Hello BeoWorld 

Great to see such a fantastic and helpful community here. I found all the product descriptions very useful as well - and couldn't resist joining really, for even more A few words about my situation - I've owned a good old Beomaster 900(K) for a long time, actually my father bought it many many years ago - it's still a very nice working tuner which has sentimental value for me, too.

Last autumn I became more and more interested in B&O and their technology - thanks to the lovely old Beomaster I believe - and I started to feel like trying something from the 80's - maybe I could find a nice set to give a new good home and enjoy it. One day that kind of a set appeared in eBay - it looked pretty good without anything to note really. The seller felt honest and friendly as well - he had a lot of feedback and almost all of them were positive. The set was described to be in perfect operating condition so I grabbed it after confirming some details like he's able to pack it well and take a courier to my country. Everything was alright - I felt quite comfortable knowing the set is on it's way to my door - but that was the end of the happy part of my story.

To be really honest, as soon as I received the packages they looked a bit smaller than I expected (at least for the turntable), but I didn't worry too much before actually unpacking them - and that was it. Well, to leave out all the details of that evening which might make most of us cry - Beogram 1700 was destroyed (noes... Still hard to think of..), but luckily Beomaster 2300 and Beovox S40 had survived you can say, just fine. There are no signs or marks of any kind of transport damage on them, but they're not exactly in condition the seller and his description made me expect for, though.

Beomaster 2300 turned out to be okay (just blew the major dusts off it's grills using an air compressor and attached a shuko plug to it's power cord), all the features work and so far I haven't had any problems with it (somewhat nice output, although I'm not really the one to say that since I haven't heard any of these amplifiers before) apart from treble and balance led indicators being dead. Well, it's just a minor cosmetical issue, but I'm still a little perfectionist who'd be pleased to sort out that issue if possible. Has anyone faced a similar problem or possibly been inside this device? Any opinions would be much appreciated

 

Beovox S40 - they looked good in the pictures and in the package, but as some of you might already guess, they suffer from foam rot (picture from the better one). That was the first thing I checked out removing the covers (and was concerned about) after unpacking them - ahh.. Not mentioned by the seller, even when I asked "Are the speaker elements alright?". Hard to say, but of course many people might instantly suspect the seller hiding that fact - he hasn't said anything to that yet. What would you recommend me to do with the speakers? They still sound quite nice, although I'm afraid of the fact they'll get worse sooner or later and I can't really turn the volume up. I think they also might miss some bass agility (need to test different amp settings etc though), but the stereo image and mid to highs sound great. To be honest again, I already ordered one refoam set (which should fit) with glue from Good Hifi, but I'm not 100% sure about it, better to hear your opinions first as well. I think I should be able to do the refoaming by myself (but with how good results?) after going through all the tutorials, stories and videos around here and over the Internet and eBay, it doesn't look impossible at all, but I'm still without any previous experience on that Is there any kind of new (or used) replacement elements available, by the way? How about the capacitors or kits for the crossover board (some people recommend to replace them to improve the speakers even more)?

 

 

Does anyone happen to know are these gold plated screw speaker cable connectors orginal or might they have been added later?

 

I think this is enough to start with this time - I'll continue later with more details if someone is interested in them Hopefully I didn't write for too long though

Thank you, Webu

Hi Webu, welcome to Beoworld and congratulation on a superb first post!

It is a shame that you have had such a poor experience with eBay but I'm sure people on here will be able to bring your new B&O up to scratch.

First the treble and balance indicators- a member called Dillen is the man to help you there. He knows how to get the thing apart, how to put it back together and what's more he keeps stock of the spares you may need. He also does re-cap kits by the way.

The speakers are typical I'm afraid but your replacement foams and a bit of manual dexterity and glue should see you ok there.

The gold binding posts are non standard but I'm sure they doa good job and are hidden at the back. A member call Peter can tell you what they should look like.

Good luck with your project!

You actually have quite an interesting collection! The Beomaster 2300 was a transition model and was essentially a Beomaster 2300 made from the last of the bits left from the 1900 and 2400 models. It seems to have been mainly a British market model though that probably means it was sold in Holland as well. Has some interesting little points - it has the mounting for the ultrasound sensor but no sensor and also has the 7 pin socket for the Beogram 4004 and 2402 but again not the electronics. Quite rare though!

They are not the easiest models to take apart - or more accurately, to put back together! As Graham says, Martin can sort out the parts you need. It is worth doing the capacitors at the same time as they will give trouble if they are not now.

The Beoxox S40s are an interesting little speaker as well. They used the same basic carcass as the S45.2 but the drivers from the later Uniphase S45 which had the foam surround to the woofers. These were used mainly with this system and continued the look of the early Uniphase models at the time the new range had been introduced. Worth fixing. The binding posts are a later addition by an owner.

Shame about the Beogram 1700 as this is a super deck with excellent sound. 

Great to hear your opinions - they're definitely refreshing after those not-so-good evenings spent with mixed feelings of my whole idea getting on eBay and grabbing a B&O set off there. Well, things just won't go the way you expect every time and of course it's quite depressing if it happens on your first B&O set bought - not on an LP record for example. Luckily everything is not lost though and the seller is there as well - that means I might get some of my money back, but unfortunately the set is like it is now - kind of a restoration project - and I think I'm afraid of buying these kind of items online (without seeing them in advance and being really sure about the packaging if shipped) for a while

Actually I just found my digital camera once again (sorry for the a bit soft mobile phone pictures before) and took a couple more pictures also showing the Beogram 1700 (dust cover disassembled and plate + belt + some minor, broken and not, parts not in pictures).

 

 

As you see from the pictures, it's practically useless, or, is it? Well, theoretically you could disassembly it and replace the (pretty much whole) tone arm mechanism (supposing everything else is alright inside), but guess you can't get it (a replacement one) anywhere and if you could, it would probably cost a lot compared to the price these sell on eBay for example (better to buy a new one without scrathes and other cosmetical damage). If I'm not wrong even a proper cartridge would cost noticeably - the MMC 20 S shipped with this is probably somewhere inside since I was able to get this piece of memories out:

 

 

To be very honest, the Beogram wasn't packed the way it should be - suspension wasn't locked with those 3 large screws and the plate was left in place pretty surely. There were some taping inside the dust cover, but nothing else really. It's hard to say what was taped and how since it was just a single mess and a pile of stuff when I unpacked it and opened the dust cover [:'(], but I could think of one tape on the tone arm and some "holding" the plate. MMC 20 S was maybe left on the tone arm as well, or possibly somewhere else inside the dust cover.

Of course many of you are a lot more experienced on packing turntables, but even I could say this is not the way you do it, not at all. Again it's really hard to say why did the seller pack it like this since you could really expect professional packaging reading his positive feedback and thinking about his words "can pack well" (and possibly even owning this system since bought and upgrading to a better B&O one in 1990 as he stated in the description). However, the plate has probably got off it's place first and started to bang around inside the dust cover scrathing and - breaking all the sensitive objects there. The pictures represent the damage quite well, but it looked even worse when I saw it first time - I've cleaned it a bit, sorted out things and straightened the bent tonearm for example (which doesn't help a lot of course).

Around the Beogram there were just like two layers of that big air bubble protection - how you call it - and some tape keeping it together. Then just a quite sturdy cardboard box. Not too good either. All the other items were packaged pretty much the same way in their own boxes (some extra cardboards used in the Beovox box though), but luckily they survived just fine cosmetically and so far technically, too (being not so sensitive items either). As an interesting note though, the little feet of Beogram 1700 had left pretty many marks on and through the first layer of the box cardboard which might mean it had been handled a bit roughly by DHL compared to the other packages packed the same way, but without similar marks on cardboard. Still the packing style isn't right though and the big air bubble protection isn't too strong either - the Beogram had slowly flattened it.

 

These need some super glue probably? They feel quite weak, some of them were already snapped when I got the speakers, but I think I've also broken at least one now 

 

 

What a message again, but hopefully it's still okay 

Thank you again, Webu

Welcome to Beoworld and thanks for signing up as a gold member - your support is greatly appreciated !   

I may have a couple of original re-foam'ed woofers for the Beovox S40. Actually one of the best sounding two-way speakers built. The godl connectors are not original.

A lamp kit is available for your Beomaster, containing detailed instructions with photos etc. on how to get in there - and back out again. The lamps are soldered in.

What are people thinking ? Shipping with the platter mounted ?
Sorry to see that BG1700. It's gone.

Martin

Eating some tasty rice porridge and other delicious Christmas foods while enjoying the peaceful Christmas atmosphere made me think about B&O again - that's probably what happens when you realize that you're really into it and register here, even after a little nightmare eBaying your first B&O set, hehe

I've already managed to restore the Beovox S40 speakers with satisfying results, they sound clearly more agile (you can hear even a 35Hz test tone!) and detailed now and there's no worry of dropping cones when turning up the volume Thank you Dillen for the great replacement woofers and the capacitor kit! I can also add some pictures showing what I did to the speakers as soon as I'm back at home in a few days - basically I disassembled everything you can and rebuilt the crossovers with new capacitors and wires.

But you know - when you've been listening to those quite impressive Beovox S40's playing your favourite tunes for a while, you're already thinking about how those tunes would play on a bit sturdier speakers like Beovox S75  So I've been scrolling through eBay, item descriptions and these forums for many hours again though my feelings are still partly mixed after that previous unpleasant buying experience on eBay.

What do you think about this eBay listing for example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BANG-OLUFSEN-BEOVOX-S75-enceintes-haut-de-gamme-4-HP_W0QQitemZ140290226836QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFR_LC_TV_Son_Home_Cinema_HiFi_Enceintes?hash=item140290226836&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1308

Those Beovox S75's look very nice to me although the price tag is quite high already, isn't it? I think that kind of speakers would be exactly what I've been dreaming about - a bit more sturdy (compared to the smaller Beovoxes), lovely sound with a nice bass response like many of you probably enjoy. They wouldn't be enormously huge either (well I can always make room for even huge speakers compared to Beovox S40's so the size doesn't really matter, but the shipping might become harder and there's no point of having enormously huge speakers if you don't have a very large room?) and my current Beomaster 2300 should be able to handle them since I'm not into very high volumes and they won't be used in a very large room. Of course I might take a look on an another suitable Beomaster later, as well.

I'd be again pleased to hear a bit of your experiences and opinions on those bigger Beovoxes around, should I look for them on eBay (haven't really noticed anything interesting in my country, but of course we've got a trade section on these forums as well) and what do you think about spending a couple hundred euros on them (like what should I expect to get for that or should I think about "the budget" again)

I used a pair of S75s for many years with a Beomaster 2400-2 - which is essentially the same amplifier as the 2300. Works very well. The S75 is a fair bit bigger and has a lot more bass. It also has a very clear top end - almost bright but gives the impression of a lot of detail. I like them a lot though being honest, they are not the most linear speaker made by B&O - a bit more exciting than real life! I suppose a reasonable analogy is that they sound a little like having the loudness button on - but in a pleasant way!

The ones pictured are too expensive and  don't have the stands, which are almost essential. I would let them go! Where do you live? I would suggest looking for S75s or even better are the slightly later S120s which will have foam rot on the woofer but are a better speaker, if not quite so pretty. My M100s were cheaper than the S75s you list though these can be tricky to get hold of. M75s are also a great speaker and a bit smaller than M100s - even better looking than S75s.

I live in Finland, that's the country next to Sweden here in Scandinavia.

Great to hear your opinion on those S75's which would cost me quite a lot indeed - at least when adding the postage. There has certainly been a lot cheaper or otherwise better listings and probably there'll be more of them in future - maybe I should just try to stay calm and keep looking for "the ones" that suit me well (and avoid bad luck, hehe).

Those M-series speakers look even more interesting after going through their descriptions, wish I could get hold of a pair some day - wonder how great they would be  Unfortunately I haven't really noticed anything interesting here in Finland yet.

The biggest market for B&O is probably Denmark and Germany. German eBay is usually very busy so just monitor it.