Peter wrote:

As far as the speakers go, you could do but the volume will be difficult to balance and I think the RLs will add little to the quality.

Agreed here - the Beolabs don't put any load at all on the Beocenter, so in theory you could add even two pairs of passive speakers (with the same caveats as in my previous post above)... but I can't see what good it would do.

Regarding the noise, check first that the mechanism is free to bounce on its supports. You should be able to press it down slightly at each corner when the lid is open. It's easy to slightly mislocate the springs etc. while reinstalling the mechanism or closing the top cover.

Other than that, I think a likely suspect might the freewheeling part of the clamp, on the arm that swings with the lid movement. Guess you could try a minuscule amount of sewing machine oil there (you don't want it running down and spreading everywhere while the CD spins).

Many thanks chaps !

your advice is extremely helpful, and has saved me a days work drilling, wiring and making-good.

Tomorrow I'll open the BC and try to pin-point the squeal even further.   I'll post the result later in the week.

Grateful thanks

Neil

Thanks again here to Mika  & Peter !!

Mika,

you were spot-on !

I opened the BC into service position and indeed the CD unit was out-of-level.  In fact, the front right rubber bush, sitting within the damping spring was twisted /deformed and partly brittle. This stopped the 2mm locating thread from seating down and probably affected the damping. That corner of the unit was also Ca. 2mm  higher than the other 3.  TBO I'm surprised it played at-all ?

I sparingly oiled the parts you recommended, realigned the rubber bush (I guess I should replace it)  eased the whole unit down into proper place and reassembled the BC.

Fazit:

Although there is still some whistle / squeal from the spindle it's tolerable and only noticeable when I stand directly in-front of the BC.

All in all a success.

Grateful thanks and further successes to you (and Peter)

kindest regards

Neil

Thanks to you for posting the outcome! It may help somebody else in the future as well.

I have two Beocenters of this series, and they both make a little noise (zip-zip-zip...) while the CD is spinning. I doubt they were completely silent even when new, the door doesn't offer much sound insulation compared to more conventional front loading CD decks.