[CharlieWednesday]

That did really help, thanks.  I’ve got it all reconnected now and working.

[CharlieWednesday]

Also you were right about the ground being in the ring of the DIN.  I got a proper DIN female to RCA male adapter today, and connected it to the phono stage via RCA (the phono stage in question having both DIN and RCA inputs and outputs).  I made the ground connection by just jamming a pierce of thin shielded wire into the edge if the DIN ring, and connected that to the ground connection on the phono stage.  The earth hum was definitely gone.

I will play test it for a few days and see if I am happy with the sound quality of the cheap phono stage.  If I’m not, I’ll buy a better one – at least now I’ll know how to earth it.

[CharlieWednesday]

Oh, that looks cool.  That’s in my bookmarks now, hopefully they will bring that to market.  That’s exactly what I need, and if I understood it right, might also be able to bring datalink controls back to the Beogram 3000 I have connected to by Beosound 4.

[CharlieWednesday]

You were right – the DIN connection was quite poor because of the recess in the casing.  If I pushed it in more firmly, it gave a better connection.

I also switched the output cable from the phono stage to the BS4 for another one, just in case there was an issue there (though they were both good quality RCA cables).

It does sound much better now; not as good as when connected with the Pro-Ject phono stage, still a bit flat, but not bad.  I still think I’ll buy another Pro-Ject one th0ugh, now that I know how to earth it!

[CharlieWednesday]

I still keep thinking about a better (and better looking) solution for digital music on my setup, and I have decided that a Beosound 5 is not practical.  While it is a very beautiful piece of kit, it just doesn’t really offer too much anymore, due to its age and lack of support.  Shame on B&O for failing to support their expensive kit for longer!  I’d want at least 1000 years of use for those prices.

So, I looked at the Beosound Moment, and they do come up at a similar price to the BS5 sometimes on eBay.  I know it doesn’t have Spotify but it does have Deezer (but for how long!?).  I also know that I would need an NL/ML converter to connect it to my Beosound 4.  The BS Moment has not got the look of the BS5 in my opinion, but it’s by no means bad looking.

Does anyone have experience of NL and ML kit linked up?  I’m told that with the NL/ML converter, you can control ‘legacy’ B&O devices with the B&O app, has anyone experience of this, and how useful it is?  If I connected my BS4 to a NL/ML converter, and then to a BS Moment, would I get the audio from the BS Moment playing through the Beolab speakers connected to my BS4?

I know that B&O seem to have moved on from Spotify support to Deezer support, and then more recently to Tidal support, but never all three.  Pick a lane, B&O.

[CharlieWednesday]

I happened to have a transformer unit in a drawer from a Beocenter 8500 which I broke down for parts – I’ve just taken a look at the 8 rubber bushings and they are rock solid; in fact one of them broke to pieces while I was inspecting it.  My understanding is that the transformer unit (part ref PCB64) is the same in the 8500 and 9500 – not sure if anyone can confirm that?

Since the bushings are so cheap and the transformer unit is relatively easy to remove, I think it would be worth a try.  There’s a reasonably good chance that they are the cause.

[CharlieWednesday]

I never had this problem with my Beocenters but I did with one of my Beograms; new rubber feet and a more solid shelf solved it for me. If I hold my ear close to it there’s still a hum, but you can’t hear it normally.

[CharlieWednesday]

Should also have added – ehile I did not have this problem with my 8000 or 8500, I did have this problem with my (older) 9000 and the 8000 could have the same issue – check the Speaker 1 outputs are working, in case the mute relay has stopped functioning.  Again an easy fix, but requires soldering.  See https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/beocenter-9000-restoration-2-issues/

I have ordered a new mute relay for my 9000 from Beoparts (now: Danish Sound Parts); it was cheap and was delivered earlier this week, I just haven’t got round to fixing it yet.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 3 days ago by Dillen.

[CharlieWednesday]

Just seen this and you may have bought it by now, but in case this is still of any use to you, I have a Beocenter 8000 (in fact, it’s for sale on eBay at the moment as I replaced it with a Beocenter 8500).  Here’s what I found with mine:

• The tape deck needed new belts.  There are two different models of tape deck on the Beocenter 8000 thru 9500 range but I think the 8000 was only ever fitted with the type 2.  The belts are not very easy to fit (the large belt in particular is tricky to get in place). You can get the belts from Beoparts.  If you try to play a cassette in it and it tries to switch to side 2, and then just stops, it’s likely in need of new belts.
• The type 2 tape deck also has another common fault, but is fortunately quite easy to fix – I managed to fix mine with this this very helpful advice from @Dillen – Beocenter 8000 tape deck clicking issue.
• The CD player worked fine on mine, but there is a common fault where faulty capacitors (and I am no electronics expert so forgive the explanation) cause the laser power to be reduced, meaning it can struggle to read discs.  I did not have that trouble with my 8000 luckily, but I did have it with another 8500 I used to own, but sold for parts.  Kits to fix this are available from Beoparts shop cheaply, but you need to know your way around a soldering iron!
• The glass panels may have come loose, in fact I have owned a total of 4 of these Beocenters, and the glass panels had come loose on all of them.  I removed the old glue very carefully basically by rolling it off with my thumb (very carefully, it took hours).  I then used as strong double-sided tape to reattach it.  Some of the black paint did come off the back of the glass around the edge while I was removing the glue despite the care I took, but that was easily fixed with black Airfix model paint.
• As for a matching turntable, alas I don’t believe that B&O ever did produce a turntable that matches the lovely gunmetal aluminium finish of the BC8000.  The nearest match is the Beogram 8500 which has grey panels rather than gunmetal black panels.  I used mine with a Beogram 3000 at first, then later a Beogram 8500.  Neither matches the gunmetal finish but they still complemented it quite well.  Note that as the BC8000 has a built-in phono stage you are looking for a Beogram that does not have a built-in phono stage. See here to find out which do and which don’t, with thanks to @Guy.

Good luck with it and let me know if you need any help with it.  I really did love the look of my Beocenter 8000 more than the 8500 that I replaced it with (the black gunmetal finish is really nice), but I needed something that would work with active Beolab speakers, and I also wanted to add extra speakers using an MCL multiroom box.  The 800o is not suitable for those, whereas the 8500 is (as are the 9000 and 9500, and I think the 9300 is too, but I never owned that one).

 

[CharlieWednesday]

Genuinely true – I have a Lego TIE Fighter next to my B&O setup!

Good to see you have BS5 and BC2 working together – I still have not entirely ruled out getting a BS5. I believe Spotify only works on some later models of the BS5 though – is that true?

We’re having some work done on the house at the moment but when it’s done, I want to have my BS4 and BV8 (and my Beogram 3000) on one side of the room.  Then on the other side of the room: my PC with PC2 connected, and BL3500 on the wall.  It’s quite a big room so I will need a long ML cable.  Before I do that – I am making the assumption that I can have 2 ML distribution boxes in the ML network; one on each side of the room.  Will that work, or are we restricted to one ML distribution box in an ML network for any reason?

[CharlieWednesday]

I’ve had to unplug it all at the moment (we’re having some work done in the house) but from memory – N.Music showed the Artist and Track Name, and it might have also showed the Album name, if I remember right.

N.Radio showed the station name.

[CharlieWednesday]

Yes it works – thanks you.  I revered the polarity, connected my Beolab 6000s to the Powelink socket, and connected the MCL2AV to my Beocenter 8500.  I got no sound at first but when I figured out how to change the option to option 2.5, it worked!

I don’t honestly have a great deal of use for it (Beovirus made me buy it), but I’m still pleased I got it working, and it only cost me £10!

[CharlieWednesday]

This is useful, thanks.  I bought another MCL2AV from eBay but ‘untested’ as it was just the unit – no cables, power supply or IR eye.  I thoight it was worth a shot though as it was only £10 and I already have the cables and IR eye from my old MCL2A.

I’d like to test if it is working – I have a bunch of old power adapters, the closest one is 12v 1.25A – would that be risky given the higher amp rating?  I’s have to reverse the polarity on it too but that’s simple enough.

[CharlieWednesday]

Ah, that’s useful, especially for N.Music – I’ve just had a quick look and figure it out, or at least some of it – thanks!

[CharlieWednesday]

Brilliant – it worked!  I updated the registry and also ran the UpdateNotifier.exe file, and now I have hundreds if N.Radio stations listed.  Most of them don’t work (I’m guessing it’s a very old list), but I have found the odd one that does, so I know it works.  It does also display the radio station name in my BS4 display.

It doesn’t bother me that I cannot get BBC stations as I’m in the UK anyway and can just listen to those on DAB.  You can delete the stations that don’t work, and you can set 4 favourites, so I may get some use from it.

[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks – I successfully updated the registry using those instructions but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference – still says ‘Not Registered’ when I try to use N.Radio.  I’m not too bothered about N.Radio but it is nice to get things working, if you can.

My PC does allow use of both audio out ports at once (in fact it has 4, for some reason).  My PC speakers have their own off button so if I’m using the Beolink PC2 to listen to N.Music via my BS4, I can switch the PC speakers off, so the music cannot be head from those too.  It does mean a bit of fiddling about with the volume (it’s a shame my PC does not have a fixed level audio output) as the volume that is suitable for my PC speakers is too low when using the PC2, so I always have to crank it up.

[CharlieWednesday]

Ah no, I had not realised that!

I have now got it working with the BS4 in Option 1 and the Beolink PC2 in Option 0, with a 3.5mm audio cable now added.  I can control N.Music with my Beo4, and the BS4 displays the track info on its screen.  I can also control all sources from the Beoport app on my PC.

One inconvenience though – it means that if I want to use my PC for other purposes (playing games for example), I have to switch the audio outputs on my PC, so audio plays through my PC speakers.  Not terribly convenient – it’s as if B&O thought That if you had a Beolink PC2 or Beoport, this would become the only thing you would use your PC for!

Thanks for your help – I’m glad I got it working.  I only bought it as a curiosity really as it was cheap on eBay, and I am impressed that I can now play digital music from my PC on my BS4, and control it with my Beo4.  That satisfies the geek in me.

[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks.  That link you gave doesn’t seem to work by the way.

I think I’ve tried every setting now and nothing seems quite right.  The closest I’ve got is the default setting of Option 6, and with the Powerlink cable to my Beolab speakers connected to the PC2, rather than direct to my BS4.  This will then play CD, radio from the BS4 through thr e speakers, and it will display track info for N.Music in the BS4 display, but no matter what option I try, the N.Music audio will only ever come out of the PC speakers – I cannot get it to play through the connected Beolabs.

There are a good few options available in the Beoport software, to which, of course, the user manual makes no reference whatsoever!

[CharlieWednesday]

Yes I did think that when I looked at the photograph, but wanted to be sure.  Thanks for confirming.

[CharlieWednesday]

So, I finally got around to opening this thing up and talking a look inside.  I have a downloaded service manual already

I was surprised by how clean it is inside – there’s was even a brown paper envelope fixed to the inside of the back panel with a folded schematic inside!  Never been opened.

Anyway – I need some help from someone with more electronics knowledge than me!  There are a total of 3 electrolytic capacitors in the power supply unit. Two large ones connected by cables (1000uF/25v, and 3000uF/50v).  There is one much smaller one soldered to the circuit board (50uF/35v).

Obviously replacements are available very cheaply, but I am having trouble finding one of them – 3000uF/50v.  In places like CPC or RS, the nearest equivalent is 3300uF/50v.  If I search on eBay specifically for 3000uF/50v, there is a small number of results but much more expensive.

Am I missing something?

[Author]

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