Just purchased a Beogram 3000 and noticed the manual said that it had to be within a meter of the receiver.  Does this mean the datalink cable can only be 1m long?  Does the sound degrage that much if you go further?  I was hoping to place it across the room 15ft away but it looks like that is not going to be possible....

Datalink should not be a problem (although 15 ft / 5 m is getting a bit far), it's the audio signal. Line level audio would travel that relatively well, but since in your case the RIAA preamp is at the receiver, the audio that is carried over the cable is at a much lower level. The recommended one meter is no hard limit - longer runs will probably work, but may easily pick up all kinds of interference. At some point the cable capacitance will also start to degrade the sound. The weak signal from the cartridge is quite delicate.

If you happen to have a suitable extension cable, by all means try it - it might work well enough. But I'm afraid the only secure solution to this problem is to build a setup where the RIAA preamp is with the Beogram (either internal, or external).

Thank you so much that was very helpful!

macjonny1:

Thank you so much that was very helpful!

If you want to move the Beogram further away, you can use an external phono pre-amp (most audio stores have them), but you will need to find suitable adapter plugs if you want to keep Datalink function.

The Datalink is fitted on pins 6 and 7 of the DIN plug, but most pre-amps have either a 5-pin DIN (older models) or RCA input. Finding the pin-outs to make an adapter plug is not difficult, but 7-pin DIN to RCA is not standard. If you can source the plugs and jacks, it's not a problem.

Also keep in mind that a pre-amped output will have to go into a TAPE jack on your Beomaster, it will completely destroy the internal pre-amps if you plug it into a PHONO input.

If you want the easy route, the Datalink pins unscrew from the plugs, allowing you to use 'standard' 5-pin DIN plugs or adapters. You will need to operate the Beogram manually though.