Hi,

at first a good evening and i start membership with a question and a problem: 

 
Today I've got a Beocenter 3300 in bad condition. The turntable works, the switch needs some cleaning. FM/MW and LW works also wtih some scratching at Headphones so i have to clean all switches on that side too. 

There is only Sound on the right channel - on FM and TT, i tested it Mono and Stereo, but only with a Headphone.

I've got a little knowledgement of Hifi-Classics, I have some vintage Kenwood receivers from the seventies and do little services by my own.

With the Beocenter I haven't got any manuals. Thanks for your help ! 

 Wilfried

Welcome to Beoworld !

The balance control slider could be the problem.
The slider is of the same build as those of the Beomaster 1900/2400
and they are prone to failure.
Of course, it could be many other things, f.e. a front panel switch problem, but try playing around with
the balance control a little and also the speaker switches.

Martin

Hi Martin,

that was my first thought, too. There is a lot of cleaning work to do at this nice Beocenter. The former owner used it for a candleholder, i think, there is wax on the TT-Cover and also at the scale of FM. I don't know, where it has gone too.

As with any other 70's B&O, capacitors can't be ruled out as troublemakers. In the Beocenter 3300 especially the
caps in the powersupply and amplifier modules are known to cause strange faults.
A kit is available.

Martin

Thank you Martin, I will keep you informed, but it will take a few days. There is some other work waiting for me

Hi all,

just opened the cover of the Amp-section. 1 Fuseholder is empty, I use it in Germany on 240 V. I've got no User Manual and no Serv-Manual, so I cannot check it myself. Is this Fuse only for 110/130 V and i can ignore it? Or is it the fuse for the left Channel, i miss ??? If it is the fuse of the power Amp, i think there is a bigger problem.

 
 

There are no other fuses for the amplifiers than the two mains fuses (top ones in the photo).
I don't have the manual right here but I seem to remember that the missing fuse is for a 33V AC voltage used only in the cassettedeck section of the Beocenter 4000 (derivate model).
I believe the fuses in the photos are correct for your Beocenter.

Try swapping the amplifier sections. One screw, two plastic clips and possibly a bronze insert each and they simply pull up.
By swapping the sections you will know if the problem lies within the amplifier section or somewhere earlier in the circuit (tonecontrol, balance, volume etc.)

Martin

Thanks a lot, also for the tipp how to swap the amp section. This work has to wait til tuesday, I'm busy at my job the whole weekend until monday evening.

 

Wilfried 

 

I couldn't wait, i was impatient  

 I've changed left and right Amp and the fault followed. I've cleand the jack for the headphones and took the Balance-Slider many times up and down and it went better.

Martin, can you tell me how i can get to the switches to clean them??
 

Well, if you changed the left and right amps and the fault FOLLOWED, then surely the fault must be in that amp section, right ?

The front panel switches can be reached by losening and flipping up the front panel. Sides and front veneer panels off first (tiny hex/unbraco), then one screw from above right at the center, near the transformer. When lifting the front panel watch out for the cables, especially the tiny orange/green/black (I think) and note the position of the cables around the pushbuttons, especially the mains and its nylon (Molex-type) connector.  It can be tricky to put it all back together but focus on the MW/LW switch (operated by pushing down the flush wheel) and you'll succeed.

The tone control panel can be accessed by lifting up the black plastic frame with all the lettering that sits over the sliders etc.

Martin

Hi, I'm just in for an hour.

Sorry, my last posting was a little confused, i think.

Shure, the fault followed by changing the amp-section, and there is i big difference in temperature between left and right channel. So I don't know at the moment, wether i should spend time and money to this or not.

Martin, you told me about a service-kit for the amps, do you know the price for it? The next B&O service is about 100 km from my hometown and i've never had contact to this guy.

 Wilfried
 

Hi,

I am not sure if a B&O repairshop will accept this Beocenter in for repair.
Most likely they will tell you to buy a new but having said that, there
are some repairshops willing to do it, paying respect to these
wonderful design pieces.

You can buy a cap kit from me, I don't recall the exact cost
but probably in the EUR 30 region with packing/shipping.
Even though a cap kit will solve many problems, also faults
and inconcistencies you didn't know it had, I don't think it
will cure the bad amp section.

The easiest thing would probably be for you to find a donor for a
working amp section.
The same amplifier sections are found in Beomaster 2200 and Beocenter 4000 (the version with only one cassettedeck).
Finding a Beocenter 4000 is not that easy but a Beomaster 2200 should not be too hard, look on EBay, and if you can find
one with a different fault and/or bad optics, that would be cheapest.

Martin

Hi, work is done, I bought another 3300 and changed some parts. The center now works very fine and i wait for my new old Beovox S 45 to complete the whole stuff. I bought them already and i'm just waiting for a transport to my hometown.

There is only a small problem left, when I press the Stopp-Button of the turntable, the arm sometimes don't lift up and scratches across the Vinyl. The adjustment of the weight is okay, I checked it with the Servicemanual. It seems to be a mechanical problem.

 

Special thanks to Martin (Dillen)  

The lift problem is down to dried lubrication of the mechanism. Do a search, we've had this issue with many Beogram's.

Martin

Thank you Martin, just found it. I will fix the problem tomorrow.

Work is done, thanks again.

 

 Great sound, best optic, everything works
 

Looks wonderful! One of the really good Beocenters!

Thank you Peter, it was a lot of work, here is a picture "before"

 

Just to give you an impression  

Wow! the transformation is nothing short of herioc. Very well done, it looks fabulous You must be very pleased.

 

Chris.

Thank you Chris !

 

The second one is nearly ready, there is a only problem left with the Turntable-lid. The rear is broken, so that the hinges cannot work.  At the moment i've got no idea to fix this problem. I will post it here, a.s.a.p. I've got any solution.

 Merry Xmas  from East-Frisia/Germany
 

the amp in beocenter is bases on beomaster 2200 from 1977 and i suppose that i have the service manual for it , i can mail a copy for you if you like it

 

Welcome to Beoworld !

Thanks for the info but it was already given higher up in this thread.

Martin