Hi, I have reluctantly decided to sell my BM8000
I only bought it a few months ago but it needs some attention and unfortunately I have no experience in electronics repairs myself and I can't find anyone to do the work for me. Therefore I have decided it is a bit early in my B&O collecting to own one of these brilliant but complex units and am going to try and move it on to someone who is able to return it to its former glory.
This was sold to me in good working order, and all the LEDs work as they should, as do all the rotary controls, bass/treble filters, all four speaker outputs, and the three external source inputs. It also remembers radio presets and start-up volume fine. The amplifier lives up to its reputation and sounds fantastic played through appropriate speakers (I will also be selling my RL140s that I bought to use with this).
There are however a couple of problems with functionality that will need to be fixed for this to be returned to full working order. The main issue is that the sound has started cutting out after about twenty minutes of use. If you switch it off, leave it for a couple of minutes, then turn it back on, it works superbly again for another twenty minutes before the same thing happens - I've no idea what may be causing this to happen but I'm sure someone on here will have an idea of the cause.
The only other problem with the unit is that I can't get it to tune in to radio stations. On turning the tuning dial the frequency dispalyed on the LED changes as it should, so the dial is working, but it doesn't seem to be communicating with the tuner itself as the frequency recieved seems not to change. It does pick up radio signals, but this appears to happen at random, usually just by touching or moving an attached external aerial. I suspect this is just a loose connection and I posted about this problem on the forum a while back (either in the Workbench or Vintage section) and got responses from people who had a very similar problem and had managed to fix it themselves - I just don't have the experience or tools to do it.
Overall it is in good, but not brilliant cosmetic condition. I made the mistake of having it shipped from Holland, and I think it took a small knock to the bottom left hand corner because the aluminium panel is bent slightly downwards just at the very edge there. It's not very noticeable though and I don't think it takes anything away from the appearance of the unit. I will post photos shortly so you can see what I mean. There a few tiny chips to the veneer on that corner too, and a few small chips to the paint on the grill at the back, again nothing that really detracts much from the looks. Otherwise it is in good condition.
I've tried to be as comprehensive as I can in my description. I'm sure someone can bring this back to full working order without too much effort and IMHO it is better than just a spares unit. I've no idea what to ask for it so I'm just going to invite sensible offers from anyone who is interested. I'm sure I'll loose money on this but it needs a good home! If no one here is interested I'll put it on Ebay and hope for the best.
Viewings are welcome, I'm in South Oxfordshire. Ask away if you have any questions.
Rob.