Bang & Olufsen ABR repair

The RL60s were manufactured between 1984 and 1987. B & O is rated among the finest speaker builders in the world. These speakers were placed in the Museum of Modern Arts (and are supposedly still displayed), due to their unique design, innovation, and sound quality.

Good used Bang & Olufsen Redline 35, 60, & 60.2 drivers and tweeters for sale at $65.00 ea plus shipping.

I've also got miscellaneous items, crossovers, case mounted inductors, speaker housings, and some of the original bands for the RL60, 60.2, and RL35 series speakers. I normally don't keep the stands in stock, but please ask if you need a pair because I do purchase them whenever possible.

My sales price may seem a bit high per driver, but I have to buy the complete speaker pair and pay the shipping and handling expense which runs between $50.00 to $75.00 per pair in addition to the cost of the pair of speakers. I buy them with no guarantees and have to throw away the blown, deteriorated, or otherwise damaged drivers. It takes a lot of work to get you a good driver! I test them and seal them up in an airtight plastic bag for their protection. If B & O had them in stock, they would be very expensive.

I have the amplifier set up behind the drivers for testing. The test instrument to the left is the SPL meter. Tests are made at over 100 dBs using moderate rock or jazz music which uses most of the frequencies of the music.

B & O used electrolytic capacitors that die with time like a car battery and the OEM voltage rating of the capacitors is marginally low for these crossovers at 63 volts.

For those of you who would rather me build your crossovers for you, I have them for sale for the RL60 now. I use 400 volt Solen capacitors, a 39 ohm 12 watt Mills resistor, and a SonicCraft .1uf bypass capacitor in my rebuilt crossovers for a better and more detailed sound and cleaner high frequency responses.

I have added a bonus improvement to the crossover design which is a SonicCraft "bypass cap". It is the small white capacitor you see mounted on top of the large capacitor. It is soldered in the tweeter section and it will clean up any unwanted noises from the polypropylene capacitors to make the tweeters sound their best, making the instruments and high frequency sounds so much cleaner. They are not bright and harsh sounding. I use WBT silver solder for premium solder connections. Premium capacitors are available upon request.

I use quality parts, and solder. There is a considerable amount of time involved with the rebuilding, testing, careful packing and shipping of a pair of these crossovers.

***See my instructions below to order parts, modify, and rebuild your failed ABRs and crossovers. You will have to cut out your new mounting board from 1/4" Masonite hardboard. I prefer the 1/4" Masonite hardboard because it is virtually resonant free and very easy to work with. It becomes very sturdy after the installation of the passive radiators and mounting to the enclosure. This can be easily done with a scroll saw or Rotozip. For more information about these passive radiators, please select the Peerless Tymphany passive radiator link in my index to the left or on the logo above.

I have four order options for you to get your Redline 60s back on line. I do not include the Masonite mounting board with any of my packages.

Customers outside of the US states placing orders for any of my drivers or crossover packages will be responsible for any duty or import fees assessed by the country of your destination.

If you already have your crossover parts or don't want to upgrade them and only want the passive radiators, the price is $18 ea. or $16 ea. for orders of 4 or more, plus shipping. (List price is $21.99 ea.). Shipping and handling is $20.00 for a total of $84.00 shipped to the lower 48 states for the 4 passive radiators. Simply place your order via PayPal and make payments to Payments@SpeakerHobbby.com and make a note that you want 4 passive radiators when prompted. You may also mail a cashier's check or money order to the address below and email me that you have placed your order. PayPal automatically sends me a notice if you order online.

For a complete DIY package that includes 8 Solen capacitors, 2 SonicCap bypass capacitors, 2 Mills resistors, and 4 Tymphany 830880 passive radiators, I offer the entire kit for $170.00 which includes free shipping to the lower 48 states. Follow the same order procedures as outlined in Package #1.

You must send me your old crossovers as replacement cores so I can have them to rebuild. They must not be damaged or burned.

Add $50 if you don't have your old crossovers sent to me. Shipping is free to the lower 48 states.

This is the most preferred and popular kit: Add $50.00 if your crossovers are burnt up for a core charge and simply place your order online without shipping the crossovers to me for a total of $250.00. Shipping is free to the lower 48 states.

I will rebuild the crossovers for you with the above capacitors and resistors, and will include the 4 passive radiators in the package. You can cut your Masonite hardboard while the crossovers are in transport and cut out the passive radiator holes when you receive your kit. Spray paint them flat black so they can't be seen through the grill cloth. To install the new crossovers, it only takes about 5 minutes.

I always try to have a rebuilt pair ready to ship, so email me if you want the rebuilt crossovers. I will build another pair if I don't have one ready when you place your order so it will be ready to ship when I receive your old crossovers.

My preferred method of ordering and shipping kits #3 and #4 is to do the following:

(1) Take several pictures of the wiring and how the wires are laid out on the speaker's housing and where they are routed. (2) Mark each speaker terminal with the color wire from the crossover on the speaker's magnet. (3) Carefully remove the crossover. (4) Send them to me well packaged via USPS Priority Mail with a Cashier's Check or Money Order included for $200.00 payable to SpeakerHobby.com. This will save me a PayPal fee and eliminate any funds transfer delay. As soon as I receive your crossovers, I will send you your new kit with the rebuilt crossovers and 4 passive radiators, usually within 48 hours after receiving your crossovers.

If you encounter any crossover rewiring or re-installation problems, I have many extra photos I can email you and I am very good about returning emails on a timely basis.

I ship my parts United Parcel Service; regular ground. (Usually 4-5 days) Please specify if you need quicker shipping which will be at an additional cost.

***Mike Cason DBA SpeakerHobby.com assumes no liability for any damages what so ever to any of the customer's equipment or speakers for any reason with the modification and application. We have never had a speaker or equipment failure, but this is an upgrade and is to be used at your own risk.***

Eliminate the hassle of buying from multiple sources to rebuild your Bang & Olufsen Redline 60. These are certainly speakers worth restoring and enjoying for many more years to come!

Speakers of this high quality can't be bought in the retail stores for the amount of money it would take to restore and upgrade your Bang & Olufsen Redline 60s. For those of you who have owned your Redlines since they were new, you know how amazing they really are!

As can be seen in the photo below, the ABR is a combination of two steel plates. One being the mounting housing and the center plate acting as the diaphragm. The gap between them is where the foam surround used to be. If you will look closely, you can see the glue marks for the foam on the metal diaphragm. I made an exact duplicate of the outer mounting housing ring using 1//4" Masonite hardboard with my scroll saw and installed a pair of Tymphany SDS 5.25" 830880 passive radiators to the Masonite. The new modification is not going to have the same MMS or VAS of the original ABR, but my crossover upgrade and ABR conversion produces a very high quality sound and tight bass.

In picture 1 above, you can get a nice view of the Peerless Tymphany 5.25" 6 mm xmax passive radiators and their intended install location. In my next photo, you will notice that I've sealed the opening with foam weather stripping as the foam ABRs won't be doing the sealing job anymore. Now the tricky part...Installing the assembled modification with the two passives attached to the hardboard. It's difficult enough just to get the ABR plates in and out, let alone a thicker board with the passives already mounted! After some careful planning, I decided to install the passives with the screws just barely through the board with the nuts on the screws. I lifted the end of the speaker up and propped it with a towel and this allowed the passives to hang on the machine screws while being lowered virtually on the grill cloth during the insertion of the assembly. You only have to let the first passive radiator hang and finish tightening the one that doesn't have to pass through this brace. I also pushed down a little bit on the cloth with the end of my Masonite hardboard to allow the first passive to clear that molded brace with the rubber bumper through that small opening, as seen in the first photo below. It worked!

After getting the assembly in the mounting location of the old ABR, I secured the plate well with new screws and washers and got a very tight fit and a good seal job between the hardboard and the front case of the enclosure. I finished tightening the mounting nuts and bolts, securing the passive radiators to their final location on the underside of the modified mounting board and used one of my favorite tools....the hot wax gun. I hate rattles out of a speaker so I hot waxed all of the mounting screws, washers, bolts, and nuts. The wax also acts as a lock washer, keeping the nuts from backing out during the enclosure vibrations. The modification is now completed! You can't see the drivers or mounting plate through the front grill. I also rebuilt and upgraded the crossovers as shown above.

These Redline 60s sound very good after the rebuild and are installed in my home as my side surrounds for the home theater!

These speakers have nice bass for a speaker of their size and with my modification, the bass appears to be tighter and improved from the comments I've received from the original owners who have upgraded their speakers. Placing them on stands on the floor will enhance the bass a bit more. If used as mains at moderate levels or surrounds in a home theater, they should perform terrific for you. I compared them to a pair of vintage Advent speakers I have in my office with the A B switching on my office receiver, and these sound much cleaner and more defined in the midrange and high frequencies than in my the Advents. The Advents had bass resonance from their cabinets but the Redlines sounded very clean. Bang & Olufsen's heavy molded cabinet material, internal bracing, and the bitumen attached to the rear of the case make these speakers virtually resonant free.

Modification test results: After finishing the pair and testing them in my office, I am astounded by the clarity of the drivers and the bass response. The old capacitors and resistor must have been completely dead due to their age as the sound has improved dramatically. The quality is outstanding. I cranked it them up and tested them at 3 feet away with my office receiver and stopped the volume control when my dB meter was reading over 100 dB's. I had increased the bass from midpoint to about 2/3rds of the way and enjoyed what appeared to be close to -0- distortion with outstanding quality. I am listening to a contemporary jazz channel which has most of the frequencies found in most music. The Advents which have 10" woofers, can't even come close to the quality of these RL 60's. I switched the A B switch back and forth between the pairs of speakers and the Advents were boxy and had lots of cabinet resonance and couldn't hold a candle to overall sound of my new-old RL60's!

Because the original bands had been cut off by someone before I received them, I decided to go with the red striping down the centers of the speakers to match the red on the sides. I managed to find exactly the same color red as the outside case. This is vinyl automotive pin striping. These are the Redline 60's so I kept them "Redline" all the way.

I installed these at night due to the summer attic heat. It took 8 hours for the install, but worth every minute I spent. What a movie experience I am enjoying now! They are very accurate and detailed. I have them paralleled with a pair of Polk RC 85-I in ceiling speakers that have a adjustable directional tweeter and an 8" woofer, presenting a 4 ohm load to my amp. They are located a couple of feet from the B & Os as can be seen in the pics. What a movie experience! There are a lot of drivers providing very high quality music and movie sound reproduction. I also am driving a pair of B & W DM 303 center back speakers with a separate amp for a complete surround experience.

Richard Chandler of Columbus Ohio finished his Redline 60's using my modification and is very pleased with his results. He said the bass is lower and tighter now. Here is a link to his build. He also replaced his capacitors and resistor. http://picasaweb.google.com/dickster1/BeovoxRedlineProject#

To date, folks in 5 countries have now used my modification and are so happy with my design. Several of these folks are the original owners of the Redline 60s and love the sound so much, that they looked for a fix or repair center through Google and find my website because the original parts aren't available anymore and the service centers can't do any thing for them. If they aren't handy enough to make the repairs themselves they find someone with some experience to help them.

Beovox RL 60 Passive Loudspeakers Product Specifications (Bang & Olufsen's product line)

Type: 6503 (1984 May 1987)
RMS power handling capacity 60 W
Music power handling capacity 90 W
Impedance 8 ohms
Frequency range +4 -8 dB 45 - 20,000 Hz
Power at 96 dB SPL 2 W
Sensitivity 1 W 93 dB
Distortion 250 - 1000 Hz < 1 %
Distortion > 1000 Hz < 0.5 %
Acoustic principle ABR, Auxiliary Bass Radiator
ABR unit: 15 x 33cm
Woofer: 2 x 16cm
Tweeter: 2.5cm
Crossover frequency: 2500 Hz
Net volume: 19 liter
Dimensions W x H x D: 54 x 40.5 x 18cm
Weight 9 kg