What are you working on now?

[Tignum]

That BeoGram looks superb Leosgonewild!

[Evan]

pepps wrote:

Looking forward to seeing/reading some more on this project.

Hey Pepps – I’ll write up a thread on it in a little while (have many more photos). I’m in the home stretch and just might finish it this weekend!

However I will tease one thing… Yesterday I did embark on the re-foaming of the midrange drivers. Mission was successful.

[Evan]

Last night was a late one with sparse meetings which means doing conference calls from the workbench in the garage. In between some of them I designed a new table stand last night to hold a BeoLab 4000 horizontally. Should be done printing when I get home.

If it fits / works well I’ll make the design available if anyone is interested.

[Tignum]

Looks cool Evan! Will you make use of the ribbed backside of the BL4000s so the position angle can be varied (or will it rely on gravity and friction).

Johan

[Evan]

Thanks, Johan! I’m very pleased that it worked on the first iteration. It does indeed have a groove that fits between two of the heatsink fins. It gives a bit of flexibility to the angle. The only thing I might change is its overall angle, I think its too far laid on its back as the on-axis high frequency is reduced quite a bit compared to it standing up vertically as I had before. At any rate, it fits and works great. Check it out:

[kirin]

That is a great constructional work, good looking as well!

[Evan]

Cheers, Kirin! Thank you very much.

For anyone interested in printing their own, I have made the design available HERE.

When I have the time I’ll make another design available where it is more upright with the speakers that are more on-axis.

[fkatze]

Well it took a while to get back to it…

Here is the tuner board installed in the BM2000:

I had to replace the string as the original had broken, and that was a bit of a nightmare as I’d not done it before.  I needed to have quite a lot of tension for the indicator to keep moving, and I’m not sure if it is too much tension, but at least it runs smoothly now from end to end.

It has been around 3 years or so since I started this project, with C19 related things keeping me out the country, but it just about done.  Refit of some lamps, resolder another, and fix a couple of the preset tuning dials, and it should be done.  I have a plan to fit a bluetooth receiver module and hook it into one of the tape inputs, but that will have to wait. as I will probably head home in a few weeks.

[fkatze]

Hooked it all up and…it works, mostly.  No FM stereo, tuning lights, and stereo lights don’t come on.  Though it does find stations in roughly the right places.  For the moment though, it’s progress.

[BeoZip]

Evan wrote:

Cheers, Kirin! Thank you very much. For anyone interested in printing their own, I have made the design available HERE. When I have the time I’ll make another design available where it is more upright with the speakers that are more on-axis.

I like your design, idea and the creativity. Very nice.

But less is more …. so is B&O thinking and had create his own horizontally tablestand. This is very flexible. Do you know this stand?

[Evan]

Beozip wrote:

But less is more …. so is B&O thinking and had create his own horizontally tablestand. This is very flexible. Do you know this stand?

 

Yes, I knew this stand was out there. I don’t really like the look of the bent wire and didn’t feel like hunting it down.

I enjoy designing things and I’m addicted to 3D printing so it was easy for me to do. Its good to flex the creative muscles every now and then.

Edit: Just checked the analytics and a whopping 7 people have downloaded it so far. Modest take rate but I’m glad a few people out there liked it enough to download 🙂

[Glitch]

I just finished a refresh of this Beomaster 4000. This receiver was a good example of why one shouldn’t just grab a spray can of “contact cleaner/lubricant” and spray indeterminately to fix a noisy potentiometer or switch. Whatever product the previous owner used seeped everywhere inside the receiver then turned into a hard waxy substance. Fortunately, I was able to fully disassemble the receiver and clean the “gunk” out of the chassis, sliders and switches.

My plan for the receiver is to pair it with four Braun speakers from the same era. Braun speakers are actually somewhat rare in the US. I like to assemble systems with a theme. This will be my “70’s Euro-system”. I’m guessing that most of the forum members would just call it a “70’s system”   😉

I’m looking forward to experiencing the Ambiophonic feature. Does anyone have suggestions for era-appropriate recordings that highlight this feature?

Glitch

[quattttro]

Finishing up my 6000. Seems to have endless problems, but I’m nearly done now (i hope).

 

[jesnystrup@gmail.com]

pepps wrote:

Evan wrote:

I’m back in the US for a little while so I’m trying to sort out one of my other previous acquisitions, BL Penta MK2. They need the full overhaul so I bought all 3 cap kits and new foam surrounds. These will be the main L/R channels in the master bedroom and the basis of a surround system (eventually!).

Looking forward to seeing/reading some more on this project.

Thats ALOT of work ..Let us know how it went

Jess

[Motorman]

Yesterday I got a Beogram CD5500 for 10€ + shipping. Someone took it appart and damaged it terribly. (I think “slaughtered” is a better word) It came with 2 CDM4 drives.

The white case and the front still look very good, so it’s probably worth working on.

In the meantime, it is already playing with one of the two drives again.

After replacing the usual C2103 on the drive PCB, the left channel was back. After a bit of measuring I found out that the resistor R126 which is connected between the right OP amp and its -15V supply was defect. Now after the exchange it plays nicely on both channels again. Now I “only” have to clean up the damage that was done before. To do this, I first need Martin’s rubber mountings for the drive. (They were cut through). Fortunately, all the other parts seem to be there and I have a CD7000 where I can see how everything belongs together.
There were two drives. One CDM4/11 that works and one CDM/4/13 that doesn’t work and has a broken mounting hole.
Does anyone happen to know which of the drives originally belongs in this player?

 

[Evan]

jesnystrup@gmail.com wrote:

pepps wrote:

Evan wrote:

I’m back in the US for a little while so I’m trying to sort out one of my other previous acquisitions, BL Penta MK2. They need the full overhaul so I bought all 3 cap kits and new foam surrounds. These will be the main L/R channels in the master bedroom and the basis of a surround system (eventually!).

Looking forward to seeing/reading some more on this project.

Thats ALOT of work ..Let us know how it went Jess

Hey Jess – it definitely was a lot of work and still is! The project lives on when I have time for it.

You can find the full write up here: Evan’s MK2 BeoLab Pentas

[Evan]

Glitch wrote:

I just finished a refresh of this Beomaster 4000. This receiver was a good example of why one shouldn’t just grab a spray can of “contact cleaner/lubricant” and spray indeterminately to fix a noisy potentiometer or switch. Whatever product the previous owner used seeped everywhere inside the receiver then turned into a hard waxy substance. Fortunately, I was able to fully disassemble the receiver and clean the “gunk” out of the chassis, sliders and switches. My plan for the receiver is to pair it with four Braun speakers from the same era. Braun speakers are actually somewhat rare in the US. I like to assemble systems with a theme. This will be my “70’s Euro-system”. I’m guessing that most of the forum members would just call it a “70’s system” I’m looking forward to experiencing the Ambiophonic feature. Does anyone have suggestions for era-appropriate recordings that highlight this feature? Glitch

Nice work. Really clean 4k you have there! I can’t wait to work through my BM4k. I have a BG4002 with CD4 built in and can’t wait to get the duo playing together one day.

[Glitch]

Evan wrote:

Nice work. Really clean 4k you have there! I can’t wait to work through my BM4k. I have a BG4002 with CD4 built in and can’t wait to get the duo playing together one day.

Thanks! Don’t forget to post pictures when you get your duo working. I hope someday to have the same combo but am still waiting for the right turntable to come along.

Glitch

[Motorman]

Evan wrote:

You can find the full write up here: Evan’s MK2 BeoLab Pentas

Thanks! This will help me with my Penta MKIII.
I will start with the amplifiers over Easter. There is my wife with the children at the in-laws and I can block the dining table with the speakers in peace.

I got the service kit from Martin for this.

The sourrounds of the midrange drivers are currently still OK, so I will take care of it at a later date.

I’m still undecided what to do with the crossovers. Just take the service kit from Martin or maybe do the improvements suggested by Die.Bogener? What do you think?

[Glitch]

Motorman wrote:

I’m still undecided what to do with the crossovers. Just take the service kit from Martin or maybe do the improvements suggested by Die.Bogener? What do you think?

You might want to measure your existing capacitors and go from there. The caps that came out of my Pentas measured very well. I had some caps (leftover from another project) that I swapped in as an experiment and I couldn’t tell any difference.

I subscribe to the theory that the majority of improvement that comes from recapping crossovers comes from having better matched components. This is in contrast to those that believe that one capacitor sounds better than another. Speakers with well matched crossovers image better than those with mismatched ones. IMHO, this is easier to notice than a minor change in frequency response.

You might want to consider measuring, sorting, and repositioning the mid-ranges. This in in the spirit of having better matched speakers. Doing this noticeably improved my Pentas.

Glitch

 

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