Hi Everyone,

A friend of mine moved a couple of months ago and as you can guess... the movers dropped it, broke the glass doors and some of the plastic shell. When they plugged it in, it shorted out. The insurance co. paid for a replacement (lucky him ...) . I asked a quote at B&O to have it fixed, but it was more than it was worth. 

Now a couple of months later I was lucky to find some spare parts in the US. Cosmetically it looks like an ouverture again. The short was an easy enough fix by changing some caps, fuse etc. The unit powers up, responds to a beo4 and the tuner works. The tape deck is working without problems ...  

Now my question : I was trying to get the laser to work. In the service manual there is a cd laser service code and when you press 1 the laser should come on. 2 switches it off etc.

Mine doesn't seem to light up when requested.

The pcb that controls the laser seems to be ok, so I think it is the laser itself. Can the laser be replaced or does the whole Cd laser/motor unit need to be replaced.  Also, where (besides B&O) can I find these parts ? (Philips?)

Any info on this would be welcome. I know a little bit about electronics, but cd lasers leave me totally clueless ...lol

Also is there a kit available to change the polished metal parts and at what cost ? The ones on the machine are not too bad but if the price is ok I'll get it changed.

Also if anyone has a couple of spare doors for a beosound 4000/ouverture available, let me know.... I am almost done with figuring out the wiring for the movement for the doors ... 

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Hi,

how did you check the laser? The laser is invisible, you wont see anything with your eyes... and it would be the last thing you wont see

Check the laser beam with a camera, the lcd of a camera can see the laser beam.

The laser comes from Philips and can be replaced using Philips drives, they are easy to get and easy to fix. The only thing is: which one was used?

Here is a overview of these drives...

http://www.ersatzteil.justone-schnepel.de/html/bildergallerie1.html

The CDM drives are interchangeable, the laser pickup can move from one type to the other drive, it is possible to transplant a pickup.

Martin

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I did indeed check the laser with my Nikon digital camera but still see no laser.
In cd test mode 1 it does try to zoom in/out and I guess it's trying to focus but sees no laser. The moter does spin up in test mode 3 and the laser arm does move up and down in test modes 5 and 6.

thank you for the website link. Finding parts here in Canada is very very difficult. It is 1991 beosound4000 (ouverture) type 2638 sw 1.4

I will open up the beosound again this weekend and will try to find more info on the transport used. Looks like a cdm12 type to me.
Would it be better to change the whole transport with a new one or just the laser pickup? This to avoid further problems and bringing it up to date. 

In any idea how much a pair of doors would be approximately ?  

Thanks in advance 

Hi Martin:

>The CDM drives are interchangeable, the laser pickup can move from one type to the other drive, it is possible to transplant a pickup.

If it is the CDM 12 drive that's in this unit, my personal experience is that this is not universally the case!

Firstly, the mech may not be interchangeable. I think there are a few variations out there. I've tried swapping the CDM 12 with one that was supplied by a company that fixes juke boxes. It did not work. It appears B&O may have special firmware on the controller board or perhaps the juke box one has, although the supplier said that they are standard OEM CDM 12s.

What I did was transplant the CDM controller board on the mech and it was up and running.

I should also point out that I also tried replacing the laser pickup and this too was a challenge. CDM 12.4 pickups are available very economically on places like Ebay but not all work universally with the B&O mechanism. I tried two from Ebay and they did not work.

Ultimately I purchased one from the juke box supplier and this did the trick. Physically they look identical, but I am told that there is more than one manufacturer making them and not all conform to the original Phillips specs. Phillips no longer manufactures CDM 12 or its parts.

Perhaps I had a bout of bad luck but this has been my experience so I pass this along.

Regards,

Derek

@ martin and Derek

I opened up the beosound ... again and here is what I could find on the cd transport

Philips 1991 cdm12 IND  
The  print has following label : philips PSS/M2/ 9546

A very interesting topic, as my Overture also has a problem with the laser. It would be great to hear that it can be replaced relatively cheap (comparing to the B&O dealer).

Hope to hear some good news!

cooldude:

@ martin and Derek

I opened up the beosound ... again and here is what I could find on the cd transport

Philips 1991 cdm12 IND  
The  print has following label : philips PSS/M2/ 9546

 

Can anyone tell me if the cd laser or transport with above ref numbers can easily be changed on this ?

I think you also need to check the part number on the controller board on the mech. They look identical but also carries a special B&O part number.

Your choices are:

1) Find a replacement CDM12 IND and try to swap, but the controller board may not be compatible so you may need to transplant the controller board. (This has been my experience, so keep this in mind when things do not go well). You do need to find a replacement since CDM 12 IND is obsolete.

2) Swap the optical pick up (assuming that's what's dead). This will set you back $45.

3) Swap the entire mechanism with decoder board with B&O upgrade kit. It costs about $250 and you will get a new mech (Phillips CD PRO 2 + new decoder board).

All three options are easily implementable.

It depends on your patience and the value of your time. Option 3 is hassle free provided that a bad mech IS your problem. It's hard to say given that the unit was dropped.

Derek