Wow, I found an old couple selling their Beogram/Beocenter locally, and picked up their Beogram 8000 in an excellent condition.  I paid premium, but it's well worth it.  Cosmetically it's in an excellent condition, with clear acrylic cover, good rosewood finish, and just a couple of small scratches on the exterior.  It has the original MMC 20CL cartridge.  All the controls work.  The movement of the arm is smooth, but it makes a small buzzing noise while sliding right to the rest position.  I haven't had a chance to listen to the records yet as I don't have the DIN to RCA connector.  I bought one from eBay and hopefully I should have it by the end of this week.  I'm very excited about this purchase.  I have warm and fuzzy childhood memories about B&O turntables, and I hope this doesn't disappoint.

Is there any preventive maintenance I should be doing, or don't fix if it ain't broken?  I should probably replace the belts.  I hear the capacitors may need replacing, and I'm wondering if I should do preemptive maintenance.  The aluminum cover right of the acrylic cover is loose, and looks like the adhesive dried out after 20+ years.  What's the best way to repair the cover?  Clean up the adhesive residue and apply double sided tape?

I'll probably find out when I hook up the table to my system, but do I need an outboard phonostage?  If so do I need MM or MC?  I have EAR 834P with switchable MM/MC.  I wonder if it's a good match with B&O tables.

The lid was originally held on with double sided tape - clean off the residue and use epoxy to fix it. You can use a spacer to maintain tolerances though I don't usually bother. The surround to the platter uses the same tape.

The 8000 doesn't have a normal belt as it uses a linear drive for the platter but there is a belt which drives the arm carriage. Dillen on site can get this if necessary. The arm does hum when moved using the buttons but is silent whilst playing a record.

You need to use the MM setting on your phono stage but B&O cartridges have a slightly lower output than normal (they are actually Moving Iron) so expect to turn the volume up another notch on your amplifier.

Welcome to Beoworld.

Welcome to the 8000 club!

I used 3M Scotch brand double-sided foam tape to re-affix the aluminum cover to it's hinge, after I cleaned away the remnants of the original tape. Note: it is NOT easy to get the cover on perfectly on the first try! My first attempt at this failed utterly, and I had to remove the remnants of the new tape (harder to do than removing the old stuff was), then carefully placed the cover on the hinge after re-affixing new tape, and peeling off the protective plastic (note: they only put protective plastic on the top; as soon as you start to remove this tape from the roll, the underside is exposed to air, and must be handled carefully!). The cover is on there slightly askew, but close enough for me, and the lid now works as it was meant to.

As far as preventative maintenance, I would check into that capacitor kit (mine have yet to show any major problems, but it's likely only a matter of time). Also, I would inspect the underside of the main circuit board for questionable-looking solder joints, and re-seat the pin connectors near the right side of the board. In addition, if the leadscrew for the arm mechanism looks gunky, I would remove the old lubricant, and apply sewing machine oil. Finally, check the 'tachodisc' located under the sub-platter; many of the original ones were made of celluloid, and tend to disintegrate over the years. Fortunately, Dillen sells metal replacements.

Anyway, good luck with your 8000. Mine is equipped with a 'lowly' MMC20E, but still sounds outstanding. If the cartridge or stylus in yours seems to have gone bad, SoundSmith sells new replacements; also, Axel is able to retip the originals. Enjoy!

-Adam

Thank you for the tips!  I can see how properly aligning the aluminum lid can be challenging.  I'll have to think about that.

BTW, I feel silly to ask this but how do I unplug the cartridge?  The arm looks delicate and I don't want to damage it by trying to force it out.  Also there aren't much space when the arm is in rest position.

MoltenLava:

BTW, I feel silly to ask this but how do I unplug the cartridge?  The arm looks delicate and I don't want to damage it by trying to force it out.  Also there aren't much space when the arm is in rest position.

I suggest not messing with the cartridge unless you intend to replace it. However, if you still want to do it, gently pull the cartridge diagonally from the front of the arm (at approximately the angle it sits at). If you have one, fit a stylus guard to the front of the cartridge before you do this. The best way I know to access the arm is to press the play button while the platter is empty, wait for the arm to move far enough out over the platter for you to access it, then pull the plug, and stop the platter by hand. When you plug it back in, the platter will start to spin, and the arm will move back to it's rest position. Anyway, good luck!

-Adam

My Beogram 8000 is working nicely.  I have cleaned up and applied double sided tapes on the aluminum lid and the panel that surrounds the platter.  I have also removed the cartridge and carefully cleaned the needle tip.  There was a web of dusts stuck at the needle tip.  After the cleanup the sound seems much better.

I did observe something that may be an indication of some kid of failure.  When the table is in off mode, it appears the output is muted.  Then when the play button is pressed, the arm moves to the beginning of the record, then the arm drops, and the mute is lifted.

Then when the stop button is pressed, is it supposed to go into mute before the arm is lifted?  Mine doesn't seem to do that.  When I press the stop button, the arm goes up with somewhat loud pop heard through the speaker.  Then when the arm moves to the rest position and when the needle is over the cleaning brush, I hear swoosh through the speaker.  I think it eventually goes into mute again after some time, but I am not sure when it does, or if it does it consistently.  After leaving the table off, and when I come back the next day, it appears the table is in mute again, and the mute lifted after the arm drops the first time.

Another thing I observed is that the arm goes up rather abruptly when I press the stop button.  When the arm drops to the record it's nice and smooth.  But the arm goes up in jerky motion.  Is it part of normal operation and I'm being too picky?

Yes it is supposed to mute before the arm is lifted. Do you hear the relay click or not?

Two possibilities: either the relay is stuck, or it could be an electronic fault (I doubt that really).

If the relay is stuck you will have to inspect it, so I guess opening the deck is the order of the day...

The "jerky" motion of the arm lift is normal.

I don't hear the relay click when I push stop button.  I think the relay eventually engages some times later, but the timing is not always consistent.  Sometimes the mute engages right away.  In most cases the mute does not engage, and I hear the needle moving across the brush.  When I was applying the heavy duty double tape last weekend the thought crossed my mind that I might have to open it again for repair.  If I do open the table where can I find the relay used for the mute circuit?

The relay is located underneath the little PCB which also supports the DIN plug, upper left corner. Maybe it should be cleaned. I had to do that on my Beogram CD 3300!