Bang & Olufsen Beolab 500 (1987)
At 150 watts RMS per channel, this Danish-engineered active speaker fills a room. HiFI-Stereo (December 1989, p.109) noted the Beolab 5000 speakers were priced at $2,055 a pair, which put them at the premium end of the market for the era.
Overview
The Bang & Olufsen Beolab 500 came out in 1987. It paired precision engineering with the minimalist design B&O was known for. Unlike most passive speakers of the day, it built the amplification into the cabinet, which made it a self-contained three-way active speaker. That gave tighter control over the drivers and removed the variability of an external amplifier.
Key Features
Three-Way Active Speaker System with Internal Amplification
Each Beolab 500 has its own amplification, 150 watts RMS per speaker, split evenly across the drivers - 50 watts to the tweeter, 50 to the midrange, and 50 to the bass unit. This tri-amped setup keeps the power clean and minimizes intermodulation distortion, an advantage over passive designs that run multiple frequency bands off a single amplifier. The internal amplifiers work at line level and feed an active crossover before the signal reaches the drivers. That allows steeper filter slopes and more precise phase alignment than passive networks.
25 mm Soft-Dome Tweeter for Extended High-Frequency Response
The 25 mm (1 inch) soft-dome tweeter is built for smooth, detailed high-frequency reproduction up to 20 kHz. Metal domes can sound harsh at high volumes, and the soft dome avoids that, which makes for less fatiguing listening during long sessions. In the active system it only receives the frequencies it is optimized for, which reduces strain and improves transient response.
100 mm Midrange Driver with Treated Paper Cone
The 100 mm (4 inch) midrange driver uses a paper cone treated for rigidity and damping. The material balances warmth and clarity and avoids the brittleness sometimes associated with synthetic cones. It sits between the bass and treble units and works in a narrow band set by crossover points at 350 Hz and 3.5 kHz (between midrange and tweeter).
200 mm Long-Throw Bass Driver for Controlled Low End
The 200 mm (8 inch) bass driver has a long-throw suspension, which allows deep excursions for low-frequency reproduction down to 45 Hz. It is not a subwoofer, but its performance in the cabinet is tightly controlled, and it avoids the bloated bass common in ported designs of the time. The active crossover and dedicated 50-watt amplifier allow precise damping, giving punchy, articulate bass that blends cleanly with the midrange.
Balanced XLR and Unbalanced RCA Inputs for System Flexibility
Input options include both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA connectors, a rare feature in consumer audio gear of the late 1980s.
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