Hi guys,

Newbie here. I've just (loosely) inherited my grandfathers B&O setup - a Beogram 6000, Beomaster 3000-2 and a pair of Beovox 3800s.

All of it works, but all of it has seen better days and needs a damn good service.

The 'gram 6000 was "looked at" by B&O UK in Kingston maybe 4 years back - they weren't especially interested, failed to fix the faults (issues with the tangential tracking mechanism), and were of the opinion that since new carts weren't available, there was no point in making an effort. To be honest, I have no record collection, so the turntable, although beautiful/fascinating is the lowest priority item.

The 'master works, but is really noisy - all the switches and the sliders/pots need a damn good clean, plus I guess after all these years the caps are feeling a bit sorry for themselves. I'm reasonably practical, so might try giving it a good blow out and run some contact cleaner over all the switchgear, see what difference that makes, but it probably still will need a proper seeing to.

The speakers need refoaming - both woofers (monsters!) are flapping around loose. The mids/tweeters *seem* OK - but could do with a good once over.

So. Any recommendations? I'm currently London based, but travel around a fair bit. It would be nice to get everything back up to scratch, to work as a second system alongside my Quad/PMC rig.

Thanks!

Hi Jon

Interestingly, the most desirable and valuable component you have inherited is the Beogram 6000. B&O Kingston clearly don't know their *** from their elbow, as new cartridges are available after B&O licenced the manufacturing to a company called Soundsmith in the US.

There are a couple of UK-based guys who could help, as well as some further afield in Europe if you are willing to ship. I don't know one end of the soldering iron from another, so have always had my older gear looked at by someone who knows what they're doing. It's probably well worth it in your case, as you have inherited a nice system there :)

There are people collecting quadraphonic records who will literally walk on water to get hold of a good or repairable Beogram 6000 - and I doubt the repair is a killer. You'll have more knowledgeable people than me sounding off on that point, I should think.

http://beocentral.com/beogram6000-1970s

Interesting collection - your grandfather knew his stuff! The Beovox 3800s have Goodman bass units but I am surprised they need reconing - mine seemed to be mainly rubber from memory. I'll ask a friend if he would be interested in helping and get back to you. The BG6000 is a very good Beogram - a 4002 with a built in CD4 decoder and RIAA amplifier. As Soundproof says, new cartridges are available or you can get the old one repaired (which is what I would do!)

Peter :

As Soundproof says, new cartridges are available or you can get the old one repaired (which is what I would do!)

Does he?

..sorry - re the 3800s - possibly should have been clearer - the cones are intact, but they've become partially detatched from the chassis.

j0hnbarker:

Peter :

As Soundproof says, new cartridges are available or you can get the old one repaired (which is what I would do!)

 

Does he?

I beg your pardon - I am having problems posting at present - for some reason it takes me two goes and I added that without checking back on the posts. I should have said ' as John said!

I am incredibly lucky to also own a pair of Beovox 3800's (thanks to Peter!).
I also noticed the woofer surround letting go of the metal chassis on one of
mine.
It was only on about 8-10cm of the circumference and I managed to glue it
back on without leaving any marks of the operation.
They are fantastic speakers.
I agree on the other things as well.
I'm in Denmark. I have serviced a lot of thing from overseas and your things
are welcome here too but there is the postage cost back and forth and I would
think someone nearer you would be able to help you.

Martin

j0hnbarker:

Hi Jon

Interestingly, the most desirable and valuable component you have inherited is the Beogram 6000. B&O Kingston clearly don't know their *** from their elbow, as new cartridges are available after B&O licenced the manufacturing to a company called Soundsmith in the US.

There are a couple of UK-based guys who could help, as well as some further afield in Europe if you are willing to ship. I don't know one end of the soldering iron from another, so have always had my older gear looked at by someone who knows what they're doing. It's probably well worth it in your case, as you have inherited a nice system there :)

The hot end of the soldering iron goes to the wire/capacitor/solder/etc, while the cool end goes in your hand.

Hi Jon

I'm in Israel, and I'd be more than happy to do a "From the Ground Up" complete restoration on your BeoMaster and BeoGram, and return them to new condition, but as Martin wryly observed, the postal costs are probably the biggest obstacle to getting the job done right.

That said, feel free to pass my Beogram Restoration article on to any local tech who you trust to do the work - at least it will give him/her a starting point.

http://www.condoraudio.com/wp-content/uploads/Projects/BeoGram-4002-6000-Turntable-Restoration-Repair.pdf

And, we are always here for help during a restoration process!

Menahem

Afraid my friend is on an enforced break from restoration work. I would recommend taking up one of the offers above.

How much would a faulty beogram 6000 fetch on ebay I wonder? Maybe enough to pick up a working 4002 and have money left over for a tune up?

Nope. 

The values of non-functioning items such as this tend to reflect the costs of restoration. A faulty 6000 will probably cost the same to repair as a 4002, as essentially they are the same machine but with the CD4 demodulator board under the control panel.

I don't agree that a fully functioning 6000 would be worth that much more than a fully functioning 4002. The real premium attached to this series of decks is to the 4000, as it's the first of the series and hence has the purest design vision unhindered by accountants etc. The additional complexity of the 4000 also leads to > restoration costs, and hence the overall higher price attached to a fully functioning 4000 compared with a 4002 (ac or dc motor), 4004, or 6000.

fair point, just thought the riaa amp, cd4 demod and extra rarity might be enough but maybe not then!

I noticed elsewhere that Beoworld member "Nobby" (Neil) was looking for B&O repairs, worth contacting him.

Martin