Hello and welcome to Beoworld!

It's sad that you lost one of the greatest B&O systems ever made, though nice that you have found one again. 

For maintanance, there could be an ageing capacitor problem. As the components are getting older, they might get a bit out of spec and capacitors may be the worst sinners in these great products.

With the Beomaster, a general checkup is recommended. The output stage could benefit from new voltage regulators as these are particulary known to get bad and get the idle current for the output transistors wrong. This problem caused my own 4400 to fail. capacitors in the power supply and some in the line of signal could be checked with an ESR meter to check if they are in spec, replace those which are. At last, the 4400 could benefit from cleaning the faders on the front panel; A specialized "Fader-lube" is recommended for this, more info on site 🙂

As for the Beogram 4004, a common problem is bad speed regulators and flip-flop (33/45) relay. Another failure is known in the "needle set-down" system. A special air dampened cylinder is used to get the cartrigde in contact with the record in a safe and elegant manner. The grease would dry up and cause the system to not respond at all. A simple fix is to remove the old grease residue and put new acid-free oil instead. 

lots of info about these problems are on-site in the workbench forum.

As for the speaker choise, B&O made a couple for the Beomaster 4400. I have a pair of Beovox S-75's, they are very good. The bass can be "flappy", but i like that for classic rock music. The other models for the 4400 is the Beovox M-75 and M-100, based on a little different concept. You can read about them in the Beoworld product site and on Beocentral.com 🙂

-Søren Hammer

gcompton wrote:

When I was in college in the late 70's, I purchased a Beogram 4004 and Beomaster 4400. I believe they cost me about 6 months of my income back then. I enjoyed them for about 4 years before they were stolen. Since then, whenever I see an old LP, I think back to my old system. I have owned many systems since then, but none ever had the character or presence that my old B&O system had.

Fast-forward 33 years. I recently have aquired a mint condition 4004 and a mint condition 4400 with the tuner preset cover intact. They both work, but I would like to get them "tuned up" before I put them to any serious use. I am assuming that all the components are original. Any advice?

Also, back in the 70's all I could afford were the 4004 and 4400 and did not purchase B&O speakers. I would like suggestions for some B&O speakers from that era that would have been good matches for the rest of the system.

Thanks for any advice and looking forward to hearing from all of my fellow B&O enthusiasts. I promise to post pics when everything is polished and set up.

Where are you located?  If you're in the USA, I can highly recommend a service person.

I am the proud owner of B&O's preceding system:  BM4000 and BG4002.  I have them hooked up to Beovox M70s.  I don't think I could be any happier.

Which cartridge are you running?

Hey Rich, thanks for replying. I'm running a MMC4000 cartridge. The 4400 has been checked out and everything is within specs, but the stereo meter works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. My 4004 is what I want to get checked out throughly. Yes I am in the US. I about as far in the US as you can get, Topeka, Kansas. Who do you recommend?

You aren't alone in your recommendation of Benny Amina. I've heard from several other stateside B&O enthusiasts and they all seem universal in their praise of Modular Electronics' work. Like I said before, the 4004 seems to work fine, but it's over 30 years old and I remember how I felt when I hit that age. I just want to have worry-free listening for a few years. I'll send Benny an email and go from there. Now I just need to find some era correct speakers...

I think Peter runs Beovox Pentas with his BM4400 (or is it the ever elusive BM4401?), though that's not exactly "era correct," methinks.

One can never go wrong with a pair of S45-2s.  There is almost always a pair for sale on Ebay, albeit without stands.

But you probably want something bigger....

I actually use M100s withe the 4401. The Beolab Pentas work with my BC2. M100s are the best match for the 4400 - I agree that S75s are good if a little bass happy. The M100s have much better bass control - on a test, they simply have more detail in the bass line that any B&O speaker I have heard bar Beolab 5s.

S45.2s are a perfectly sensible suggestion and are wonderful, if a bit bass light.

I certainly hope the following won't get me thrown out of the B&O club, but during the late 70's and early 80's after I purchased my BM4400 and BG4004, I lusted after a pair of Magneplanar Magnaplan IIIa speakers. At the time, I thought their styling and quality complemented my B&O system. In the 80's they cost $2500.00 a pair. Sadly, my system was stolen before I was able to complete my "dream" system. In the last 2 weeks, I have purchased a mint BG4004 and a mint condition BM4400. Today, I stumbled across a pair of IIIa's in of all places, here in the middle of Kansas USA. I honestly believe fate has led me to all of these finds. As soon as I get everything cleaned up and tuned up, I will sit back and live those years I missed out on. I have gray hair and my joints ache, but I still get that "tingle" as I'm rebuilding my system. I will probably still purchase some era-correct B&O speakers to complete my "ambio" experience and to augment the bass that the "Maggies" lack. Pictures will surely follow when everything is set up.

Gene, that sounds awesome. 🤒

I think you should go for it. I don't think you will get kicked out of here anytime soon, I've been mixing and matching for a while now and I'm still around!! 😂

Looking forward to seeing the setup.