Hi,

Vintage audio components like this are forty years old. Some still work but I would bet they are performing at a much degraded level than when they were new. When old electronics begin to fail like this the task is a restoration rather than a repair. A technician could spend a lot of time finding and fixing your one problem only to have some other part fail later. When it comes to audio components this old the typical restoration is to replace all of the electrolytic capacitors and tantalum capacitors with new ones. The Beomaster 1900 is also known to have worn slide controls for the bass, treble and balance controls. At the very least they need cleaning. Some of the lamps might need replacing. Those are the main things. If the unit was well taken care of and just stored away because the original owner moved on to something else then the other electronic components are likely okay.

Opening up the Beomaster 1900 and working on it is not as easy as audio receivers that came in large, rectangular cabinets. The low profile, sleak Bang & Olufsen cabinets often make it difficult to get to all the components you need to get to without desoldering some wires. Reassembly can be a bit tricky as well.

A budget of $150 for a restoration will probably not go very far unless your restorer is a friend. For some reason a lot of people think that because a piece of audio gear is from the 70's it is simpler and easier to fix. Ebay and Craig's List are full of failed restoration/repair attempts though. If you have a friend who is good at electronics and willing to research what is necessary to restore it there are plenty of people on the Beoworld Workbench Forum that can help with information.

A number of us have pictures we can share as well and information. Here is a link to a Beomaster 1900 I restored last year. It will give you and idea of the scope of the restoration. There are several posts that make up that project. Be aware that some of my restoration choices are different than other restorers so don't take my project as gospel regarding to how to restore a Beomaster 1900. I just offer it up as information to what you can find inside the Beomaster :-). 

The Beomaster 1900 was a very popular B&O receiver and if yours is good cosmetically then I would consider it worthwhile to restore. I hope that helps.

-sonavor

Hello,

Just to pitch in, I'm currently restoring a 2400. The PCB is almost the same as the 1900. So far if have managed to destry more, than i have fixed. Wires breaking off, (unintentional) shorts, switches broken. It's still on my desktop, disassembled, but also a work in progress. It has been a both interesting and fun hobby project and certainly not impossible for an amateur. I am now both older and wiser but, as you can probably deduce from the above, certainly not smarter....
Many forum users have been most helpful (and patient) and I have been using Sonavors URL/link extensively - much appreciated  So maybe just give it a go?

I'm not really looking to do an extensive restoration of this receiver.  I wasn't planning on replacing anything that wasn't broken. It really wasn't that great a receiver when it was new, so I think I can live with 40 year old degraded components if they're working :)  Pretty much everything in my house (including myself)consists of 40-50 year old degraded components. I'm really just looking to get it working again- on a budget.  I don't really want to try to fix it on my own,  I'm sure I will make it worse i.e. convert degraded components into broken ones   I'll re pose the original question: anyone know someone in the Los Angeles area that might be able to help?