[lausvi]

I bought one of these decks around 2006. I sent email to B&O support and they actually posted me a paper-photocopy with a hand-signed cover sheet, good times (I wonder if they would even bother to reply about something this vintage any more!).

Here are some pics of the manual. I guess I should scan it, but I can’t do it until I return to work in couple of weeks. Note that the numbering of items refers to two set of pictures and it is somewhat cryptic at times.

What you described sounds correct about the recording. I think the rec L and R buttons should lock down and the two red recoding lamps below the meters should light up when in record mode. The 2/4 is for selecting playback/recording of 2-track or playback-only 4-track. The heads in these are unfortunately known to go open-circuit and I believe my deck had that too, not sure if it was 2/4-track playback head so not completely unusable but limiting.

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[lausvi]

The diagram is on the cover, but there should also be – + – on the remote’s frame (perhaps it is not on all versions):

The battery holder of the BL5000 is very brittle and if even slightly damaged will not make good contact. I am hoping that Danish sounds parts would someday produce a remake (like they have done for almost all BL1000 parts).

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[lausvi]

On another look, there’s actually another service manual, which includes the 7802: https://elektrotanya.com/bang_olufsen_beovision_5502_7802_8802_8902_9002.pdf/download.html

if the PCBs match, the suspect cap C2 (which in this manual is actually a 100nF, not 470nF) is here:

and it’s located in section D1, which appears to be here in your picture:

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[lausvi]

I quite like the orange highlight color they used on the button labels on these models!

There is a service manual of the related 7700-8800 series: https://elektrotanya.com/beovision_7700-8800.pdf/download.html

If you look at page 5 top-left: just after the mains input and power switch there is a fuse and 6C2: a 470nF filter capacitor across the mains. This might well be infamous Rifa mains filter cap, which is known to lose its sealing (the case forms cracks and air and moisture gets in) and it will eventually short itself, often with a bang. And as it’s straight across the mains, there is a lot of power for the fireworks.

If this is the case, the blown cap should be easy to see. That would be on the module 6 (power supply) which is on the right (looking from the rear) side of the set. The smoke could have of course come from any side of the case, depending on the location of air grills. The cap is not strictly necessary (for the TV to work) but it’s used to reduce interference from and to the mains. If it’s replaced, it MUST be an X2 type safety cap (commonly available) designed to live across the live mains.

Remember to be careful when working on a CRT TV! If it has been unplugged since january, it should be safe enough by now 😀

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[lausvi]

Hi.

Nothing wrong with your post, just a quieter time at the forums.

The issue sounds very likely to be the no-load (idle) current. Those open-case pots might as well be bad, but supposing they still work, I read the service manual’s instructions like this:

• To adjust the right-channel no-load current you measure/place your multimeter probes at the ends of the TP200 and TP201, at the outer ends where the arrows point. There you should measure the 11mV, set by the trimmer R226.
• Then for the left-channel, it’s the same but TP100 and TP101 and the pot R126.

There are voltages of about 40V elsewhere around the amp stages.

Note: I do not have a BM5000 myself, and this is purely suggestion on how I would read the manual, which is somewhat cryptic about the points. It also has at least one type (“2TP2000B1” which I take should be 2TP200B1).

For comparison, here is a BM5500 being adjusted (the pic above the text “The trimmers were adjusted so the voltage reading across the emitter resistors of the channel measured 11 millivolts DC”): https://beolover.blogspot.com/2023/10/beomaster-5500-type-2333-reassembly-and.html

You’ll really want to have steady hand OR preferably a multimeter leads with those clips, as you don’t want to be poking around the live amp and have a probe slip and short something!

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[lausvi]

Would be nice to have a look inside? Looks pretty DIY, but it probably had some very specific use-case (like Madskp described) in mind and probably did that very well.

Disregarding the original function, the IR-receiver with its black stand might be the most valuable parts as that is somewhat rare thing (it’s not the MCL IR-transceiver as it doesn’t have the buttons, but the external IR-receiver for the VX5000(/BMx500 I think?))

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by lausvi.

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[lausvi]

It sounds like there is a short on the display board. Could you post a picture of it?

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[lausvi]

Thank you for scanning, MCL stuff is always appreciated!

I was looking at your other manuals and I hadn’t seen this use case mentioned before: in the MCL2 System manual:

I find the idea of a teenager having an MCL link system in their room amusing, and how B&O managed to turn a safety circuit into a parental control feature! Only preset volume parties for the teenagers! 😁

• This reply was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by lausvi.

Location: Helsinki - Finland

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[lausvi]

Regarding the cover of the 83/84 catalog, I found out that it was actually just one part of a larger set of three prints called ‘Nature Morte’ by Poul Ib Henriksen:

       

(Screenshots here for posterity, taken from: https://www.dba.dk/recommerce/forsale/item/17171920)

On a related note; does dba allow registrations from abroad, and do sellers usually accept shipping abroad? I (mistakenly) looked at all the Beo-staff that’s available there! 😅

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[lausvi]

I finally had the time and all the pieces in one place to test my Beolab 5000 (restored by Frede in 2012) + BM5000 + BV3000s + BV 2500 Cubes + Stereo Width box (+a single CX50 as a center speaker for testing). I’ve bought these piece by piece between 2011-2017. Didn’t really need any repairs other than contact cleaner on switches and new speaker plugs + re-cap of the crossovers on the speakers. These are so heavy 😁 And yes, they do sound very good! I had imagined the stereo width box doing something more exotic (like the Ambiophonic adapter) but still it does make an audible difference and I quite like it.

I didn’t remember that I had the instruction booklet for the Stereo Width box and I couldn’t see it online so I scanned and uploaded into archive.org: https://archive.org/details/bang-olufsen-type-6006-control-box-manual/mode/1up

If I ever had the time to finish up fixing my BG4000 and have it here too…

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[lausvi]

Click on SHOW ALL at end, and you’ll get the file listing and the two .BIN files are there. The way archive.org works is a bit convoluted!

Location: Helsinki - Finland

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[lausvi]

Ha, I was going through a box of B&O parts I have, and found out that I already had the catalog I was looking for, oops 😁

Here’s the finnish cover with some light retouching, for those interested.

Also from another catalog I found, I cropped out this which I thought looks really nice.

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[lausvi]

Thanks matador, this is already the best quality scan I’ve seen of that cover. I’ll see what I could do with it.

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[lausvi]

Only a B&O-product would talk Beolink, and make the BC to start from an input, it won’t start by an incoming audio signal only.

Do the other input or the standby touch-button work? Can you test it in TAPE2? The glass panel with the touch-buttons might be loose (due to aging of the double-sided tape that holds it into the frame) and the glass might have lifted on the edge of the glass panel causing the touch-buttons not to work (or needing a stronger push to first push the glass panel back down to the original position).

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[lausvi]

I was perhaps exaggerating talking about posters, I meant just something printable in about A4 size, which would look neat in a simple frame (like the one I did). Just a high-res scan in something reasonable resolution would be nice.

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[lausvi]

Sure,

here: https://archive.org/download/bang-olufsen-high-fidelity-1983-1984/BeO_cover_reproduction_black.png
and: https://archive.org/download/bang-olufsen-high-fidelity-1983-1984/BeO_cover_reproduction_white.png

and this is the one I’d love to see a better scan: https://archive.org/details/b-o-katalog-1984-85/mode/2up

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[lausvi]

Happy 100th anniversary of Bang & Olufsen (17.11.2025)  💯 🎂 🥳

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Location: Helsinki - Finland

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[lausvi]

Truly a massive collection and very nicely displayed.

And finally some love for the B&O test equipment too (at around 12:50)!

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[lausvi]

@Madskp: check out the wiki’s history tab. If you compare the latest and oldest version, there are at least some version numbers that have changed, the products might be the same all the way though.

@Multicare: do you think there would be an issue to host the actual software files on the site (like the user/service manuals)? I mean on the legal standpoint as the ROMs at least originally have been copyrighted content and or commercially available parts (like the software update EPROM kits)? I opted to upload my MB45000 ROMs to archive.org mostly as I’ve already been putting stuff there. I did look at the forum rules and that only asks not to upload manuals but asks to send them to admins to add to the site.

If the software stuff was added to the products, it might be handy to have a search to “show all products that have software information” on them.

Location: Helsinki - Finland

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[lausvi]

This one perhaps, at least it does has some BL Actives and passives? (Found it after first finding this which had a link).

Sadly no mention of Beomaster ROMs, I guess the list dates from 00’s or later (the comment says 2013) as the oldest products I could see were Beolab Penta, Beovision MXs and even a “8341140 MASTER CONTROL LINK 2AV 2020 2.3” still hanging in there.

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