Beovox Penta

The Beovox Penta was a Beolab Penta without the amplifier or display. In some ways this made it more attractive, the slightly reduced height in particular made a real difference to the overall impression of size and made the loudspeaker easier to install discreetly. One did have to accept, in the context of a B&O based system, that the power output would be at best a third of what the Beolab Penta could manage. This would be of course when the Beovox Penta was used with the excellent Beomaster 5500, a system which would prove very satisfactory at sensible listening levels. The only way to improve on this would have been to use a pair of Beolab 150 amplifiers, though this would represent a somewhat pointless approach to system building, and it would only yield a slightly more complex and bulky form of Beolab Penta with no display. Owners of the older Beomaster 8000 could greatly benefit from the Beovox Penta, though the 8000 could “only” deliver 100W into the 8 ohm load they presented (as could the Beovox MS 150s that the 8000 system originally included). The Beovox Pentas though would have certainly been easier to integrate into a practical domestic interior than the massive MS 150s. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The Penta loudspeaker required very few changes to be sold in Beovox form. Screw binding posts for the cables were already fitted to the base in the Beolab version, so all that was needed was to shorten the mounting studs and fit the stands directly to the bottom of the cabinet. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The Beovox Penta sold steadily in small numbers, but was eventually withdrawn as the Beolab version proved very much more popular. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.