My Beogram 4000 is now blowing fuses, and always the right fuse.
Some of this information is redundant, having been mentioned in a previous thread, but I thought it best to start at the beginning as this appears to be a serious problem… or at least one difficult to diagnose.
This Beogram 4000 was purchased (likely used) in Berlin, Germany. The owner used it regularly until moving to the United States. Once in America the 4000 was left unused for eight years.
When the owner attempted to use his 4000 again, he chopped off the European electrical plug in favor of a US spec plug as well as the DIN connection to accommodate RCA plugs. Unfortunately, the 4000 immediately died and was taken into a highly regarded shop in New York City.
Repair after repair was unsuccessful in stopping this 4000 from blowing fuses and/or other errors. Finally in desperation the shop decided to re-solder all capacitors, re-solder all cold solder points, repair a bad ground, and lubricate everything (They didn’t), etc.
A total of four visits to the shop in NYC convinced the owner to put it up for sale on (where else?) eBay. The auction became problematic, and the auction was cancelled. However I had developed a “relationship” with the owner who said he would sell me this 4000 because he knew I would value it, but only after he was satisfied that it was properly repaired.
Once convinced that the 4000 would not disappoint the seller packed the 4000 and shipped it. However, this seller had an extremely poor understanding of how to pack such a turntable thus it arrived in tatters.
The control panel came lose and destroyed the Plexiglas dust cover, yet remarkably nothing else. The bearing for the arm driveshaft was broken in half and the shaft bent. The record position indicator was also broken…. And surprisingly, I found the wheel from the arm drive shaft with the belt UNDER the control panel.
With help from the BeoWorld Forum and a very generous Forum member all broken parts were replaced including the dustcover.
I thoroughly enjoyed my Beogram 4000 for ten months which although requiring several minor adjustments, outperformed my most dependable Beogram 4004 and its NOS MMC 20CL cartridge.
Then something happened.
The first thing I noticed was that the platter hesitated at start-up, but once the tonearm came down, the speed was correct and the 4000 played all records well. I assumed that it was the belts and purchased a set from Martin. Problem solved, or so I thought.
After the hesitation issue, I noticed that the fast forward and fast reverse barely worked. Pressing as hard as I could the arms would slowly move in either direction at a glacier speed. Remove the control panel and the arms moved exactly as they should.
I figured that it was a contact problem, so I sanded all four contacts on both sides and bent the contacts a bit to reduce the travel space before contact was made. I didn’t have a chance to see if this was a successful fix as the fuse problem cropped up before I had the opportunity.
The evening the 4000 “failed to proceed” I noticed that the sound quality was not quite right. Certainly not bad, but not at all what I have come to expect from the extraordinary instrument.
Then the Beogram 4000 just stopped about half way through playing a record. The last thing the 4000 did was raise the arm to a rest position above the record.
At this point I took the 4000 apart and didn’t like the condition of the lubrication and really lubricated all moving parts. There was considerable friction on the platter bearing, so I made sure the area was very clean and applied sewing machine oil there as well.
This is when I noticed the bent arm driveshaft and straightened it as per Derek’s advice.
Once I located a correct fuse (250ma and 250 volts) I had very high expectations indeed. New belts, everything lubed, platter turning more freely, the driveshaft straightened, and control contacts cleaned.
However, the Beogram 4000 once engaged, the platter turned, the arms went to the play position and began to drop…. but then the arms began a slow drift to the right (rest position) and the 4000 blew its fuse.
I just reread the NYC shop repair order and noticed that they did not replace the capacitors, merely re-soldered them. Might bad caps cause a fuse to blow? Somehow I don’t see this as a cause, but thought I’d ask.
I know this is a lot of detail, but under the circumstances, I feared leaving anything out. At this point I don’t know where to begin and I really would be grateful for some direction.
Thanks!
Jeff