[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks so much for your help on this – having thought about it overnight I think I’ll wait until I see a Beolink Converter 1611 come up for sale – as you say that is the more modern (and more flexible) way of achieving things, and also ensures I can use a BL3500 Mark II rather than needing a Mark I.

I don’t actually want to put the 3500 in another room, I just want to put it on the other side of quite a large room, and if I can get a BL3500 in decent condition it would look pretty cool mounted on the wall.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Very helpful, thank you.  As it happens I think I do already have the cable needed for option 2 – I used to have a Beomaster 3000 with the MCL30 multiroom box/transceiver, and that cable has 3 pin speaker cables on one end, bare cables on the other end but I could easily connect an 8 pin DIN.  I have sold the Beomaster 3000 now, but I still have the MCL30 – I was selling it on eBay.

When I got the Beocenter 8500 (recently, as an upgrade from my Beocenter 8000) I did plug the MCL30 into it in case it worked, but it didn’t.  The speakers work through it, and the physical mute button on the transceiver works, but the IR transceiver won’t recognise commands from my Beolink 1000 or Beo4 remotes – it was built for the much earlier Terminal 3000 remote, so this isn’t surprising I suppose.

But you’ve got me thinking – I’ve took the MCL30 off sale on eBay (no bids anyway!) in case I decide to repurpose that cable by adding an 8 pin DIN to the other end, and go with your option 2.

I’d prefer your option 1 but I cannot find a Beolink converter type 1611 on sale, but at least I’ve got options now, thanks.

PS will anything other than a 1611 converter work, such as the BeoLink Converter NL/ML?  Thwre are so many of these converters available from B&O over the years, it can be a bit confusing to know which does what.

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[CharlieWednesday]

That’s a useful thread from the old forum (wish I had seen it before I replaced the belts on mine).  From what I can see though, in the first picture given under Step 8, the belt is in fact going where I had also indicated in my drawing?  I’m sure (from memory) that this was how I fitted mine anyway.

Either way, looks like you have the info you need now – good luck when the belts turn up.  I ordered the same belt kit form Beoparts for mine (and I have just ordered another belt kit for a Beocenter 8500 I have just bought on eBay), and they worked well.

I think I’ll go on the old forum myself now, see if I can find the answer to my BC8500 CD player issue…

PS: Yes, I used to go out with Ruby Tuesday but it ended when she caught me in bed with Man Friday.  Awkward.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Sorry, didn’t see your next post worth the additional photo until I have typed the above, I see you have already got the back off (I managed without removing that, somehow!), but I have attached a picture, I am pretty sure this is how the large belt fitted in:

 

 

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[CharlieWednesday]

The tape unit from your 7000 actually looks very similar to the one in by Beocenter 8000 so it might be the same?  It looks like the V2 to me, so hopefully they are the belts you ordered!

Fitting the two small belts was easy for me, the large belt was difficult but not impossible – there was a bit of careful negotiation to get it into place, as I remember.

If your tape deck is the version 2 (which it looks like from your photos) it may also have the same problem mine had (other than needing new belts), and I used Dillen’s fix (and very useful photo earlier in this thread) to fix mine.  It now works perfectly.

Remember mine was not a Beocord 7000 so might not be the same, but this is what I remember:

• Medium sized belt on the back, nice and obvious placement between motor and wheel (shown on your second photo)
• 4 screws to remove the plastic panel that sits beneath the cassette
• Smallest belt fits under there, between tape spindle and wheel
• Under here is where you may also need Dillen’s fix – push the heads up into the play position with your thumb, then turn the spindles. If they turn freely you’re probably okay, but if there is resistance or clicking, see Dillen’s fix
• Turn it over and there is one screw which holds a small circuit board in place, and also allows some movement in the housing when removed (I am saying this from memory sorry).  Guiding the big belt into place was difficult but possible without having to take the whole thing apart – I had to guide it around the wheels with a small screwdriver

Good luck with it.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Just an update on this – the BV8500 does in fact have a phono stage – I have bought once since leaving this message and am now using it!  Of the Beocenter 8000/8500/9000/9500/9300 range, I believe it was only the 9300 (the latest version of this BC unit) that does not have a built in phono stage.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Thank you – I have the same configuration tool version downloaded already, and I have juts found the guide by hfat that you mention, that will be really helpful.

I’m hoping that since I intend to use it for quite basic operations of my older Beocenter and TV, I might be okay as long as I have help setting it up, which I now have.

I’ve seen them go on eBay for less that £100 in good condition, so I think I’ll get one now – thanks.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Update – I made an offer to the £400 eBay seller for £325 and they accepted.  BOOM!

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[CharlieWednesday]

I do think those who are trying to sell Beogram 8500s for neat £2k are being a little optimistic – they have been up for sale for a while, certainly!

Maybe £400 is reasonable.  It’s only that I paid much less for my Beogram 3000 only last year, and you see 3300s and 3500s come up for less than £400 with a cartridge quite often, but I don’t want either of those because they have the built in preamp.

The advantage of the one I saw for £400 is that’s it’s quite local, so I could collect it.

I’ll think about it, thanks.  If anyone happens to have one for sale though, with or without cartridge, let me know.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Well thank you again Dillen, I’m happy to say it worked.  First I tried a piece of old credit card but that was too thick for me – it prevented the spindles from moving at all when playing a tape, so I shaved it down  with a craft knife.  I’m sure it will be different for each cassette deck with this issue, but on mine, the plastic needed was practically paper thin.  I glued it on in the exact plac in your photo, and it worked a treat.

The clicking has gone, and the tapes play at the right constant speed on both sides.

Recording seems to be good too (which I hadn’t tested before the fix), and the sound quality is surprisingly good – I haven’t played tapes for a long time until recently and I seem to remember they sounded terrible in the 90s, but of course, I wasn’t playing tapes on a B&O back then.

Thanks again for your help.  My Beocenter is now in like-new condition (glass panels also needed re-taping, and a little crack in the flap that covers the inputs needed gluing), so I’m really pleased with myself.

Now, I just need to try and find the matching Beogram 8500 for sale somewhere…

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[CharlieWednesday]

Yes I had noticed that and wondered if gluing something on there might help – it’ll be delicate as it’s so tiny, but I might give that a try, thanks.

So the belt for the motor should not be tight?  Perhaps the one I got from Beoparts is right then – I’ll put it back on.

Oh, and I should add – thank you for the very helpful photo, which shows me exactly what I need to do.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Brilliant thank you – both of those checked, the rivets look okay but you were right about those rubber feet Dillen – I managed to pry the bits out and it’s now opening and closing fully, even with the Beogram on top of it.

It’s still a bit noisy so I think I’ll open it up and see if there are any other bits of hardened rubber still lingering.

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[CharlieWednesday]

There’s any easy way to identify the cassette deck by looking at the screws; it’s the version 2 cassette deck of the 8000 thru 9500 range, but it may be that the 8000 specifically only ever had the version 2 cassette deck.

The CD and cassette doors seem to work fine but I see your point auric – the belts are cheap so I will order them and replace them while I’ve got the thing open.

Thanks everyone for you help – once those tape belts arrive I’m confident I can get the thing in full working order.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks everyone for your help, I have got it open!  It turns out I was loosening some of the wrong screws at the back, so was not lifting up the whole top section.

I was able to loosen the tape deck assembly and can see that 2 of the 3 belts have stretched and degraded quite badly, which is what I expected.  Now that I know this I’ll order the belt kit from beoparts and get on with it!  I’ve replaced belts on two Beocords 2000s and 1 Beocord 5500 before now, so I think I’ll be able to manage this one too.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Yes that’s what I thought, thanks for confirming.  I do actually already have a NAD phono stage which I used to use with a different setup, but it does rather spoil the whole Beolink thing – I would not be able to control my Beogram 3000 with the 8500’s remote, if it were not directly connected.

Shame, but there it is.  Thanks for the help.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks everyone for all the advice on this.  I had considered the 3300 but it would not match my existing Beocord 2000, Beogram 3000 and Beogram CDX.  The 3300 range got itself a bit more of a 1980s look which I’m not as keen on!  The 2000 and 3000 range are much nicer to look at, and I’ve looked at the other items in the 3300 range on ebay (cassette, turntable, cd plaver); it would be expensive to get the matching set.

I think therefore I’ve just made the decision to keep what I’ve got.  It looks great and it sounds great, and I can live without the remote!  As for the speakers, I think I’ll by an external speaker selector so I can switch between speakers 1, 2, or both.

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[CharlieWednesday]

It’s a little confusing; in the table of functions, under ‘What may be operated?’, it says ‘All Beomaster Terminal functions’, giving the impression that anything you can do on the Terminal 3000 remote can be done through the MCL30.

I’m still at a loss at how the damned thing actually connects to the Beomaster 3000, since the Beomaster 3000 seems to have no specific connection for it.  I am guessing the added the MCL30 to the range of products after the Beomaster 3000 was released, as the Beomaster 3000 manual makes no mention of it’s existence.

Thanks for your help thoigh – I know more now that I knew earlier…

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[CharlieWednesday]

That does give a lot of useful info thanks.  What I can’t figure out is how it actually connects to the Beogram 3000 – how does the receiver get the instruction from the mCL30?  There is no specific connection for it on the back of the Beomaster 3000, and there is no mention of the MCL30 in the Beomaster 3000 user manual.

Mind you, they can be bought quite inexpensively; I’ll probably just buy it anyway and try to figure it out.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Update – belts arrived, fitted quite easily (using the YouTube video I mention in previous post), would you beleive the damned thing works perfectly.  Needs some cleaning but honestly, sounds pretty decent.  Thanks for your help Ninni.

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[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks – that does explain the behaviour exactly.  eBay seller gave me a partial refund and I have ordered replacement belt kit, so hopefully, will all soon be in order.

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