Beogram 1202 - operates fine, but sound very quiet, only from one speaker, and has high pitched hum..

4 replies
G(
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GeorgeManc (archived)
Bronze
Posted January 4, 2012 at 09:22 GMT
#1681744

Hi all,

I recently acquired a 1202 in decent condition, and after some cleaning and wood repairs to the plynth, appears to be nearly new! all the functions work fine, the motor gets up to speak fine, the auto functions of the arm work fine, the records play at the right speeds.. but! the signal is very quiet and is accompanied by a loud but high-to-mid pitched hum. And the sound is only coming from one speaker. I have attached the 1202 to a modern amp by using a 5pin DIN to phonos adaptor (admittedly a cheap one, as I wanted to know if the record player worked before forking out on a proper one from Sounds Heavenly). When the amp is cranked right up, we can hear the record playing fine, with no distortion, so I think the cartridge (an SP14) and the stylus are both fine. I am thinking it must be a minor problem with the output - perhaps the wire itself or the connections inside. Can anyone shed any light on this for me?

 

Thanks

 

George

DA
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Davefarr
Bronze
Posted January 4, 2012 at 10:11 GMT
#1681745

Are you sure that your Beogram 1202 has an RIAA pre-amp?  I think this was an optional extra from B&O for this deck.  Yours may be without one.  Add-on RIAA pre-amps are easily available.  Check this out first.

Dave.

G(
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GeorgeManc (archived)
Bronze
Posted January 4, 2012 at 11:33 GMT
#1681746

Thanks Dave. I don't know if it has one or not... If it doesn't - it would explain the quietness, but not the sound only coming from one speaker.

 

Thanks

G(
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GeorgeManc (archived)
Bronze
Posted January 5, 2012 at 04:55 GMT
#1681747

Ok.. update time.. I bought a RIAA amp - this has given me volume. And I've earthed the turntable - this has got rid of the hum in the good channel. However, one of the channels is still not producing sound, and a lot of hum. If I unplug the speaker thats carrying that channel, the sound is pretty good (albeit just half the signal!). So would it be safe to assume it's a wiring fault within the turntable, or the DIN plug, or the adaptor? And although the sound is quite good, it's quite muffled and lacking high-mids and high freqs. Is this just going to be the quality I should expect from a 35 - 40 year old record player? Or could it be due to the crap leads? Or could it be the cartridge is not as it once was?

Thanks

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