Hi Martin,

 

I am ready to have my ailing Beogram 4000 repaired.

 

If the details escape you after this long wait, the 4000 will do everything except drop the tonearm, which causes the fuse to blow. Every time.

 

The 4000 will turn its platter, the arms move left and right, the arms come back to rest at the end of play….. everything except drop the tone arm. So whatever is wrong has something to do with the tonearm assembly.

 

So the only question is…. is there anyway to send individual components as opposed to the entire turntable? I have not been holding back out of cheapness, but rather abject fear of shipping this fragile turntable internationally.

 

My guess is with all that has been done to it, that you need the entire turntable. If so I would appreciate detailed instruction on how to properly ship the 4000.

 

I know of course to secure the transport screws and I have the B&O plastic red arm retainer for the two arms. I also know to remove the platter AND the control panel which can easily come loose and do terrible damage to the turntable.

 

However I am of the opinion that packing needs to be done internally in regard to the tonearm assembly as it is not secured in any way, as it is in the 4002/4004 series.

 

I posted this message as opposed to a PM as I thought your response might well be of use to other BeoWorld members. I know that I am looking forward to it!

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Yes, always ship the platter separate from the Beogram. Wrap the platter in bubblewrap plastic and place it under the Beogram.

Dismount the cartridge.

Cut a piece of foam to fit under and above the tonearms so that it is slightly
squeezed when the lid is closed. This will secure the arms during transport.

Close the lid.
Wrap the Beogram in bubblewrap plastic. First one round that goes pretty tight
around the machine to make sure the lid stays completely closed.
Then a couple more rounds of bubblewrap.

A strong box with loads of chips, foam or bubblewrap. Glue the box's flaps
to make it all stronger.

In case you ship it to me, don't ship the platter and cartridge, I have both
but do mark the box as either "for repair" or as a gift or I will have to pay
import customs.

Martin

Hi Martin,

 

Yes, I would like to have you repair this 4000.

 

Not shipping the platter will save a good bit of weight and the cartridge goes without saying that it could easily be damaged in shipment.

 

One MAJOR concern  is what to do about the tonearm assembly. In the 4002/4004 series, the arms are attached to the rod and are basically secure. Not so with the 4000, or at least my 4000, which rides on the rod, but is held in place by gravity.

 

Turn the box upside down and disaster strikes. A good deal of my shipping damage occurred when the box was upside down and the arms were loose and thrashing about.

 

It was so bad that the wheel at the end of the arm drive spindle was missing (Found under the motherboard) and the bearing that held the spindle secure, broken in half.

 

This is why I feel that some sort of internal (under the aluminum panel) padding is needed to keep the arm assembly reasonably in place. Are you saying that foam around the arms with the cover shut tightly is sufficient to keep everything under the aluminum panel in place? If so, I trust your expertise.

 

And not to worry, I have a good deal of international shipping experience and know to state that the 4000 is being sent for repair. The same must be done when it is returned.

 

Please let me know how you would protect the arms and associated parts.

 

The remainder of the 4000 is not problem as long as the package is well packed, and it WILL be.

 

Jeff

Jeff,

You can squeeze in a block of foam over the arms rear housing and you can also tie down the assembly using some masking tape or similar. The more the better.

Martin

Thanks Martin,

 

Please send me a PM with your mailing address for this package. Some shippers require a telephone number, so kindly provide your business phone number as well.

 

If you have a preference for shippers please let me know.

 

I have had good results and catastrophic results with both Canada Post/USPS and UPS.

 

A recent purchase of a Beogram 8002 arrived at the seller’s insistence FedExpress and the box looked untouched. Of course the next one might be a disaster, you really never know.

 

I will ship the 4000 as “for repair” so there should be no problem with customs. Having said this, it still depends on the mood of the customs agent when the package arrives.

 

I will make ever effort to package the 4000 like it was the Crown Jewels of England. I truly love this turntable and want it to arrive in your hands in one piece.

 

Thanks for everything.

 

Jeff

PM sent.

Martin

Hi Martin,

 

The Beogram 4000 is on its way to you. The packaging is not entirely everything that it should be, but I believe it to be adequate to get the 4000 to you in one piece.

 

Sorry I missed your communication regarding the Beogram 8000 motherboard. However, perhaps it is best as I don’t want to overwhelm you with work.

 

Truth be known, I have had this 8000 since new and like it very much, but I LOVE the Beogram 4000 and I really want it repaired….. yesterday.

 

Unrealistic impatience notwithstanding, the important thing is to get this 4000 with its questionable background back to be where it should be. That is to say that the switches and lamps should work as well the turntable plays music.

 

I have worked on virtually everything in this turntable, but alas, I am only an amateur. I am sure that my “pride and joy” will benefit greatly from your professional touch.

 

Jeff

It's great to hear that you are finally doing it. Whatever it needs Dillen is the right guy to rebuild it. My B&O collection would back me up on this.

I had the same feeling about my Beogram 8002 that you have with the 4000 and I finally took it to Dillen. I got it back in January and it still perfoms perfectly along with the rest of my systems.

Yes, it has taken me a long time simply because I was so intimidated about shipping the Beogram 4000, however I followed Martin’s directions to the letter vis a vis packing, so I am hopeful that it will arrive in good shape.

 

I understand your fondness for your Beogram 8002. I recently acquired mine and am completely delighted with it. My 8002 was completely restored by a well known B&O “guru” in St. Louis. Compared to any of my other Beograms (I have 6) it feels “new.” Everything is very tight, with instantaneous response to any selection of the buttons.

 

I really look forward to Martin’s “magic” touch being applied to the 4000.

 

Although I can not begin to explain it, prior to the 4000 developing its “problem” it had, by far, the best sound reproduction of any of my turntables. Specifically I am comparing it to my ever dependable 4004 with it NOS MMC 20CL cartridge which produces spectacular sound. However, with them sitting side by side, using the same amplifier and the same record, the 4000 sound is…. well more realistic.

 

I assume that this difference has more to do with the cartridge than the turntable, but we ARE comparing a very used MMC 20CL (one of my old stylus’ that I had saved when I felt it time to replace it) and a NOS 20CL from a sealed box.

 

In any case, for shipping I cut pieces of foam to completely cover the entire turntable, making cut-outs around the tonearm and sensor arm. I also used a B&O retainer clip for the arms and with it in place, those arms do NOT move.

 

Naturally I removed the platter and the cartridge… plus the control panel, as mine easily comes lose and can do horrific damage in shipment. Of course with all that foam, it was unlikely to come lose, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

 

I also placed a strip of foam on top of the tonearm cover as the back so that it can not lift up in transit. Unlike the 4002/4004 series, the 4000 arm assembly is held in place by gravity alone.

 

When my 4000 was initially shipped to me the seller had failed to put any padding under the dust cover, so the arms were thrashed about mercilessly arriving at a 45º angle. And as mentioned before, the control panel came loose and did an awful job on the dustcover.

 

So I packed it solid under the dustcover with the padding, closed the lid, and used the Styrofoam end pads from my 8002 and placed the 4000 in the 8002 box.

 

Then I put the packed 8002 box in a larger one and filled the void with bubble wrap. If the 4000 arrives in one piece, then I was successful. If not, I’ll find out where I failed to protect my pride and joy.

 

Jeff

Hi Martin,

The Beogram 4000 has arrived in Denmark.

Let us hope that Danish Customs are nicer in regard to these Beograms  than is Customs Canada.

Please let me know when you receive the 4000 and the condition in which it arrived. My goodness, I am more nervous than a new father with his first born child!

Jeff

Piaf:

My goodness, I am more nervous than a new father with his first born child!

I hope you don't have kids  

There’s a scary thought. I am bad enough with pets.

Jeff -

I'm considering sending a CD-50 to Martin for repairs.  I live in the U.S. (New York State).  What carrier did you use?  Was it outrageously expensive?

Thanks,

John

If it's well packed you have nothing to worry about.

Danish customs are more into drug checking with dogs and making sure that anything with a value on them get's to pay import taxes. They go by random check and sometimes they don't touch anything at all. When it's outside EU it's import tax and drugs but it depends on the country. China is mostly fake stuff and east europe is imigrants.

Anyway when Dillen get's it you have the best B&O service for your time, money and care.

Dillen must have send a pm by now?

 

Thanks, Friedmett.  

I now have Jeff's Beogram 4000 on the bench;

The complaint was that it would hover the tonearm over the record for ages
but when lowered it only took a few seconds before the fuse blew.

The fuses in question are the mains fuses and in this Beogram they
are 250mA slow burning as per the service manual.

The service manual also states the max current consumption of the Beogram as 40 Watts.
My B&O RT12 variac allows me to not only set my own mains voltage (for this
Beogram 110-115V) but also to read the actual mains current draw of the unit at test.
Ohms law put into action (effect equals voltage times current)
gives us (40/110) = 0,363A (363 mA) so that's what we will be expecting to see.

The readout of the actual values are 240mA when the tonearm is hovering
and almost 360mA when the tonearm is down (due to the holding solenoid).

So no actual overloads anywhere but clearly, this is more than most 250mA fuses will allow.
In other words, we are working outside the fuses factory specs and tolerances.

On 220V mains, the current would be about half of that (apprx 180mA) which makes
the 250mA fuses suitable but on 110V the fuses are too small and should really
be replaced by 500mA types.
As far as I can tell, it's not mentioned in the service manual. Quite a mistake.

Following this, Jeff told me that this Beogram was actually imported
from a 220V territory and obviously noone thought about replacing the fuses, not
even the previous repairer in the states.

A very nice deck indeed.
No other electronic faults were found but it will be given a checkup of
the basic functions and adjustments, a fresh pair of 500mA slow burning
fuses and the finding of a couple of marginal capacitors never comes as a surprise.

Martin

Sorry to rub it in, but

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/permalink/112549/112093/ShowThread.aspx#112093

Anyway, I hope the Beogram is now in good order and will return safely in better condition than it left!

Yes.

We were quite sure that the fuses were correct and the currents mentioned late at the first page of the thread was that of the solenoid, not that of the Beogram as a whole.

Still, we were close.

Martin

Regarding my post of September 14, my concern was only the cost of the international shipping, not the repairs.  I know that Martin's work is superlative and worth every cent - and more.  I checked the FedEx and DHL sites for shipping rates and learned that it would cost from US$200 to US$300 (136 to 205 Euros) to ship a twenty-pound (nine kilogram) package each way (i.e., a total of US$400 to 600).  That surprised me, as I could fly roundtrip from New York City to Copenhagen via KLM for US$864 (590 Euros).  That's why I was curious as to what carrier Piaf (Jeff) used.  (At the rates I was quoted, it almost makes sense to fly to Denmark with the CD-50 on my lap and enjoy some Carlbergs while the repairs are being made.)

Hi John,

 

I checked will virtually all the carriers and was horrified at their responses. The Beogram 4000 with packing material is quite heavy and I HAD to have the 4000 double-boxed.

 

As such FedExpress was insanely expensive $500-$600 each way. DHL was no better. UPS was less, but still pretty scary. I eventually settled on Canada Post, not my favorite carrier, but the cost was US$274.89. (One way)

 

So yes, it was outrageously expensive. At least you are in New York State…. whereas I live on Vancouver Island.

 

Good luck with you CD-50 repair. Martin definitely is the place to have it repaired!

 

Jeff

The faster you want it to get here and insured the more expensive it is.

It's good to hear its in the safe hands of Dillen in one piece!

A roundtrip would be a great idea if you got the time and money. Its not everday you come to Denmark? How fast Dillen can fix it is the question as the faults has to be located and the unit properly tested. Skip on this and you might be in for a surprice.

My Beomaster 8000 were done and I had the option to get it 2 days later only to find it still blowing fuses when I came home. It had played and worked great those 2 days but the net transformer had gone bad. It got changed and it stills plays perfectly.

 

Yes, I certainly agree, a trip to Denmark would have been delightful. I haven’t been to Denmark in many years…. so long in fact that the Beogram 4000 in question might well have been still in production.

 

OK, maybe that is a stretch, but it wasn’t long out of production.

 

I am very much looking forward to martin’s full report on my “pride and joy,” thus far the news has been much better than expected.

As far as shipping goes, I had three choices: overnight with insane prices, 5 day, which is the route I picked, and "suface" which took a month or more.  

 

Jeff

Thanks for the information, Friedmett and Jeff.  Enjoy your BeoGram 4000 when it arrives, Jeff. 

John

John,

 

You are most welcome. By all means send your CD-50 to Martin for repair. These CD players apparently have “issues,” at least the CDX does…. like mine. I got of lucky this time as all mine needed was the lens cleaned.

 

Thank you for the kind wishes in regard to my Beogram 4000. I very much look forward to its return.

 

Jeff