Some update: I had a better look inside and find a cutted, white-blue wire starting from the area of the stereo decorder connector and ending somewhere near the rear panel (there are several similary coloured wires). The smaller circuit board (that folds out after removing two screws) with the two black caps has had some repairs someday in history;

I have now tested with an external speaker and the left channel is distorting with it, too. So there must be an electronical trouble somewhere.

[quote user="Dillen"] Probably the speaker surround. [/quote] I have now removed the fret of the distorting speaker. The speaker seams to be intact, no visible holes or missing bits. It doesn't feel even that brittle. I am now listening to the Stereomaster with headphones (attached to the speaker output with a resistors) and it sounds

[quote user="tournedos"] The 40-odd year old original solderings can look quite ugly as well! Although the two black caps on top of the amp board don't seem original to me... [/quote] The two black caps are exatcly those that look suspicious. The solderings are ugly and the plastics of the wires around are having melted spots by unexperienced

I remember hearing that, too. I had the BM off while I checked the speaker. (This reminds me of the warning in the Beomaster 1000: "WARNING: 2x 20 WATTS MAY DESTROY SMALL SPEAKERS") ) The photos were just a bit too big, I resized them just few minutes ago. The combination of the wood and the light-coloured fret is very nice, especially from

[quote user="Ville Laustela"] Do you happen to remember the ratings of the big caps (power supply and output coupling caps)? [/quote] Just checked the service manual (again)... Power supply: 1000 uF 50v and output caps: 800 uF 25v. Only after reading the service manual I realized that the un-marked pot on the rear panel is the balance adjust

Oh yes. I just didn't have any more tools at hand so I didn't try that! I will take the Stereomaster home today to give it another try. The speaker cone looks pretty good but I will remove the frets to have a better look. And sorry for the over-sized photos, I'll try to replace them with smaller ones.... I opened up the Stereomaster and

I opened the speaker cabinet and checked the speaker visually from behind (I don't know how to deattach the speaker itself or the cloth). It looks like paper indeed. I couldn't see any missing bits but this was rather quick glance. See photo attached. There seemed to be some little repairs done before (judging from ugly solders).

I have now hooked my MackBook to the Stereomaster. It sounds otherwise good, but there is some troubles with the left-hand-side speaker, all deep notes make a scratching noise. I will open the cabinet to have a look what is going on... could it be a broken speaker cone? Or a capacitor problem? Other than that the sound is very good!

Thanks. I have the BM at work and I will take some tools and cleaning stuff with me today. I will take some more photos, too. I'd be intersted to hear if there is any visible difference (inside) to the B&O version. Also I will try some music thrue the Tape input. I will keep looking for the decoder.