I have never seen this type of problem on Beosound 9000's and as you say you have had replaced three times and the B&O engineer has been to your home and looked into the problem, so it can only be one of three possible issues as follows:

• Dust or other environmental condition which you have discounted, but must remain a possible cause.
• A product design fault which only shows up in your particular environment or manner of use.
• A faulty manufactured batch of units for your particular country meaning replacing a unit from the same faulty batch may cause the same problem to show up. Were the replacement units ordered from Denmark or did they come from stock in your country ?

The IP address you posted to this thread shows you in Estonia, is this correct ?

Please check the 4 digit "Type" number found behind the control panel which for Estonia should be 2571, if it is not, what type number is it?

Thanks Keith.

I actually live in the UK. All three units came directly from Denmark to the B&O dealer in the UK. I bought the first 9000 in June 2005, I then had a replacement in 2006 and another in 2007 - all direct from Denmark so I doubt it is a faulty batch considering the time frame.

Although dust could be a possible issue I would say not as the unit (and house) is kept extremely clean. The first unit was also taken away to the local B&O engineer who cleaned it thoroughly yet I still had the same issue on its return.

I'm therefore inclined to agree with your second point. But because B&O cannot explain or will not admit to a 'design fault' it makes it all the more difficult to come to a resolution.

Cheers, Phil

This is a difficult situation for any retailer and has to be handled delicately (my specialty, right? ) But seriously. 

When something like this happens repeatedly either in the same unit or between different units it is most likely the fault of the user. The problem is that "fault" is such a loaded term that many take it to mean that we believe them to be roughly handling or purposefully abusing the product. This is not so at all, it just means that there is some environmental issue that could account for the anomaly.

An example: A client kept bringing a BeoCom 1 in with corrosion inside the handset. This was, of course, not a warranty repair as the handset had been exposed to water. There were 2 repairs and 1 replacement as the client angrily insisted that the fault was in our product and that it was too susceptible to moisture since this was his living room handset.

What he later found out was that his wife routinely brought that particular handset into the bathroom for what must have been 45 minute hot showers, even leaning out of the shower to answer the handset, so over the course of a few months, enough water made it into the phone as droplets and steam that it would corrode.

Not to say that anything so extreme is happening, just that we can often be the number one influence on our products and cannot discount this. Needless to say, if we're open to examining ourselves as a possible cause, we can usually find the fault and correct it.

Good luck! 

Phil,

Given your answers I would make the following comments and ask these questions:-

1. When the units were sent back to your dealer I am assuming they were sold to someone else, or returned to Denmark. I would be asking the dealer if the problem has ever shown up with the units you had returned.
2. Has the dealers engineer actually seen the fault occur, either in your home or their workshop ?
3. Did you keep a record of the serial number of each of the three units ?
4. Were all three Beosound 9000 units Mark III versions ?
5. Is your home fairly modern, i.e. not older than 30 years ?
6. If your home is older than 30 years has the mains power wiring been updated since it was built ?
7. Do you live within 5 miles of a commercial airport ?
8. Has the power cable been extended or plugged into an extension lead of greater than 3 metres ?
9. Is the Beosound 9000 a standalone unit with powerlink speakers connected or connected to other products via Masterlink ?
10. If Powerlink speakers are connected directly to the Beosound 9000, how long are the Powerlink cables ? and are they teh thin Powerlink cables ?

Thanks for the reply.

Although I've examined everything that I do and cannot account for any user 'fault'. The unit is extremely well cared for (to the point of me being anal about it!). Although if B&O could tell me that I'm doing something wrong then I would immediately correct my behaviour. That is why I asked the engineer to come and see the unit in situ so he could tell me if there was anything I was doing wrong or if the problem was environmental. He could see how the system was well looked after and also how clean and tidy my house is. He was more than satisfied therefore that the issue is not down to myself as the user - other than the variety of cds I play, however for £5000 I would expect a sound system to play all my cds without any issue (they are not copies either but genuine discs). The unit has not been moved or touched since set-up, the house is not damp and all the cds are in filed away in protected pouches to keep them clean.

Cheers, Phil

Hello Keith,

In answer to your questions:

1)  I'm unable to say what happened to the previous units. They were sent back to head office in the uk.

2) Yes, the engineer saw the fault when he came to my house.

3) Yes, I have all 3 serial numbers

4) They are all mkIII versions

5) Our home is less then 30 years old

6) -

7) I do not live near an airport

8) The power leads are plugged into a surge protector, however this is less then 3 metres long. I upgraded the surge protector to the best I could find when I took delivery of the last unit so it is of very high quality

9) The 9000 is hooked directly to a pair of Beoloab 8000 speakers using the leads that B&O supply.

In reference to your first point, even if the other units were repaired and then used by somebody else I feel they may not have the issues I have as I am convinced it's something to do with the variety of cds I play. I notice that when I first load a cd the unit either does not read it as in the fault mentioned or it takes a while to start playing (almost as though it's scanning the cd) however, if I play that cd again without taking it out of the machine it will play instantly without any delay. I therefore think that the unit does something with each new cd it has to read and due to the variety of new cds I play I think the machine is unable to 'scan' them all. Another person did comment on the unreliability of the philips laser unit used in the machine for this very reason however any sound system at this cost should play all cds without this kind of issue - it's not ware and tear, I do not use it excessively but rather I feel the variety of cds played - what do you think?

Cheers, Phil

Phil,

Thank you for your answers and the last section for me provides some key clues to your problem:-

You said:-

I am convinced it's something to do with the variety of cds I play. I notice that when I first load a cd the unit either does not read it as in the fault mentioned or it takes a while to start playing (almost as though it's scanning the cd) however, if I play that cd again without taking it out of the machine it will play instantly without any delay. I therefore think that the unit does something with each new cd it has to read and due to the variety of new cds I play I think the machine is unable to 'scan' them all

I agree with this statement

The first point to understand is that the Beosound 9000 can store up to 200 titles of CD's in its memory, so if you remove a CD from the unit and subsequently put it back in any position the title will appear if it had been previously entered. It can do this because every CD produced has a unique ID number at the start of the CD and the BS9000 starts by checking to see if the number of the CD is in its memory and if it is, then it takes the associated title if there is one, and displays it.

Now, take the situation where in the life of the Beosound 9000 many more than 200 different CD's have been loaded on the Beosound 9000, then each CD added which has never been on the unit before has to be allocated a memory location for a potential title, so the software has to look for the oldest CD ever placed on the unit which will take time and use that memory location for the new CD.

So, I would like to bet that most Beosound 9000 owners have not placed more than 200 different CD's in their Beosound 9000 since they purchased it, therefore if there was a problem related to exceeding the 200 title level, few people will have observed it.

Therefore, I would suggest to determine if this is the source of your problem you do a few tests:-

1. Load a CD onto the unit which is currently NOT on the BS9000 but has been on the unit recently and determine if it plays without error.
2. Load several CD's one at a time that you are 100% sure has NEVER been on the Beosound 9000. You may need to get these from someone else for this test.

If (1) above always works and (2) above always fails, then we may be closer to the source of your problem.

Phil,

 As you originally suggested, the large amount of cd's that you own and use could be the cause of your problem. Keith has once again come up with an idea that could prove/disprove the problem. OK by finding this out does not fix the issue but does give you an option to live with it (not at the price you've paid) or get a refund/exchange.

 If you would like to try some cd's that you know have never been in the 9000, i could bring over a dozen of mine to try out Keith's idea (i have around 400-500 cd's). Just PM me your address or phone number.

 As i suggested in your previous thread, you could consider having you music collection on PC or Mac and streaming to the 9000 with airport express or connecting an ipod, thus you can use the cd player just for your favorite 200 albums.

Mark.

Hello Keith, firstly many thanks for your detailed reply, I really appreciate your help.

I think you are spot on as this has been my feeling for quite some time. I have always noticed, with each unit,  that once the fault starts (usually after approx 6 months use) that it is always with new cds played for the first time (in fact I can almost guarantee that each new cd won't play first time). Most of my cds previously played still play ok, on first use. Each unit has gone wrong after approximately the same amount of use and as my listening habbits have not changed and I receive about 3-5 new cds a week I am convinced that what you say is correct and that after playing a certain amount of different cds the unit starts to fail.

As you say, not many people will have the large collection of cds that I have and I believe that is why most people have not come across this problem.

I have mentioned my thoughts on this (i.e. as you and I have described) to B&O many times but they do not seem to recognise that this is the issue (I guess that would be admitting that there may indeed be an inherent fault with the unit). All I get in response is that this problem is unheard of elsewhere. Therefore it must be something I am doing differently to other B&O users and the ONLY thing is the shear variety of cds I play. All other options have been ruled out.

I truly believe this to be the issue therefore any amount of new units or repairs will not fix the root cause. And before long, when the warranty runs out, I will be left with a machine that will never play correctly. The more new cds I play the worse the unit gets and this current unit is getting to the point of being unplayable with new cds.

Although extremely disappointing, as the 9000 has always been the only sound system I ever wanted, the only viable option for me would be a refund although I've been told that B&O will be very, very reluctant to do this. However, another repair is definately not an option for me as the warranty runs out in a few months and I still feel the problem will be there and therefore will reoccur again in the future. I feel I have given B&O every opportunity to fix this. I have been couteous and patient and I have done my best to work with them to rectify the issue. But we have always gone back to square one and I cannot keep on with this - the last time this happened I said it would be the final time to try to resolve the problem. 

I'm extremely frustrated as I do not feel B&O are listening to me when I explain why I think the problem exists (as you and I have mentioned) although after your mail I am convinced this is the case, no other explanation comes close to answering why the unit does this.

Your thoughts are very much appreciated, many thaniks