Is a £45 Beogram worth buying?

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi Beoworlders,

Is this the bargain of the year or a waste of time and money? Should I have bought eBay’s cheapest Beogram turntable?

Kind regards, Steve.

[Madskp]

I also got a bargain for a Beogram 2000 some time ago. 200 Danish kroner which equals arround 23 punds at the time. It was in working condition but without a pickup an scratches on almost every aluminimum part and the dust cover.

Last week I found another Beogram 2000 for the same price which is in much better cosmetical condition, but where the pickup arm i broken off.

I now hope I can combine the best from these 2 decks and get a decent Beogram out of it for almost the same bargain price that you got yours for

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi Madskp,

That sounds like a good plan!  Please let me know if you are able to get them working…

Kind regards, Steve.

[Guy]

Great video Steve!

Regarding your comment at 3m45s that it was the only B&O radial tracker with remote control:  Beogram 2400 pre-dated Beogram 2000 this by 5 years, was radial tracking and had remote control (as did BG2402/2404) – the remote was of course the earlier ultrasonic version.  I only know because my father had one ?

I think BG2000 may be the first datalink-controlled turntable.

EDIT:  On second thoughts I think BeoGram 6000 (a BG2402 with new electronics) may have been the first datalink beogram.

[AdamS]

I’ll watch the video later, but in my opinion, a £45 Beogram 2000 is always worth buying! My Beogram 2000 actually cost me £21 as it didn’t work but it’s in superb condition (and, of course, it works now…).

As an aside, the Beogram 2000 is actually my favourite of the later Beograms. I prefer the radial trackers of this era as I think they sound better than the linear tracking types, and you want all the features such as repeat and Datalink, so that narrows it down to the Beogram 2000 or 5000.

Whilst the 5000 is essential as a part of the 5000 system as it matches correctly, when taken in isolation I think the Beogram 2000 is the nicest looking – sleek plinth styling and a full clear lid. I really don’t need a Beogram 2000 but mine’s not going anywhere!

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi Guy,

Sorry, I had forgotten about the Beogram 2400!  I guess this was pre-Datalink, so not fully remote controlled in the way that the later 2000 and 5000 models were.

Hi Adam,

That is a real bargain, I also love the sleek lines and sound of these later radial Beograms, so I’m busy finding a reason to justify keep this one!

Kind regards, Steve.

[Glitch]

Is it really £45?  I think better in €/$ so I’ll switch to that currency.

1. €57 – Beogram 2000
2.  ?  – Shipping for the above Beogram 2000
3. €56 – beoparts-shop order (belts, cap kit, muting relay, other rubber parts that are dried up)
4. * €75 – Used MMCx cartridge from eBay that doesn’t work at all. Advertised as “not able to test”
5. * €150 – Another used MMCx cartridge from eBay that plays distorted. Advertised as “working, looks nice”.
6. €230 + shipping – Soundsmith SMMC4 (that plays wonderfully)

* – optional steps

So the actual price is higher depending on your exposure to the Beovirus.

Is it worth it?… Of course! 😉

Glitch

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi Glitch,

So far the price is only £45 GBP.  No shipping (collected from the seller locally), belts and all other parts in good order so not replaced at this stage.  I haven’t bought an MMC cartridge for it yet, just borrowed the one from my other Beogram.  I agree that will be an extra expense when I can track down a suitable MMC, but that is a problem for another day 😉

Kind regards, Steve.

[AdamS]

Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi Adam, That is a real bargain, I also love the sleek lines and sound of these later radial Beograms, so I’m busy finding a reason to justify keep this one! Kind regards, Steve.

I wouldn’t worry, Steve – B&O speaks to the heart so justification is unnecessary! I enjoyed your video and glad to hear the Beogram is up and running. The stylus brush down the back made me chuckle as well – Tim Jarman mentioned to me long ago that he has found dozens of these under Beogram top plates over the years. Then again, the last thing he found inside a Beogram turned out to be a perfectly serviceable MMC4, so do always check inside if you hear rattling!

Adam.
P.S. – have you treated yourself to some RL140s yet?

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi Adam,

Good point, I will have another check inside the Beogram to see if there is an MMC4 lurking in there anywhere!  Still on the lookout for a good pair of RL140 (and an MMC4!)

By the way, will you be heading up to the Maverick hi-fi show again this year?  Will be great to hear your B&O setup again!

Kind regards, Steve.

[Hiort]

Nice to see renovation of Beograms.
I bought my Beogram 2200 1979/80 for money I had saved.
It ended up at the attic after moving into a new house, since the panel in front and lid was broken and I could not start any play. I then had the idea of bringing it back to life again a few years back. I found a Beogram 2200 at a auction that was cosmetically bad but lid was fine as well as the front panel.
I swapped the parts from the donor to my Beogram and painted the white wood trims that had turned yellow. I sent the stylus to Germany for renovation.

It now bring joy to me in its full glory.

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Very nice!

[AdamS]

Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi Adam, Good point, I will have another check inside the Beogram to see if there is an MMC4 lurking in there anywhere! Still on the lookout for a good pair of RL140 (and an MMC4!) By the way, will you be heading up to the Maverick hi-fi show again this year? Will be great to hear your B&O setup again! Kind regards, Steve.

No, not planning on doing the show this year – I haven’t joined the forum, either, but I may do at some point.

[chartz]

Hi Steve,

A cheap Beogram is always worth it.

My best deal was a € 80 Beogram 4000 with a $ 70 SMMC20EN – brand new.

[artig]

Guy wrote:

Great video Steve! Regarding your comment at 3m45s that it was the only B&O radial tracker with remote control: Beogram 2400 pre-dated Beogram 2000 this by 5 years, was radial tracking and had remote control (as did BG2402/2404) – the remote was of course the earlier ultrasonic version. I only know because my father had one ? I think BG2000 may be the first datalink-controlled turntable. EDIT: On second thoughts I think BeoGram 6000 (a BG2402 with new electronics) may have been the first datalink beogram.

The datalink was developed and first used for the Beomaster/Beocord/Beogram 8000, so the Beogram 8000 was the first beogram with datalink. The datalink code format and timing was the same as that for the infrared remote control used for the Beomaster 8000.

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Thanks artig,

I suspected that I wasn’t exactly right with that statement!  I should have said that Beogram 2000/5000 were the only Datalink controlled radial Beograms with full infra-red remote control…

Glad you liked the video – please tune in for the next one to hear it playing directly to Beolab speakers!

Kind regards, Steve.

[Mark]

Steve,

It sounds like an incredible buy at that price and it looks like it didn’t need much more of an investment to get it properly working, outside of a cartridge.  I will be interested to hear how it sounds with the Beolab 4 speakers, but I am also wondering how well it would hold up to larger Beolabs.  Would larger Beolabs reveal the limitations of this turntable or cartridge?

A few years ago I purchased what was described as a new RX (without box).  It certainly wasn’t and it even arrived with a broken tonearm, but I did take it in for repair.  $198 US later I got it back, but I haven’t tried it out yet.  I guess the RX would be in a similar category as your 2000.  I do have an extra SMM3 cartridge and an unused pair of Beolab 4’s with a phono preamp… maybe I will set it up somewhere.  I’m looking forward to your next video!

[AdamS]

chartz wrote:

Hi Steve, A cheap Beogram is always worth it. My best deal was a € 80 Beogram 4000 with a $ 70 SMMC20EN – brand new.

My best was a mint, boxed Beogram 4000 from a car boot sale for…………I hope you’re sitting down……….£4!

I repaired and serviced it and then foolishly sold it for the dizzying sum of £90. About 3 months later, Haden Boardman did an article on them in Hi-Fi World magazine in the UK and values shot up to about £500 overnight.

As we all know, those values never came back down. Selling that deck is the biggest audio regret of my life!

[Madskp]

Madskp wrote:

Last week I found another Beogram 2000 for the same price which is in much better cosmetical condition, but where the pickup arm i broken off. I now hope I can combine the best from these 2 decks and get a decent Beogram out of it for almost the same bargain price that you got yours for

I now got around to combining the 2 Beogram 2000’s to one fine unit and the one that may end up as spare parts ( I am waiting for B&O to launch the Beogram 2000c upgrade program 😉 )

First a before picture with the non working, but cosmetically fine on the left, and the working one with the very scratched dustcover and stained aluminum surfaces on the right. The cosmetically fine one do have scratches in the dust cover, but not near the amount on the other unit.

I noticed that the one unit has grey cables while the other one has black ones. The one with the black cables has a higher serial number, so might have been a little design change along the production life.

During the disassembly I leart the on the working unit one of the transport screws was still secured, and while it was wokring I had to do some height adsjustment of the platter after loosening that screw.

The front strip also had scratches on the aluminum on the working unit so had to replace that. It is held in place by three plastic clips that is secured with glue. At first I was not sure If I could get those plastic clips of without breaking them, but with a sharp knife and a little wigeling it was succesfull.

While I was in there I also replaced the belt and the caps. I did not change the speed trimmers as I do not have the equipment for testing the speed for now, so that must be for another time.

On the non working unit i noticed that the motor rattles when I move it arround so it might have other faults that just the broken of pickup arm.

And an after shot of the 2 units

So all in all a succes. It might need some tweaking of the speed and some other adjustments, but for now it is ok. Also the only thing I have with a RIAA amplifier for now is a Beomaster 2400 where the right channel is not working, so no in a hurry with the adjustments.

AdamS wrote:

Whilst the 5000 is essential as a part of the 5000 system as it matches correctly, when taken in isolation I think the Beogram 2000 is the nicest looking – sleek plinth styling and a full clear lid

One thing I have noticed is that the Aluminum line on the sides on the Beogram 2000 lines up nice with a Beosystem 4500 and the aluminum nearly matches the white color on the Beosystem 4500

[Author]

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