No, I'm not going to ask where to get a new one

I recently bought a Beocenter 9500, which is externally pretty much flawless and has obviously been well cared for. However, the sense areas on the touch panel show through. They need rather bright ambient lighting to look annoying though, and I wouldn't normally think twice about them - but I have a Beocenter 8000 as well, and on that the panel looks positively black all over.

Is there some environmental condition that causes this, or are there actually different kinds of panels with regards to the base coating or whatever?

I can't say that I've ever noticed a difference!

Srange - I've got a Beocenter 8500 which is the same...... probably even more noticable than your description MIka....... Makes me wonder if there was a dodgy batch of panels released in which the touch sensor areas weren't as colour fast as normal. Or perhaps they have been placed in direct sunlight which is a real swine for bleaching out colour, just look at any red car over 10 years old & you'll get my drift

Chris.

Hmm. I vaguely remember somebody posting a pic of a Beolink 7000 with a similar problem, only apparently much worse than this...

I could of course take a pic but I believe it will be useless without a comparison. Have to see if I could get these two centers in the same place.

I have seen it on BeoLink 7000, but never on a BeoCenter 9500. I think the only way to solve it is changing the panel. You can also use a BeoCenter 9000 or 9300 panel but not the 8500 or 8000 panel. Those last don't have the TIMER indication on the panel.

Good to know - I don't think it bothers me nearly enough to swap the panel though (unless I find a worse center with a suitable better panel). You can barely see the problem in this pic.

Got the CD sorted as well.   "No, nobody has tried to service it." How come the ribbon cable from the laser to the servo board was out of its connector then? Why do people have to say that? Whoever it was, fortunately he had the sense to leave the settings alone...

Yes I often think asking if it has been looked at is pointless! Good to see the thing working now.

BTW I like the look of your meter - I want something to take the strain off my Fluke and was looking at a Uni-t which looks quite nice. Anyway...

tournedos:

I vaguely remember somebody posting a pic of a Beolink 7000 with a similar problem, only apparently much worse than this...

The thread is here. Unfortunately the picture has been on the poster's idisk and isn't there anymore. I think it looked very much like your BC but much worse. I have never seen any BC with that sort of cosmetic fault, I guess it has to be because of some freak sunlight/moisture environment? Or could it be that someone has replaced the double-sided tape and cleaned the whole glass with some too strong solution?

Congrats on getting the CD working

Step1:

BTW I like the look of your meter - I want something to take the strain off my Fluke and was looking at a Uni-t which looks quite nice. Anyway...

That's actually the spare multimeter I bought from Lidl Works fine though.

As the panel needs reattaching *sigh* I took a closer look at it. The problem is definitely the colour of the actual capacitive touch fields, as the glass itself is totally clear, and the black paint elsewhere still looks totally black. Unless some (most?) of the panels used smoked glass, this has to be caused because either the material of the sense fields fades in sunlight or something, or it was lighter on some specimens to begin with.

I personally like the sunlight or other evironmental theory but maybe just a dodgy batch and there has been some sort of chemical breakdown.

BTW I am confised (slightly more so than usual :) ) - that CD player looks like an early example which I thought had been phased out by the time the 9500 was released...?

Step1:

BTW I am confised (slightly more so than usual :) ) - that CD player looks like an early example which I thought had been phased out by the time the 9500 was released...?

I haven't seen that many of these but this was actually the first Beocenter where I see a separate motor control board on the CD module; all the previous ones (including my 8000 and a 9500 I fixed earlier) had a DC spindle motor which was directly connected to the servo board.

Were there many versions of this Beocenter? I was under the impression that this with a white stripe around it was one of the later ones.

The CD player looks identical to all the CD mechs that I have found in 9500's.

There have been some mods to the internals of the mechs and to the servo circuit board over the years but these would be impossible to see from this angle.

tournedos:

Step1:

BTW I am confised (slightly more so than usual :) ) - that CD player looks like an early example which I thought had been phased out by the time the 9500 was released...?

Were there many versions of this Beocenter? I was under the impression that this with a white stripe around it was one of the later ones.

As far as I know, all BC9500's had polished panels and a white line.

Ah ok I seem to remember with early units you could see the clamp move across when closing the cd door - but on my mums unit I had just assumed (without much thought tbh) the clamp had gone and they now relyed on the grippy spindle. Next time I pop round I will have to try to peep as the door is closing! Even better I must find an excuse to service the centre - it is nearly 20 years old afterall

I should make things a little clearer - I can see a clamp in the picture can I not!?!

Yes you can..........but when the CD mech is installed in the Beocenter the clamp is moved aside by the sliding door and you never actually see it!

Very B&O

Ah ok Thanks.

Have a look at the photo of the Beocenter 8500 and description on this Ebay auction! The bottom panel has the exact problem!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/B-O-Bang-Olufsen-Beocenter-8500-tuner-amp-CD-Tape-VGC-/290477044497?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43a1c7f311

P.s.  Only realised now Chris that it your Beocenter that you were talking about!!