tight so if you weren't using the original B&O cables it could be a bit of trial and error with finding cable mounted female connectors to fit or a bit of sanding of the outside of the outside of it. I can understand why you would have difficulty finding that exact panel mounted plug. The only way I can think to replicate it is to use the terminal part of a cable mounted plug and fabricate a panel mounted housing for it.
Most other hifi manufacturers at the time had the speaker cables hard wired into them with just the male connectors on the other end to plug in to the amp.
In Europe DIN cables and connectors are still available from electronic component suppliers.
Again from the European side Phono (RCA) connectors were typically only used for low level inputs such as turntables, casset decks, CD players, connecting pre-amp to power amplifiers ect...
Later with early surround sound Phono connectors were often used for the surround speaker connections to keep home users from muddling up the connections.
With DIN It wasn't uncommon to use Phono to DIN adapter cables then.
Things eventually moved to just Phono connections for hifi source components / devices, and sprung terminals, binding posts and 4mm Banana jack connections for power amp to speakers. Guessing likely because there were cheaper for the manufacturers to implement.
Finding component hifi systems in homes now is becoming increasingly rare.
My parents bought a pair in the late seventies. They have been using them for over fourty years and they still sound good. (or at least we got used to how they degraded over time) I might follow your recap instruction one day. I still think it is a cool fact that these speakers came with their own stand. They still have the original DIN socket.
Great video, the speakers came out a treat with a rub down and fresh coat of polish, and the new speaker cloth makes them look brand new, I bet they sound amazing with the new caps, great job.
i was working as sous chef at Beardsley's restaurant in Northampton < AM early 70's and the owner replaced his dinning area & Bar stereo system and i notices a pair of B & O 1270s sitting on shelf in downstairs pastry chef area. so i asked the owner what he was going to do with them, I said i don't know if they still work but i'll give you $25 for the pair. at the end of my shift he said just take them . I stlll have them in my living room they sound great. i always loved AR , EPI, and JBL and i had a large pair of Advents. I miss my Sherwood Receiver
We had a pair of those EXACT speakers that we took on trade, and they never sold for as long as I was there. I did not like them. But I am shocked at how good the inductors are in the crossover. Really quality parts. Bravo, B&O.
Those came out amazing, really cool design, the stands are next level. Good find and great job.
Great video. Nice to see a straightforward objective approach to hi fi
and it proves there are some great bargains to be had if you are prepared to put a little time in.
That's why I love estate sales! 😁
Nice video! Someone who restores and repairs vintage audio equipment for a living one tip I would like to give you is to always replicate what is in the speaker unless it looks altered. Those silvers were 100% original, changes were made after initial production and those changes weren’t reflected in the service material. Sansui is the worst at this. It’s true true even today, I repaired mono amplifiers that cost $80k for the pair and what was on the circuit board didn’t exactly match what was on the schematic or in the service manual. The rule is always replicate. What is in the actual piece of equipment. There’s a reason those changes were made. You altered crossover frequencies, making changes in filters. Though the Audible difference would probably be minimal.
As for the crossovers, polypropylene better benefit the higher in frequency you go. so for the 50 micro Aaron capacitors you could have used the electrolytic and gone film higher up. There were film in there already for the tweeter which you left, but you could’ve gone with film for the mid range and it would’ve benefited. Opposite is true for inductors, spend your good money on inductors for the woofers, not so necessary as you make your way to the tweeter. They are not in series with the drivers (cap for woofer and inductor for tweeter)
Good luck with the move! I've loved B&O stuff forever, the designs are timeless classics.
Here is a trick to expanding the existing hole. hole saws will nest, i.e. you can put two different size hole saws on the holder at the same time. when you do this the smaller one sits proud of the larger one. so get the smaller one that fits the existing hole and the larger one that is the size you want. the small one centers the larger hole saw. ;). this way you don’t have to worry about patching the original hole.
DIN-connectors were the norm in Europe back in the day - literally since it stands for Deutsche Industrie Norm (German industrial norm)
I did not know that. Interesting.
The _kopfschmerz_ comes when you have to refer to DIN in multiple contexts. DIN connectors for speakers and audio connections, DIN sizes for paper, DIN tools and wire gauges... 📜🇩🇪😉
Previous owner has removed the Two Pin Din Plug socket . I actually have some Din Plugs in the spares drawer..
I was on Tottenham Ct Road London in 1973 . Hi Fi heaven.. I actually sold B @ O. There very good speakers....
Thank you for another great video. Good luck on the move and setting up your new studio.
Thank you. 😁
Nice Production, that was interesting that crazy board and connections for cross-over, never ever seen this before. Looks Good, job well done.
Thanks! Yeah, I'm still perplexed by that thing. :)
@@AudioThriftDon’t be , because point to point wiring is superior to the other kind .
@@robertthurston6858 This is the correct answer!
Man, you did an _amazing_ job with these! I used to own a Beogram CD-X (B&Os first model of CD player) and it was a beautiful piece of kit. Being digital CDs _shouldn't_ sound any better on high-end equipment compared to everyday brands, but _something_ about it seemed to make playing Bal-Sagoths back catalogue on it even more epic than usual! 🎸💿🤘
I keep throwing ideas around for YT videos of my own, though my eclectic tastes - Everything from French high-speed trains through data forensics to HVAC and plumbing - Make it hard to pin down any one subject to focus on. Regrettably I also had an _extremely_ problematic upbringing of faith - All of the Leviticus, none of the Jesus 📖✝⛓ - Which has completely destroyed my confidence in every area, seemingly making YT projects an impossibility for me. Heck; Thanks to a heavily enforced Lev. 19:28 I'm still a blank canvas even at this stage in my life, and I absolutely can't bear that. 🥺
(Gotta say though, your ink is absolutely _amazing._ I am envious as fc🇬🇧! 😍💯🤘)
Thank you. I appreciate that. I'd love to get my hands on a Beogram CD player... I've never even seen one in person.
@@AudioThrift I was _„Lucky“_ in picking mine up for £5,- from a car-boot sale, but that _„Luck“_ was short-lived: I was forced to move to a very small flat about six months later and had no choice but to sell it on grounds of limited space. 🥺
But yeah, they looked really nice. They were made to fit in with the early 90s BeoMaster(?) main system (One makes a cameo in _Home Alone_ (I think) where it's speared by a large flying icicle) and the complete set-up visually resembled the control desks on the bridge of the _USS Enterprise,_ right down to the touch-sensitive illuminated controls. Never learned how those worked, but they were a world apart from the usual capacitive touch-buttons of the era. 😇
If you ever spot one, definitely grab it if it doesn't have an _Audiophile grade_ price hung off of it! At this point in time though they _will_ need maintenance to bring them back to life; Mine had a cranky enough door mechanism after only 14 years, and I could imagine the caps and PSU being pretty shot after such long times in storage. ⚠
@@AudioThrift I was _„Lucky“_ in picking mine up for £5,- from a car-boot sale, but that _„Luck“_ was short-lived: I was forced to move to a very small flat about six months later and had no choice but to sell it on grounds of limited space. 🥺
But yeah, they looked really nice. They were made to fit in with the early 90s BeoMaster(?) main system (One makes a cameo in _Home Alone_ (I think) where it's speared by a large flying icicle) and the complete set-up visually resembled the control desks on the bridge of the _USS Enterprise,_ right down to the touch-sensitive illuminated controls. Never learned how those worked, but they were a world apart from the usual capacitive touch-buttons of the era. 😇
If you ever spot one, definitely grab it if it doesn't have an _Audiophile grade_ price hung off of it! At this point in time though they _will_ need maintenance to bring them back to life; Mine had a cranky enough door mechanism after only 14 years, and I could imagine the caps and PSU being pretty shot after such long times in storage. ⚠
Also, YT: This is a reply to the creators reply, which I have the right to post here. It is immune to your unjustified, comment deletions against LGBT users under applicable equality statute. Thankyou. 🧑⚖
I love my Beogram linear tracking turntable. The hardest part was finding a replacement stylus. All is good.
Omg I hear you on the stylus issue. It’s going to cost me more than I paid for the whole system.
You mean cartridge. Non user replaceable stylus. SoundSmith makes replacements.
For using the hole saw, if you do a lot of speakers you probably have some scraps of MDF around, I just glue a block in the hole and then drill into that to center the hole saw, superglue works well because it dries quickly and if your block of MDF is only just big enough, once you've drilled through it you can just cleanly break off the little remains.
This is a good idea. I will try it next time.
Thanks for sharing. I saw a set of these for sale but the seller wanted a lot more than what you paid all-in and were in as-found condition. One note: Take a look at the Howards line of wood restoration/rejuvenation products instead of Old English. Will get a surprising result!
Ooh... I'll look into that.
I recently scored a set of S75s at a local auction house (no stands unfortunately) and I immediately swapped out the inputs with new binding post/cups like you did. They sound fantastic, but I think I am going to swap the caps like you did. Thanks for the video!
That's exciting! Good luck!
Next time I am going to repair my speakers myself too. If you dont hear from me after I try, my electrostats probably killed me when I was fixing them 😂
Just saying research what you want to repair thoroughly first. Some speakers are way harder (and deadlier) to repair.
Great video and a very nice result indeed 👍 I subscribed, owning a lot of old gear, mostly 3 pair of quad ESL 57, a set of acoustat x. Mostly driven by harman Kardon citation (12deluxe, 22,23,25) Marantz CD 80, Thorens turntable and revox b77. All of that is also connected to a Marantz atmos processor (used for 400 😂) and a 4 channel sony poweramp. Because yes, I use all my speakers for a home theatre setup. And since I done that my wife isn't nagging me to sell gear any longer 😂😂😂
Good luck. I have faith in you. 👍
Always fun to get something working again. Bought a set of crossover and cup terminals for 9 bucks. Added to a set of old RCA speakers and amazed me! The smaller RCA's just need a quality cap swap. Good luck with the new place!
got myself a set of Beovox Penta speakers and after seeing your video I think I will replace the capacitors,. they sound nice right now but maybe better when I replace them. Use to own the beovox MS 150-2 and always regret selling them. the bass poort was in the underside and by moving the speakers on the stand back of forwards you could control the bass.
Good job. If you ever have these apart again, you may want to stick a piece of sticky-back neoprene foam sheet on the backs of the crossovers to stop them mechanically "buzzing" against the back of the cabinet at high volume levels. I use it on the bottoms of large floorstanders to provide a little mechanical isolation from the floor and it works wonders according to my ears and the frequency response graphs in Denon's Audyssey MultEQ Android app that I use with my Denon AVR.
That's a good idea.
Foam surrounds tend to be aging issues on Beovox speakers.
I've got some vintage B&O speakers that sound amazing (C40s with matching Cona subwoofer), but these S75s are my dream upgrade. I just imagine them sounding huge and airy but detailed. I bet the stands alone would be worth more than $50 now.
I'd sell you mine if I didn't have to ship 'em.
You will also have considerably more sound coming out of the S75 at a particular volume setting, much more effecient than the C / CX lineup. Always curious how the Cona redefines the signature of that setup - never had the opportunity to hear them. Your imagination is pretty accurate, if you like classical you will appreciate those sounds in full bloom. Small ensemble jazz, rock, blues, and digital are a cake walk compared to a full pit orchestra and opera.
Hi thank you very much for your excelllent video and restoration of a great speaker
By the way i am not sure why they decided for a 4 ways The cone mid can cover easily the band up to 3kHz
Maybe they loved complex solutions
The weird crossover would certainly agree with that. lol
@AudioThrift good morning and thank you very much for your kind and helpful advice
These vintage speakers have a really great potential for good sound and I am sure that an expert can get even higher performance with the right mods
The only problem could be the aging of parts in the xovers and drivers
I bought a pair of nice ITT dome mids just to discover that they are out of specs and different one to the other
These Beovox have really good drivers but who knows how they have aged?
Remembering the one time I looked inside a BeoMaster 9000, I would say B&O _might_ prefer the more complicated approach... 😉
@@dieseldragon6756 Hi i have the feeling that the midcone has a great sound indeed Very transparent
a 13cm cone should have no problem to cover up to 3kHz And any decent tweeter can take care from 3kHz up These speakers are still quite expensive But if i had to buy a pair i would make them 3 ways for sure
I can measure and redesign the xover Moreover i would move the upper tweeter closer to the midrange to make the centers of emission closer I see a greater potential in an already very fine speaker
For home theater they also have sound transparent screens for the projection to project the movie on. And often have speakers behind the screen…
Just a note, there aren’t two tweeters, but two midranges. Both the midranges are from Phillips (from the Netherlands, but probably made in Belgium), the cone model was quite common in various speakers from the early 1970s. The paper dome midrange was introduced around 1973 or so. The tweeter is a very common (for the period) Peerless tweeter made in Denmark (and, later, in India). Lots of speaker companies used this tweeter including Polk, Cizek and others. The dual midrange design is really uncommon as there is a lot of overlap between the two. I didn’t get a good look at the woofer, so I can’t say that I recognized it, but it was, possibly, a Phillips or SEAS unit.
Pro tip, you can sometimes fit the smaller hole saw inside that fits the hole to use as a pilot.
That's a good idea... but I don't have a whole set. I only bought a 2" saw.
in the uk the original format was with a long grey speaker wire with the two pin plug, prewired through ther back of the speaker cabinet. but those speakers had amazing tolerance. with no other speakers to hand i once 'borrowed' my dads and put 600 watts through them for 6 hours, after chopping the wires. like in weird science, i had them back before he was, and he never noticed.
What a great looking speaker. With those drivers I'm sure it sounds amazing.
Seems we have pretty much similar music taste except the Dido part. :P However, I have been pretty into speakers lately after having upgraded speakers I have been using for 20+ years. Things I have learned are that many new speakers don't fit all music, especially metal. Brands like Klipsch speakers and Marantz receivers only sound good when playing certain kinds of music. Mainly pop or something, not metal. Anyway, the point is that when you have identified the correct brand for your ears, most new speakers, about 400-1000 USD, will sound better, and I would never go for anything vintage again. The truth is that most vintage speakers from the early 90's and back in time were an era with very little clue about what was going on. Cabinet build, insulation, signal path disruptions, driver positioning, and even cabinet size (especially for vented speakers). You can even see the air coils on the crossover here are just laid out across the board without considering the magnetic field it creates. They should not be that close, or at least every second one should be surprised, and the whole should not be in the neighbour's direction.
Also, they did not have proper measuring techniques back then, so it was probably a kind of okay crossover.
Overall, your method is probably the cheapest way to do it here, but apart from this one not working at all, I think fixing it like this is a waste of time. At least get newer second-hand speakers.
Don't get me wrong, I like vintage stereo. I have just given up on the speakers. I collect cassette decks and even record tapes still for fun, and my experience is that all this equipment should be listened to more modern speakers. If not, then at least do complete upgrades of the old crossovers of speakers, and insulate the cabinet properly and remove as much of the distortion as possible. Cheap new speakers might be lacking there too most of the time, but one can just open and stuff more in there.
Yeah, I think they were leaning more into form than function. I was not a fan of working on that crossover. That was a headache.
And I think you make a very good point about modern speakers outperforming vintage ones. My only counter point to it being a waste of time is that, IF you've never done anything like this before, the experience and confidence gained from even repairing a totally crap set of speakers (80's Fishers anyone?) is worth much more than the speakers themselves. My hope is that showing simple repair jobs like this can encourage people who have no experience whatsoever to feel a little more confident in making an attempt at this type of thing on equipment they already have or found for cheap at the Goodwill.
In the future (hopefully in the new studio space) I WOULD like to delve a lot deeper into the stuff you're talking about. There's a lot of interesting stuff to talk about there. Cabinets and venting are a rabbit hole in and of itself but I don't know how much that may or may not alienate my novice target audience... though I find it fascinating!
🤘😁🤘
I think the REALLY important question, fellow Metalhead, is do you have any band suggestions? I need new stuff. lol
@@AudioThrift Yes, I did find the repair video interesting, even though I have kinda stopped with vintage speakers. When looking into more modern speakers and this hobby, I would rather suggest getting into the DIY speaker community as it is basically the same. I am not an expert at designing crossovers or cabinets as that takes a bit more learning, equipment and skills, but get kits that you can just put together. I can suggest CSS audio of GR Research here (GR is the one I have, and I can recommend it for metal).
Specifically, the XLS Encore is a ported box, eliminating the need for subwoofers and keeping it more old-school. It should give you proper bass and kick in the right places and clarity for guitars managing the most compact stream of sounds. Heck, it even makes bad recordings shine. BTW the way, GR also have some other models that no one has made videos on yet; that would be great to see. This would maybe help you understand more about cabinets and crossover, especially re-enforcing cabinets, as this company has a lot of instructional videos.
I have a ton of bands but I must admit that this last decade has been lacking a bit since it seems that core bands are more popular now, but there are some new bands in the underground now and then that gets my attention. It would be easier if I had more info on the approximate total count of albums in your collection and where the limit is within what genres are? Like traditional, thrash, power, death, prog etc....?
Based on what I heard and saw in your videos, the outro music sounds right up my alley. I saw Angel Dust on your phone, which is on the spot, and of course, classics like Maiden, etc.
Of new bands based on that, maybe Eternal Champion could be something. It is heavy metal with melodic riffs and a heavier sound. But you might have heard about it already. From my part of the globe, I would always recommend German 80s and 90s bands like Rage, Running Wild, Scanner, and Abraxas. I can narrow down albums if there are any of these you have not heard yet.
Just hit me up on messenger Larse Rockit if you would like to see pics and clips from what I have done with some speakers, or just casual metal exchange. :)
Nice. I will definitely do some research on those. I think it would be interesting.
And Running Wild kicks ass!
Having been to B&O in the 1990s, they definitely did know what they were doing. They had the largest anechoic chamber in Europe and I met the engineer responsible for development , Geoff Martin. The S75 shown is from their midrange line up. B&O make some very high up speakers - Beolab 90 is the flagship but the Beolab 5, an older model is still an incredible speaker.
@@-triumphgt667 yes, but that speaker had some issues just by looking at it and the crossover. 1990 is a loooong time ago, and they might have been onto something then, but nowa days the correct cheap speakers can do amazing things, but there are some that like to have a special signature sound and forget to check all types of music while concluding that they are done. And therefore end up with speakers that does not sound great on everything. I have a theory too. That is that speaker snobs as I call them who just like good recordings and stereo usually listen to only some pop, jazy things and classical. That is what is most often played if u ho to speaker and stereo conventios. I have tried a fair amount of stereoes and speakers lately, and found that dome make some music sound amazing, but put on som kaotic music with rough edges and you have some issues instantly. Its like speakers are being EQd to a spesific genre. I must admit that the music that did sound good sounded amazing, but so can a neautral speaker do to to all kinds of music. B&O has never been bad in a way, but they are experts on design over everything else
I’ve got some S45 MkIIs that are my absolute favourite sounding speakers. Would love to have a listen to the S75s, but I also have a set of Pentas waiting to be repaired and I suspect they will sound epic as well.
Nice! I don't want to act like these S75's are the greatest thing I've ever heard... I think my modern speakers sound better with more things... but those Beovoxes do sound mighty tasty. Like Taco Bell when you're hungover. lol😁
S45.2s are the best medium passive speakers B&O made - Pentas are good but very tall. If you went to the B&O factory in the 1990s, the speaker that was in every room was the Beolab 4000. Small but powerful and remarkably good.
I have a set of s45.2 they’re also my favourite speakers. They are just incredible
excellent and thorough explanation and clearly explained, i didnt need to watch this, but i did because, as i say, it was good
Buy the best Capacitors you can afford. And, if you buy a vintage speaker with Electrolytics, and they are more than 10 years to 20 years of age, plan on replacing them. The Electrolyte solution inside evaporates over time. I don't know if the Polyproplynes have the same aging issue. Not sure if you can test a Cap in situ, I only tested them on the bench back in the day.
7:23 - Did you observe correct polarity?
Thanks for mentioning this since I forgot to... the new crossover caps are non polarized.
@@AudioThrift Some crossover designs have one of the drivers connected inverse i.e. the pos going to neg driver terminal.
I put the drivers back the same way they were when I disconnected them.
Great video!!! 👍
Did similar upgrades to a pair of Wharfedale 3XP Linton's. Handy thing with them is the screw terminals have the same pitch as common speaker posts. So just screw them straight into the terminals for an instant no-skill upgrade.
Excellent Philips units ...
Outstanding video!
This is a hobby I have been into for a few years and love it. But have selling stuff I love and get attached to. Until I find something else.
Great video! Subscribed =)
Wow! Thank you. I watch your videos often.
For the cloth, if you've got a good source of steam I'd bet that'd help stretch the cloth tighter. I've seen the same thing work on car headliners
Oh, good idea. I'll try that next time.
For soldering I recommend using flux!
Always.
Speaker DIN chassis sockets are available on ebay, if that is what B&O were using.
That is odd, back in the day Radio Shack had a good assortment of DIN connectors. Today I believe Digi Key and Mouser both carry DIN connectors.
Here's the really annoying bit... I checked ebay again right when I was editing the video. What do think came up immediately? The exact original DIN plug for these speakers that fits the hole. Talk about frustrating...
2:29 - Also the box is no longer sealed!
Good point.
I did all this with a cheap set of CR77s. You're right..anyone can do this.
Kudos!
Absolutely outstanding video 😮! I really enjoy your videos! This one was particularly excellent. Looking forward to your next one, cause I learn a lot. Hope you find another receiver to restore in the future as well. May your move go smoothly!
Thank you. I too hope to find a sweet receiver! 😁
Dude SOOOO GLAD you're back, your channel is excellent. Superb job on the restoration of these speakers, the look is so iconic for that period. For me I'm not a fan of B&O gear as the components (not necessarily the speakers) are a pain to repair due to their specialised components, often it's 'look' over 'function' with B&O. Must admit, the crossover set up in those speakers looked very rough from a company like B&O - in fact I had to laugh, it looked like a PCB board a child would make up as a science experiment 😂 . Cheers sir and as you say, _Stay Metal_ :)
@marktubeie07 Thanks! Yeah, I know what you mean... I had a Beocord that I ended up taking to a repair guy and even he couldn't get the rewind to work. It was disappointing. :(
Waw nice Akai you have there
Heh. Thank you.
@@AudioThrift That Akai ..i don't have it...CR 80 T
Interesting video and a really nice result. A few observations. Another reason that the alligator clip hack was bad is that it left a hole for air to escape ruining the box's tuning. That's probably the biggest reason the bass improved after you installed a sealed terminal cup. Also, I would have done the grill cloth differently, although you got a nice result. That glue product wants to be sprayed on both surfaces and then left to tack-up. Installation is supposed to be immediate and permanent. I would have stretched a piece of cloth with tacks, sprayed the material (using paper cutouts to mask the speaker locations), sprayed the grill, and then placed it on the stretched cloth. Then it's just a question of trimming and gluing the edge on the back. Lastly, I think I would have re-stained and finished the wood veneer after scuffing it. I don't think furniture polish is a permanent solution. Regardless, you did get a very nice result with a minimum investment of money and time.
I definitely like the tack idea. I will try that next time because it felt like I didn't have enough hands to do it and the tacks would have helped a lot.
I think the decision to use Old English as opposed to refinishing them stems from my own preference for raw wood. I'm not a huge fan of the feeling of varnish... but you're right, it would have been a longer term solution. I'm sure you could tell from the closeups that the back panel is warped a bit and one corner of the frame is separated. I wish I could have repaired that too...
I recently bought a pair of S45-2 speakers. While the sound is decent, I find myself a bit underwhelmed. I’m considering whether a recap might bring a noticeable improvement.
Do you think upgrading to film capacitors could significantly enhance their performance? For me, this would also come at a much higher cost compared to electrolytics. Or is it unrealistic to expect these speakers to compete with modern designs?
Truthfully, the sound improvement comes by virtue of the capacitors being new more than what type they are. The old eletrolytics eventually dry up and severely degrade the sound quality. I think any recap will be a massive improvement. You can probably get away with the ones like I used here. They're still pretty decent quality.
@@AudioThrift Thank you
Dido thankyou sounds good on most speakers though right?
That it does indeed.
Why 37uF when the original was a common 33uF bipolar.
That's something I don't really know. I've never seen the service manual not match the actual speaker. But, as I said in the video, I'm following the manual... mostly out of sheer curiosity.
Video title is wrong. It's Olufsen.
Fixed. Thank you... but I'm embarrassed it 5 days and 13k views for any of us to notice. :P
As B&O does hail from the land of the herring, they are of course fishy. I'll see myself out, Sandi Toksvig would be rather disappointed in me.
Hey-O!
No highs, no lows, must be broken vintage B&Os.
Hehe.
😮😮😮nothing heard about positioning the correct place and Position of the inductors. Not in line like this. Flat to horizontal and in 90°.👎🇩🇪
Yeah... whoever designed the crossover owes all of us an explanation. If I never have to work on one again, I'd be fine with that.
sadly you forgot to replaxce the padding
Wait, which padding? I always miss something.