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Bang and Olufsen type 6501

never tried tweaking them as the sheer amount of kit i have coming and going means they dont cut the mustard with the best stuff and so dont get much attention other than checking they work as new. Furthermore i did my first work experience at the tender age of 16 in the Celestion R&D dept (before celestion domestic stuff went down the drain) and vowed never to mess around with a well considered design, when my dad or i refurb something it goes to original condition

i shouldnt moan too much though, having so much exotic vintage hifi coming and going is a nice problem to have.

efficiency wise i never really sat down and tried to figure out which pumped out the most noise/watt at 1 meter, but from memory i would put my money on the ones with the drone cones over the ports. i never noticed a problematic tuning frequency. i confess the sort of thing they get pumped through them is either ABBA (seriously my dad has a problem in that respect, his reference track is 'super trooper'), blues and classical.

If i were to have a go at tweaking it would probably start and finish with dampening the cabinets. They are fun speakers and for an affordable family speaker i cant imagine a better suited design (except maybe the wharfedale loudpanels, well worth checking out!)
 
Finished the crossover recap about an hour ago. Wow. It really does surpass what I expected. The highs are clearer, the bass is bigger and more defined, everything is more defined. I'm shocked at how good it sounds.
 
The SGD said:
If I were to have a go at tweaking it would probably start and finish with dampening the cabinets. They are fun speakers and for an affordable family speaker i cant imagine a better suited design (except maybe the wharfedale loudpanels, well worth checking out!)
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I've been reading a lot about cabinet and driver dampening lately, and my interest has been aroused. Considered it only it in context of the standard wooden box, though.
One of the things that appealed to me about the RL 140 was the difference in material and shape of the cabinet, which seemed as it should be inherently self dampening, for one thing.
However, you being one of considerable experience and think it may be profitable, my pair just may get the dampening treatment. Materials to do so are not prohibitively expensive, and I'm a tweaker by nature.
I'm with you on not messing around with the basic design of a speaker, though. Rehab and moderate component upgrades in type/quality, not values, are about as far as I go.
 
"ItsTooLoud" said:
Finished the crossover recap about an hour ago. Wow. It really does surpass what I expected. The highs are clearer, the bass is bigger and more defined, everything is more defined. I'm shocked at how good it sounds.
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Glad to hear the recap worked well for you. That's what I said after I did mine, "Wow!"
I've recapped several pairs of vintage speakers, they were all the better for it, but none showed as much improvement as the RL 140's.
What brand/type of caps did you use?
 
The cabinets are pretty well reinforced with molded in ribs, as well as dampened along the back by 1/4" dynamat type material, along with about 20 screws spaced out along the back of the thing.. I'd be suprised if the cabinet resonates much at all. I'll have to feel the cabinet the next time I have it cranked.

Mazeppa - I used the same part numbers you sent to me and installed them in the same way. I figured that if they worked well for you that they would do well for me. Holy cow they're good.

Theebadone - The max power handling is 140W, 8 Ohm. I'm not sure of min power. FYI - each speaker uses one 1" tweet, one 5" mid, and two 6.5" woofers. It also either has a port or a passive radiator. Mazeppa - how much power are you feeding yours? Mine are at 140+W each. Also, after buying mine I have put another $50 into them for foam surrounds (4 OEM from Denmark) and another $50 for Dayton caps, so you might keep that in mind. Checking out the surrounds required a screwdriver and a lot of screws since the grills can only be removed after removing the back.
 
"ItsTooLoud" said:
The cabinets are pretty well reinforced with molded in ribs, as well as dampened along the back by 1/4" dynamat type material, along with about 20 screws spaced out along the back of the thing.. I'd be suprised if the cabinet resonates much at all. I'll have to feel the cabinet the next time I have it cranked.

Mazeppa - I used the same part numbers you sent to me and installed them in the same way. I figured that if they worked well for you that they would do well for me. Holy cow they're good.

Theebadone - The max power handling is 140W, 8 Ohm. I'm not sure of min power. FYI - each speaker uses one 1" tweet, one 5" mid, and two 6.5" woofers. It also either has a port or a passive radiator. Mazeppa - how much power are you feeding yours? Mine are at 140+W each. Also, after buying mine I have put another $50 into them for foam surrounds (4 OEM from Denmark) and another $50 for Dayton caps, so you might keep that in mind. Checking out the surrounds required a screwdriver and a lot of screws since the grills can only be removed after removing the back.
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There is a set local for 200, just wondering about them. My speaker room runneth over
 
theebadone said:
There is a set local for 200, just wondering about them. My speaker room runneth over
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If you're talking about the RL 45.2's in craigslist offered from Chesterfield be aware that is not the same model "ItsTooLoud" and I have, the RL 140, spec's for which can be seen here:

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/product-archive?ProductType=BeoVox&ProductName=BeoVox RL 140

It's very curious that the mid is not listed in so many spec lists I see for the RL 140. I assure you it is a 3-way (note the listed crossover points) speaker, however. Driver compliment is: 1-1" dome tweeter, 1-5" cone mid, 2-6.5" cone woofers per cabinet.

As the 45.2 is a 40W unit and 140 a 140W unit, minimum input power recommended would obviously differ a good bit. 93db efficiency would probably enable you to run a pair of 45.2's quite nicely w/as little as 20-30W RMS into 8ohm of SS power. I wonder how they'd sound w/a Marantz 1060? That might be a very good match.

My SS amp is rated for 125W RMS into 8ohms. I don't think you can have too much power, but too little is very possible to achieve.
 
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Some years back, I refoamed and recapped a pair for a friend of mine. I either found the list on line, or just removed the existing ones and ordered ones of the same value. My friend insisted on using bipolar electrolytics to save money.
 
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