Hello Beoworlders,

May I introduce myself: I am a Beomaster4000. I was born in the town of Struer in Denmark in the mid of the 70es.

I don't know my real date of birth nor can I remember much of my childhood. Must have spend a long time in Denmark.

Then all of a sudden I was "thrown out" of my home and got almost scraped. Someone took me up and brought me to a flea market in northern Germany where I was picked up by a guy who brought me home. As he noticed I would need a little surgery that was beyond his possibilities he decided to hand me over to someone else with better electrical skills.

So I landed in a small southern German town where I am going to have an electrical checkup as I plan to have a big journey where I should be in good physical shape.

I am going to visit my home town for a short time next year and then - can't await it - will do a BIG distance travel to the other side of this ol' earth!!! A town that sounds like one that's closer but of course it can't be far enough for me. There will be a young enthusiast who is much younger than me and he'll pick me up in Struer and accompany me on my long and far travel. He surely will take care of me as he always wanted someone like me. I do hope I can fill his expectations

He'll have to do some minor optical upgrade as I've lost some of my original parts during the long time since. But I had a look at my future home on a picture here in this forum and have read reports from my new owner how he's taking care of some relatives called RL60.2 (two of them) and he brought them up the way I remember them from my youth. And the room I peeked at looks a lot like the one right here - a big mess

I will report the progresses on me and hope that at a certain time my new owner will take up the job of continuing my thread - when my temporary owner will hand me over. I'm so excited, even saw my new travelling case

Oh, BTW, this is me:

Yes I've seen better times but as I said - I found some nice people taking care of me right now so I can hopefully forget about the past - I won't miss it.

T.B.C.

  BM4000

Nice one Gunther, lets get sentimental and drop a happy tear, and I agree, Ohio will be a nice place to maybe end a long journey.

Dear BM 4000, 

That is a very nice introduction for yourself! Glad to hear you are eagerly awaiting your journey, hopefully as much as I am.

You will enjoy it here in Dublin, many of your brothers and sisters will be here to greet you when you arrive. You will even have your very own dedicated space among them. I promise I will make the place look more presentable.

Looking forward to meeting you,

 Evan 

OK, had a good sleep last night; If it weren't for that deep pain to the left of my chest - I guess I have to meet the doctor...

He's fully booked for today but promised to give me an saturday appointment  if it hasn't gone by then.

Yes I'm a national health patient and not insured privately

So I have to wait - -sigh-

Well Mr. 4000,

I think it will be worth the wait, you are going to get some world class treatment!

Oh Boy - don't meet a doctor if it doesn't really hurt

So OK I came to the doctor's office and he looked at me.

Those screws are definitely not original. And both mounting brackets & screws missing as well.

Furthermore:

Those are also not original and what's worse: they have the wrong thread: Those are sheet metal screws and a M4 thread

And third: I've been robbed before!

At first I was given some new paperwork - Have to live with a copy

Then the first diagnosis regarding the chest:

Outch - that doesn't look too good . Surgery will be longer then...

While already open I got new bulbs - that was the easy part.

Next thing to discover - lost contact, lonely tantal:

Now to the pain that made me visit the doctor.

As to be expected - originals missing; this time completely so needed artificial implants

Next came the internal findings. 8 wires - Fixed!

And of course: don't forget the tantal...

So just when I thought I'd be over it now - next shock:

Now THAT'S AN ABSOLUTE NO-GO!!!!!

Mains lead and fixed with - adhesive tape! Not even the insulation tape - ordinary office tape!!!

Was taken immediately to emergency - this one can be lethal - for me AND for the owner

Another 15 minutes and I could leave the room again. Feeling MUCH better now!

Again not an original part - but considering all the other non-originals that doesn't matter for me anymore...

Then I was powered up for the first time.

Disappointment: one channel dead, the other relatively quiet, FM-noise but no station, field strength meter fullscale. Tuning voltage on the newly wired pots ok.

Doctor recommended a follow-up appointment as I have suffered almost the whole day now. Have to get a date when he has time; remember I'm not privately insured so next wait...

Anyway, my chest feels better now:

And I'm enlighted again

Will report back after my next appointment date.

  BM4000

That is a lot of progress 4000! That is one amazing doctor.

That office tape and broken tuner pcb look serious but the doctor seems very capable.

I'm sorry you have had to live with such poor care previously but I know you are in great hands now and will thoroughly enjoy your time in Ohio! At this rate it looks like you will make a full recovery very soon!

Get well,
Evan

Oh man, love this thread

Why? Got one yesterday and hopefully it only needs a cosmetic clean up! Have not tested it...

Leslie:

Got one yesterday

Leslie, I do hope my brother is in much better shape

Doctor called today and told me he saw some strange things on his X-Ray so had to meet him again today.

Crossed wires? Wouldn't expect this from the developers. So schematics were verified, PCB traced and.....

YES, someone "fixed" this erroneously. All 4 wires should be strait through.

So now that's better.

Yeah, tuner gives some stations on the working right channel

But alas, stations are all at the same time - well - almost sounds like that. Stations changing quickly running up & down.

Tuning voltage shows all kind of numbers, from 0 to almost 60 Volts

Found that tuner metal case isn't ground level

Another tracing and - look:

Hit by lightning?????? Would probably explain why I don't have too much memory

Wire bridge on the burnt PCB trace - and back to constant stations

But - direction tuning lights still dark - hey they were already replaced! Closer view shows that the right one glows a little while tuning in.

There's a brightness adjust pot so turn a little - there's light! Well, at least for a very short time; then the "rotator" just fell off

Same happened to the brightness balancing one so had them both replaced.

Capsuled ones are better anyway...

A little calibration and that's how today's session ended up with :

That's going to get a longer story than I expected when starting the thread. But it might help some brothers in getting cured.

   BM4000

That's amazing 4000! What an improvement! I'm sure you are already feeling much better!

And just think, that "repairman" is out there and at large!

Man, wish I had the knowledge what you guys have with this electronic stuff. Can I do the cosmetic part? Compliments and get well soon

Leslie:

Man, wish I had the knowledge what you guys have with this electronic stuff. Can I do the cosmetic part? Compliments and get well soon

One year ago I would have agreed with you Leslie, but reading a lot, checking and practicing, does it. I will never get to the level of the profs here on the forum, but with a little pacience and a multimeter you can do a lot, grab an old 901 or similar and start there. As an honered member of this forum you will get the help you need.

hemenex:

That's going to get a longer story than I expected when starting the thread. But it might help some brothers in getting cured.

Ha Ha Gunther, against your will you are making an interesting thread, and with pics Keep at it "kumbel" we love it.

Søren Mexico:

One year ago I would have agreed with you Leslie, but reading a lot, checking and practicing, does it. I will never get to the level of the profs here on the forum, but with a little pacience and a multimeter you can do a lot, grab an old 901 or similar and start there. As an honered member of this forum you will get the help you need.

Thanks Søren, very kind of you hearing these words. Maybe I should give it a try using the MM a bit more but still..

Have been watching your world travel pictures. Very impressive! Did you got your alum. CD btw?

@BM4000, if you need a donor let me know, I must have one somewhere. Just travelling costs will do

Leslie:

@BM4000, if you need a donor let me know, I must have one somewhere. Just travelling costs will do

Thanks Leslie; but I'm afraid you might need it soon for my brother that you own... I surely let you know if I need some special implants

And I'm sure my doctor would try to give the donor unit just another life like me.

Back to the doctor today - left channel's on the program... Some botcher worked on me before and replaced the left channel power pin with a piece of thick wire:

Not very nice and thicker than the pin so the jack has been widened as well. Looking underneath showed why; PCB contact lost. Had to be fixed:

Other pin was changed too to have them both new & equal:

Some measurements later the left idle current pot looked different to the right one and seemed to show to be open circuit:

soldered out and ...

Any further questions? A 10K instead of 250R !! Now I don't trust anything that's in here anymore

Next finding: The ol' cap theme.... this time obvious

just a little later...

Some sound on the left channel

But

just for some seconds. Then back to 0. No sound anymore, Field meter max, balance lamps off. Remove power amp connectors, still nothing.

Tuner voltage off like at the very first start. Wait, what was the reason there back then?

No, not again! Lost ground connection. Same trace as last time but some cm's away. The whole trace seems to have had severe overload previously. Let's fix it as well.

It's like watching a thriller

Ok, FM back to life

Stations are fine on the presets but a little loose on the dial. Bad contact but not on the soldering so must be internal to the pot.

Cleaning with a glass fibre pen:

Didn't help, made it even worse; resistive coating hasn't contact to the solder pins. Last chance: liquid conducting pen

Forgot to take picture while open but maybe you can spot it anyway:

Fixed it - 99%. Still a little sensitive on touch but I can live with that as it isn't touched anymore when I'm fully closed again. Moving the frequency slider works fine. Stations stable - phew.