We have had our 2nd brand new Beosound 4 for a few weeks now (goodness knows where it's made these days, it isn't made in Denmark) - after the first one we received went poof on the second day of owning it. Now we have noticed an issue that is REALLY starting to irritate, even though it is such a small problem on paper.

 The glass door makes a slight (but audible enough) creaking/scraping noise as it motors its way up and down. I have tried taking the glass off, turning it around then clipping it on the other way, but no difference is experienced, so it can't be the clips or the glass door itself. Not sure if the sound is actually becoming louder, but it is at the point where it's infuriating everytime we use it. It's audible every single time *huff!*

It sounds so silly, but is this something that just needs to be accepted? Or should we be demanding that the operation of the unit should be as graceful and fluent as one would expect after coughing up $3,200. 

 Anyone had similar thought on the beosound 4? Or are we just unlucky! I know it may not be the most correct assumption, but i'm having thoughts that the chinese made B&O is not as good. [:'(] 

I have a BS4 for a few years and it works just perfect, never had any problems with the glass not the annoying sound that you're facing with; something must surely be wrong with your unit.

Perhaps it'd be a good idea to contact your local dealer. 

I think that every brand will suffer from "one or two" lemons in thier range. 

Not good and yes I think having spent so much money I too would be feeling the same. 

A good frank and open chat with your dealer is needed. 

I've just had one on sale stock and I was very impressed. Worked like a dream. In fact I would go so far as to say it changed my impression of the BS4 from so so to pretty damn good.

You should discuss this annoyance with your dealer who I am sure will not want you to fester over the situation.

There's absolutely no need to put up with something that's not right, David.
It doesn't matter how insignificant it may seem, if you've paid for the best you expect it to be right. See your dealer and don't be afraid to make a nuisance of yourself.
Would you drive a Rolls Royce with squeaky windsreen wipers?

Andy T.

At least, your unit doesn't have the (unremovable) fingerprints/spots that some of the BS4 owners discovered on the alu bottom part.. Or you may well give a look on that too

Anyhow, go to your dealer (and don't forget your baseball bat, "it's a tough world out there..." ) 

Philippe

David, I would not shut up with such a problem. I think your dealer has got to understand that if you pay B&O-prices, you want the quality you ask for such a price and the  quality the brand-name stands for. Go to your dealer and ask him to solve that problem..

I think there's a general fell that B&O may be doing what Mercedes did in the 90s, namely producing above average goods, but at a premium that was previously justified by a greater level of quality than exists nowadays. In the mean time though, the best way for B&O to change things is not to complain about it here, but go down to the dealer, get him to swap it, and hope that the subsequent losses at B&O start to influence policy.

Calvin:

I think there's a general fell that B&O may be doing what Mercedes did in the 90s,

Totally agree - and look what that did to Mercedes.  Customer service was lambasted by both the public and the media.  MB went through a toght time with poor build, reliability etc through moving production overseas and for using poor quality parts.

Lets hope we are wrong. 

I just realised the danger of my theory that B&O is like Mercedes. Merc went on to buy Chrysler and lose a mountain of money.  I just hope that B&O doesn't end up with some tie in with Mitsibushi or Haiundi, or some eastern company like samsung. Oh, wait a minute....

Philippe:

At least, your unit doesn't have the (unremovable) fingerprints/spots that some of the BS4 owners discovered on the alu bottom part.. Or you may well give a look on that too

Anyhow, go to your dealer (and don't forget your baseball bat, "it's a tough world out there..." ) 

Philippe

 Thanks to you all for the encouragement, you're right, but as i said this is the second one we've recieved, so either we are unlucky, or the chinese factory (or wherever it's now made) is slack. Umm actually there are marks on the aluminium foot but i have ignored it! Every single one that i've seen has had a mark somewhere.  

 Wait there's more, the screen has started showing phantom pixels when it's in standby (but stangely they go away when the glass door is closed, wait, a wave of the hand, the door goes up and the phantom pixels are back!

What is going on B&O?! I will talk to my dealer, cheers again guys 

mobeyone:

Calvin:

I think there's a general fell that B&O may be doing what Mercedes did in the 90s,

Totally agree - and look what that did to Mercedes.  Customer service was lambasted by both the public and the media.  MB went through a toght time with poor build, reliability etc through moving production overseas and for using poor quality parts.

Lets hope we are wrong. 

We have one of the last real Mercedes, a stuuningly well looked after W201 '89 190E, and yeah the quality / reliability did slip. This car is incredible, it's done 420,000 kms and it's still smooth as silk. If we buy a new car we have no choice but to get a Lexus. 2.5 percent go in for their warranty, as opposed to the germans hitting a terrible 50% for warranty claims! Oops this isn't the MBworld forum! lol

David,

After one replacement of my BS4 (the former had some issues: ‘Chinese’ fingerprints and a lot of spots on the base, strange sounds while the glass opened (occasionally) etc…, glass had marks made by the manipulation machines!!!) I still have some issues with the second one:

-         the same marks on the glass( bottom and top,)

-         some fingerprints ( I'm very lucky because I have only 3)- but not visible

However, I’m very satisfied with the product. After one year of intensely use, I could say that I’m in love with it. I forgot about the issues also….

others products I have without issues: BC2, BL2000, BM2400, BL8000, Cabinet for Beosystem 3, BL4 etc....

 

 

 

Regards,

constantine

I have the stores Beosound 4 now, our's was carted away last night, but when we get it back i don't care if it has any more imperfections it's exhausting being so fussy! All i care about is that it works like all the others. We're really young (20yo&21yo) so when ya save up for ages and spend your entire surplus, it can be really upsetting experiencing this much bad luck. I'm more attracted to the older B&O. The Avant is super, and i want one, I would also love a Beogram 9500! No quality problems there eh?

You do have to remember that these things are made out of components which ship in batches. If there is a fault with one component, it can lead to strange behaviour all over the unit (I've seen a BeoSound 4 with screen 'issues'). Of course, units sharing components from a single batch may well end up grouped together at a dealers, and you could be unlucky enough to be on the receiving end.

While that may be an explanation, it doesn't make it acceptable! I hope we see some kind of action from B&O to help improve reliability.

Wow thats awful, i hope thats not the case, fingers are crossed

Keep us informed, won't you David.

Andy T.

I do so have a BeoSound 4 with a pair of BeoLab4s quite some months. The unit works well so far.

But i have a little thing, where i do not know if this is normal or not: When i push the load button, the glass door goes uf, and then, the CD lever (this round silver shiny thing) makes a "knaack" noise. When i push load again, so that the lever comes down and the door as well, then i hear this sound again, even a little louder and clearer. As this is from the beginning i have the BS4 i am not sure wheter this is just the normal operations sound, or if this is perhaps a defect.

The rest is okay, well there are some little fingerprints or just prints of something on the base, but it's only visible if you are really near.

 So what do you think? Should i go to my dealer? Will he keep the BS4 and repair it for weeks? Or how was your experience in such cases? 

Thankfully that sound is normal. The CD clamper incorporates a magnet in the middle that connects with the centre of the spindle when the clamper comes down.

I'm not 100% sure what the purpose of this is, but it's clever! I think the other B&O CD systems have this feature as well... It may be to ensure that there is nothing rattling around and getting damaged during transit of the unit. It may also just be there to hold the cd onto the spindle, thus resulting in stable playback (as it is on a slant) and quick, slip-free acceleration / deceleration of the disc.

Well, i know it must make some sort of sound as this is mechanical. So far that is okay. But for me it seems like this sound was not that loud in the first few months. It seems like it's getting louder, also it sounds somewhat strange, like something is stuck or not running well. 

So i talked to my B&O dealer, he told me that there should not be any loud sound when loading/unloading CDs. Therefore  i let the technican now look over it. Next week i will be informed, and i will let you know what the result is. 

So, just to you all up to date:

I brought my BS4 to the B&O Dealer last Saturday, and he told me to look over it and to find out if that sound is normal or not. So two days before i was informed that the repair is delayed, because they are waiting for ordered replacement parts. So it seems that this "cracking" noise  was really not okay, and that they had to change something. I hope i will get my BS4 back today or tomorrow. 

They didn't loan you another BS4 for the time being?

No they did not. Obviously they did not have any BS4 in stock, so they could't give me one 

So, next update:

 I got a call yesterday evening that my BS4 is repaired and ready to pick up. So i was there this morning and picked up my BS4. 

They did replace the whole CD mechanics as well as the CD clamper. Now the problem with that noise while loading/unloading CDs ist gone. It sounds normal now and seems to hold the CDs better in the drive than before.

 But anyway, i am not that lucky, because now the SD Card reader stoped working. When i insert my SD Card (that one i always used in my BS4) it displays a message that says that no card is inserted. This is wrong, the card is in the reader slot as always. But no reaction. Okay, i removed and inserted it several times. Nothing. I tried a different SD Card. Nothing. I looked into the slot using a lamp, nothing to see that could block the card or so. 

So, i have my BS4 now with a good working and silent CD drive, but no A.Mem anymore  

That is really bad, because actually i use A.Mem more often than CD.

As the service center is closed today, there is nothing i can do, just wait for next week. I hope they won't keep my BS4 for a whole week again... 

That is appalling!