I have a Mk1 and recently replaced the laser. It works fine.

I've used my early MK3 BS9000 almost every day (I work at home and listen to music much of the time) for more than 10 year (possibly 12), and have had no problems whatsoever.  I would say for about 1/2 of those years, I haven't use the CD extensively because I had a BeoLink PC2, and now a Beosound 5, but the wife (mostly) and kids (sometimes) use it to listen to music I haven't loaded into the BS5.

I can't comment on the other issues since I haven't had any problems I don't know what might happen if it breaks.

Stan

Have a mkII. Laser unit was replaced by b&o around 10 years ago. Was some sort of warranty, I had to pay for the labour but got the unit for free. That was around 10 years ago and haven't had any other issues. Still think it's a beautiful device with high build quality.

Is that true? MK III Laser can only be bought at B&O? So it´s the best to buy MK II??

Adrian

I have two mk 3's, one from new ( 9 years) and second a pre loved from Lifestyle - no issues !

Must get a white one :-)

AdiS wrote:

Is that true? MK III Laser can only be bought at B&O? So it´s the best to buy MK II??

 

Adrian

Yes, read this post by Michael (from the thread I linked to in my original post):

[quote user=""]

Hi:

I have successfully repaired my BeoSound 9000 Mk II with an eBay sourced CDM12.4 laser at about $15.00 USD. I never wrote a complete DIY about it but some of the detail was presented in my BeoSound 9000 MK III / VAM1250 focused blog post:

/forum/general-discussion-and-questions/beosound-9000-mk-iii-laser-failure---cracked-solder-joints-laser-diode-crown

I'm a bit short on time at the present but can tell you that if you have a failed BS Mk II, you must purchase your eBay sourced CDM12.4 from the right seller. I believe that the one that worked for me was purchased from eBay USA seller foolnme. (I purchased 3 from various sellers and cannot be sure anymore as to which one was the best.) I purchased the CDM12.4 laser only and integrated it into the existing carriage which was not that difficult. (There is an on-line photo tutorial somewhere on that process available.)

My results were great and it went through the two post-repair setup/adjustment modes perfectly. The best part about using an eBay CDM12.4 laser-only for repair of the BS Mk II's, in my opinion, is that you are not forced to replace the Mk II / CDM12.4 logic board with the VAM1250 version as you would if you purchased the $245.00 BS Mk II / VAM1250 conversion kit from B&O. And that is because Philips does not manufacture lasers any more and the VAM1250 (with the linear and "no metal cover" laser crown, hint, hint!) is impossible to purchase from anyone except B&O. For they purchased the last of the Philips VAM1250 production for their BeoSound 9000 repair inventory. And one cannot purchase the laser only VAM1250 from B&O. It is only available in a complete carriage mounted kit. I repaired my Mk III with that one and even at $185.00, it saved me hundreds over having it done for me (est. at $600.00).

So, in my opinion, if you own a never-converted BeoSound 9000 Mk II, then you would be best to work to maintain it as a CDM12.4 machine to avoid the obvious end-of-the-line scenario on the already obvious depletion of correct Philips VAM1250 lasers. For me, an eBay sourced CDM12.4 laser-only worked beautifully on my BS 9000 MK II!

For the sake of clarity, if you own a BeoSound 9000 MK II - which was originally fitted with the Philips CDM12.4 Laser - and you have it repaired by a B&O authorized service center or purchase the repair kit from B&O, you will be purchasing an "upgrade" kit which includes a new VAM1250 Logic Board as well as the VAM1250 carriage-mounted laser. Your old CDM12.4 logic board is removed (and tossed, I assume) and replaced and your Mk II is now essentially a BeoSound Mk III. Thus the higher cost of $245.00 for the Mk II kit to cover the cost of the included logic board. The BeoSound MK III kit does not include the logic board and cost me $185.00 from Atlantic Systems in Hanover Massachusetts. You are using the existing VAM1250 board that came with your MK III.

Got it?

Also, for those of us with injured BeoSound Mk III's, we are really heading toward a potentially hopeless situation as B&O will eventually run out of their stock of the Philips VAM1250 lasers. And please know that the typical eBay sourced VAM1250's DO NOT WORK!. I've tried them and this was my experience. As I discussed in my above referenced earlier BeoSound 9000 posting, the eBay (fake) VAM1250 lasers are distinctly different then the original Philips VAM1250 in that they have a circular laser crown solder point assembly (indicating a non-Philips laser diode used) and have a metal covering continuation over the top of the circular laser diode solder crown. My photos of the authentic Philips VAM1250 laser (see my earlier post) show the distinctive linear black plastic protruding laser diode solder crown and no metal cover.

And finally, I believe that the vast majority of failed BeoSound  9000 Mk III's can be repaired easily by doing a solder re-flow on the 12 solder points (6 and 6 each side) at the laser diode crown board. I recently purchased what I strongly believe are original eBay sourced Philips VAM1250's from this eBay auction:

another question: is there possibility to play netradio and netmusic with every MK II?

All mk1 and mk2's can be fitted with the proper software to use NMusic and NRadio.

The quality of a Beosound 9000?

The one I had briefly some 3 years ago or so was a turned out to be MKIII. It had not been used for some time so a bit dusty. I got it home from Copenhagen and set it up. I cleaned the glass lid on both sides and then it worked like it should.

I then spend some time getting experience with it and sold it on as I don't get on with more than 1 cd in a machine anyway regardless of the state of art the Beosound 9000 is.