BeoCenter 2300 CDM-4 CD Repair

[Guy]

I thought that I would start a new thread about repairing the CD player on my older two-way BC2300 fitted with the curved tracking CDM-4 CD mechanism.  I have mentioned the CD problem in my thread about displaying time on BeoLab 3500 here.

I have previously fixed the CD player in my newer one-way, linear tracking BeoCenter 2300, as described in @madskp’s slightly hijacked thread here.

On other B&O CD players, capacitor C2103 is typically quoted as the cause of CD problems, and a quick search of the archived forums and cross checking the service manuals shows that the BeoCenter 2300 ‘equivalent’ of C2103 is C100 on PCB 8, the PCB shared by the Servo, disc detector and CD decoder. Here’s C100 highlighted:

After removing the doors and the right hand plastic cover, the underside of PCB8 is exposed here:

And I have zoomed in and circled the C100 position here: (found by following the trace from pin 17 of IC1)

And here’s a quick picture of C100 with the PCB released from the plastic clips (centre one has broken, always a problem with brittle plastic on these older systems).  I am not yet removing the board because I want to order the parts first and I probably need to dismantle the BeoCenter more fully to release the CD ribbon cable that is connected to the reverse of the extra right angled PCB you can see bottom right of the picture below:

As explained in that other thread, the CD player doesn’t fail every time and is improving the more that I use it, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time before it gets worse so I will order a new capacitor, fit, and see how I get on.

As mentioned in the other thread, after research I will probably order this replacement capacitor:  https://cpc.farnell.com/vishay/mal213836479e3/cap-47uf-25v-alu-elec-axial/dp/CA08777

I may get a couple of spares for my BC9500, and my mother-in-law’s BC9500, in case they fail, but I think they are 33uF rather than 47uF (however reading previous posts I think the exact value is less important than the capacitor type).

Anyway, that’s just the start as I have yet to order the parts, so more to follow …

[Madskp]

This is going to be interesting to follow. One thing I noticed in the old thread is the part about adjustment of laser voltage that is done in two parts. Following the procedure in the service manual should probably be ok, but there are som notes about what types of CD’s to use for the adjustment procedure

[Guy]

Thanks @madskp.  Yes I have seen the notes about adjusting trimmers – I have also read several posts that say to replace the capacitor and leave the trimmers alone, so that’s what I am hoping to get away with!

To be honest the BC2300 CD is playing quite well now that I am testing it daily.  My ‘study’ BeoSound 1 CD, however, is misbehaving and I keep having to run that ‘CD Test Mode’ procedure to ‘clear’ the fault – it seems to work every time.

So I am not sure which to tackle first and I have yet to place a capacitor order.  I probably need to strip down the BeoSound 1 first to see if I need parts for that too.  I actually swapped CD mechanisms between all three of my BS1s, so I can’t now remember which model of mechanism is fitted in each!

[Author]

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