Beogram 5000 (Type 5803) tonearm won’t move vertically

[Crhis Wong]

Hi all. I’m working on my first B&O restoration here, on a Beogram 5000 (Type 5803, the early-80s belt-drive auto that shares the 1800/2000 chassis) and stuck on the cueing.

The arm won’t stay raised in the parked (stop) position — it sags down on its own and I have to lift the base by hand until it clicks up. Horizontal traverse is fine. However, it never is able to properly raise or lower without manual intervention.

Following the manual’s lift chain (1609 cam → eccentric D → lever E → lever H → holder I), here’s some observations I’ve made. The lift solenoid (16RL2) triggers, cam 1609 turns, and the arm’s vertical bearing is free (raises/drops smoothly by hand).

My own guess is slack at eccentric D (the manual says to set 1609 to stop and turn D until it just touches lever E with no slack), but I’m a beginner and may be anchoring on the first thing that fit so I’d love the wider view on what may be happening. In the parked state, what holds the arm up on these (cam, spring, or both)? What are the usual culprits for it sagging, and how would you diagnose this from scratch? If I’m chasing the wrong thing, please say so. Happy to add photos or video. Thanks!

[pl212]

I’m working on a Beogram 2000 myself, which is very similar.  One common problem on these is a plastic part snaps off on one (or both) sides. This is a part that exists kind of like a plastic ring around the arm rotation axis, extending upwards to terminate in one of the two screws used for height adjustment.  Sorry I can’t describe it more precisely; I think it’s part #1107 on the BG1800/2000 service diagram…

Location: Silicon Valley

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