Greetings from Oregon:  I recently acquired a Beomaster 4400 receiver along with a Beogram 4004 turntable.  Both pieces were non-operational when I brought them home, but after some refurbishing and repair, they are both working great.  I have a question about the 4400 receiver.  Of the eight transistors, the four transistors (two TIP146 and two TIP141) mounted on the right side of the rear panel seem to get quite hot.  Is this a normal condition?  The other four transistors are only slightly warm.  It doesn't seem to affect performance at all, and I can run the 4400 for hours without any issues.  I haven't replace any of the ROE electrolytic caps (I count 10 total).  will replacing the 10 caps cure heat issue?

Thanks in advance for any help or advise.

Kevin

Eugene, Oregon USA

Its not a normal condition, if you have differences in the temp on the cooling elements, there is something wrong in one channel, probaly the hot one, it may help to change caps, but if you start changing electrolytic caps, change all of them, if not bad now they will be in near future,

Check your supply, amp and endstage voltages. There is a good BM 4400 manual on site (for silver members)

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure one of our members, who knows more than me about BM 4400 will answer shortly.

You may also have an issue with the trimmers that regulae the voltage. In order to really perform a proper refurb you will need the service manual. All the instructions for electrical and mechanical adjustments can be found there.

BTW - You have one of the best sets B&O ever made. get a pair of S-75 or M-75 to round it out.

Kevin, welcome to Beoworld !
Thanks for signing up as a silver member, your support is greatly appreciated.

Your Beomaster will need a new idle current trimmer in the warm channel (red circle in the photo below).
It's a fairly cheap repair and the repairer should do both channels while in there.
The trimmers will need adjusting to factory specs as per the service manual after replacing.

If you have an electronic type soldering iron, a multimeter with a millivolt range and basic
electronic skills, you can do the repair yourself. The trimmers are 100 Ohms and standard
components, found in any electronic parts store.
It would also make sense to replace the capacitors, as Søren suggested. I can supply a capacitor kit
and I can also supply the trimmers but you may also be able to find the things locally.

The Beomaster 4400 is a wonderful receiver, easily worth repairing, I would recommend you
don't use it before repairs have been done.

Martin

Thank you all for the warm welcome and the great advice. I'll take the 4400 off line until I can get it sorted.

This is my first B&O receiver/amplifier, but I've been a B&O turntable owner since 1983 when I bought my first 4002.  I had that unit for many years until I sold it a year or so ago.  During that time it has served me faithfully and remained largely trouble-free.  When I sold it I immediately had sellers remorse.

The 4004 I recently acquired with the 4400 was in cosmetically fine condition, but needed a fair amount of work to get it back up and running properly.  I replaced the sensor arm micro bulb, the speed dial bulbs, fine tuned the sensor diaphragm, replaced the belts, lubed and adjusted the cueing mechanism.  Now it functions 100% like new, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Thanks again!   Kevin

Keiko5:

Thank you all for the warm welcome and the great advice. I'll take the 4400 off line until I can get it sorted.

This is my first B&O receiver/amplifier, but I've been a B&O turntable owner since 1983 when I bought my first 4002.  I had that unit for many years until I sold it a year or so ago.  During that time it has served me faithfully and remained largely trouble-free.  When I sold it I immediately had sellers remorse.

The 4004 I recently acquired with the 4400 was in cosmetically fine condition, but needed a fair amount of work to get it back up and running properly.  I replaced the sensor arm micro bulb, the speed dial bulbs, fine tuned the sensor diaphragm, replaced the belts, lubed and adjusted the cueing mechanism.  Now it functions 100% like new, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Thanks again!   Kevin

 

Kevin:

Welcome to Beoworld.  Now upgrade yourself to gold membership so you're eligible for the monthly prize drawing! 

Now, regarding this 4004 refurb you did:  Pictures, or it didn't happen!

Rich

PS  All tongue in cheek of course....

Rich:

Kevin:

Welcome to Beoworld.  Now upgrade yourself to gold membership so you're eligible for the monthly prize drawing! 

Now, regarding this 4004 refurb you did:  Pictures, or it didn't happen!

Rich

PS  All tongue in cheek of course....

Here they are!  After receiving the advice from Dillen, I rotated the idle current trimmer clockwise a touch, from about 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock and it cooled off immediately!  I still want to replace some of the caps and the trimmer, but it is running fine now.  The BG 4004 is everything my 4002 was, but its in better condition.  You may notice that I applied clear screen saver film over the touch pads to save them from wear.  I couldn't be happier with the recent additions to our household!

Kevin

Beautiful pics, I want a BM 4400, and I'm jalues, and no more pics please, but change your caps and your trimmers, and enjoy for the next 20 years

Another question to BM 4400/4001 owners:  In some of the online images of the BM 4400, I notice that the FM signal strength meter is illuminated.  The meter on my unit doesn't light up.  I can't find a reference to a lamp in the 4400 schematics, and I can't see one when the unit is opened.  If there is one I'm guessing it is buried in the meter assembly.  Both my tuning arrows light up as does the stereo indicator lamp.  Should I also be getting light from the signal strength meter?  If so, how do I gain access to the lamp?  Thanks for any guidance.

Kevin

It's in the schematics, designated 0IL1 (Radicator).
It's possible that something has been changed in your Beomaster but
normally, the ON and signal level meter lamps are in series, meaning that
if one goes out, the other goes too.
So either the signal meter lamp is actually lit (only not bright enough to see in daylight)
or the lamp has blown and been bypassed
or the associated zenerdiode (D1) has shorted.

Two different types of lamps are used;
One is a wedge type (like the others), sitting in a plug-in socket at the side of the meter,
the other is an axial type sitting built into the meter and a bit harded to access.

Martin

Thanks!  I completely missed it on the schematics.  Looking at my meter assembly, it appears the lamp is built into the assembly.  My ON light functions fine, so maybe the dial lamp is just dim.  I'll check again.

Cheers, Kevin

Dillen:

Two different types of lamps are used;
One is a wedge type (like the others), sitting in a plug-in socket at the side of the meter,
the other is an axial type sitting built into the meter and a bit harded to access.

Martin

 

Turns out my signal strength meter lamp was burnt out.  The meter is more difficult to access than it appears, because of a stiff ribbon-style curcuitboard that was in the way.  I needed to unbind the wiring harness from the top and then open the bottom to work the meter out enough to access its side.  This unit was the type with the plug in socket at the side, lucky me.  The new 6.3V 35mA bulb is installed, and everything is back together. 

Thanks for the help, Martin!

I see Kevin is missing the tuner preset cover, as is every 4400 I can remember seeing for sale on Ebay. 

I'm starting to think the part never existed! 

Rich:

I see Kevin is missing the tuner preset cover, as is every 4400 I can remember seeing for sale on Ebay. 

I'm starting to think the part never existed! 

Nah, I have the cover stored in an offshore secure mobile facility, and its location is changed so often even I don't have a clue where it is.  It's that valuable!

Rich:

I see Kevin is missing the tuner preset cover, as is every 4400 I can remember seeing for sale on Ebay. 

I'm starting to think the part never existed! 

Yes it does - for some odd reason I often see it remaining on BM4000's (like mine) but not on 3000/4400's.

....anyway Geoff explains how to reproduce them in this brilliant thread

Mika:

Thanks for the link to the thread.  Outstanding work by Geoff.  Anyone else done it since?

Will someone with an original cover please post a few photos for us?  I was mainly curious about dimensions, and if the tabs are squared like Geoff's wonderful cover, or if they are hooked as I imagined they might be. I'd really like to know what an original looks like.  Thanks!

Kevin

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/31925/260521.aspx#260521

AAARGH 3rd retry

Perfect!  Thanks so much!