Beogram 4000 (is this worth buying as a project?)

[Ray J]

Hi,

I can potentially buy a Beogram 4000 for $500 Australian (~285 Euro, ~325 USD), but it’s not operating correctly. I might be able to negotiate a price as well. I’m hoping I could get some advice if it’s worth buying and playing around with. I’ve had a look at it, I’ll list the positives and negeatives I’ve noticed below.

Just to add, I am technically minded. As an example, I have a Beocenter 7700 (bought for $50 Australian) came with the MMC4 stylus. Wasn’t working properly, but have enjoyed working on it, now works as intended.

However, I have never owned any of the Beograms (apart from the one on the 7700) and never worked on one. I undesrstand the 4000 can be tricky.

Postives:

• The unit itself is in good cosmetic condition, not perfect, but still nice.
• Comes with the MMC 6000 stylus. Looks good, but cannot test.
• Powers on. Tonearm moves, but not properly.
• Tonearm does seem to move properly with manual control pad.

Negatives:

• Platter does not spin, so cannot test stylus.
• Dust cover is in poor condition. Hinges area is missing because it’s cracked off.
• Tonearm doesn’t move properly. When turned on with a record, the tonearm only moves slighlty towards the record and stops. It doesn’t actually go over the record as it should.

Unfortuantely that’s all I can really note at the moment.

I have attached a video showing what it does when tuned on.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

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[Nebojsa Jankovic]

Potentially a great deal, if for anything, just the MMC6000 cartridge, if it works, is alone worth more! If it works… On the turntable, you could get VERY lucky, but that is unlikely! So, step by step, $ by $, you could easily end up with another US$2000 in it, so you must decide if you want this wonderfull engineering masterpiece to become yours to keep and charish for another 40 years! You will know what you did to it, you will enjoy making it as well! Alternatively, you could just find a working one for less, say $1000-1500 and enjoy it equally… In a former scenario, just sticking to it and reading and learning from Beolover vlog and write-ups, you can go a long way and really enjoy the process of converting something that does not work into a beautifull working vintage deck!

Location: Eindhoven, NL
Favourite Product: Beogram 4002/04, Beocenter 7007, Beosound 6000/02

[hcraig244]

Go for it……. I wouldn’t buy one that was fully operational, the repair and restoration process is, for me, a large part of the pleasure. These decks where built with the possibility of repair in mind unlike the rubbish available on the market today….there are one or two more positives you can add to your list

• A stylus is fitted which suggests the tone arm connection tab, which the stylus snaps onto, hasn’t been damaged….lot of work and expense repairing it using the beolovers laser printed parts (which are very good it has to be said).
• The carriage drive motor and its associated forward/reverse circuitry is functional.
• The multivibrator on/off circuit is working as are the reed relays which switch the 20vdc and 6vdc supplys on……these can be problematic but are repairable.

I didnt hear the solenoid energise when the tone arm was requested to drop automatically or manually…..not a massive problem and could be down to poor lubrication on the tone arm lowering mechanism….easy fix if the solenoid energises on request.

Does the platter drive motor run? i’m assuming you’ve looked inside to check the drive belt?

A lot of problems with these decks can be traced to the control switches sticking open or closed therefore out of sequence, this will play havoc with the logic board operation, components will fail of course and some may need replacing as you progress through what can at times be a  frustrating journey but provided you have the time and a few pieces of test equipment it can be very rewarding…..it can get expensive if you choose to install the many laser printed parts available but these are mostly optional.

Enjoy Craig

 

[alf]

Hi,

I wonder if you did buy it in the end ? I would certainly buy it but have to agree it has the potential to get expensive ?!

its a genius but fragile & sensitive design and everyone who buys one should be in the position to either help

themself in case of issues or know someone who can help !!!

good luck

ALF

 

[Nebojsa Jankovic]

I bought a 4004 for €550, with an issue on the tonearm, would not go down on the LP… Since then, I have made it perfect, but has cost me 4x the additional investment, with lots of work, easily 300 hours) and learning, with great help from Rudy, himself and his video blog, plus lots of work from a local HW specialist… It has been a long and difficult process, but fully worth the experience and result, as this is to be expected from a 50 year-old vintage piece of amazing design and engineering! Remember, B&O offer the new limited number release of Beogram 4000C to european customers at €20.000. They are all probably gone… They also now offer refurbishment service for the 4000/02/04 and that won’t cost less than €5000… So, go for it, if you want to keep it for the next 20 years!

Location: Eindhoven, NL
Favourite Product: Beogram 4002/04, Beocenter 7007, Beosound 6000/02

[Nebojsa Jankovic]

Incredible piece, complicated design, but extremely sensitive! Typically, during its 50 year life, people have worked on it, so have likely changed things, fixed some, created and left hidden problems behind… Components had not been made to last this long, so are now walking wounded issues. It requires extremely precise mechanical/physical alignment between stationary and moving sub-systems, coupled with analog components that deteriorate, so any bit more complex fix and service may work out, but can also screw up its incredible balance by design! All of the boards in my system have by now been resoldered on every point, 60% of components that have naturally aged have been replaced (once a board is out, this is the most prudent thing to do…), every mechanically moving part dissassembled, serviced, cleaned, greased, reassembled, realigned, all tested, functionally and electrically etc. Incidentally, if one is lucky, they can be very happy, as 5 years earlier I had bought a fully working/serviced 4002, and it still works perfectly, without anything touched in it! Hope not to have cursed it for my son, who has taken it over from me!

Location: Eindhoven, NL
Favourite Product: Beogram 4002/04, Beocenter 7007, Beosound 6000/02

[Nebojsa Jankovic]

A self-correction is due, as I now see that I mistyped, it should have said “lots of work, easily 100 hours”. All have gone into diagnosing, fixing, modelling, reading circuits, adjusting electrically, physically, testing, retesting, trials and errors…

Location: Eindhoven, NL
Favourite Product: Beogram 4002/04, Beocenter 7007, Beosound 6000/02

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