BeoGram

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Piaf — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:49:20 GMT

John,

You are most welcome. By all means send your CD-50 to Martin for repair. These CD players apparently have “issues,” at least the CDX does…. like mine. I got of lucky this time as all mine needed was the lens cleaned.

Thank you for the kind wishes in regard to my Beogram 4000. I very much look forward to its return.

Jeff

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Jacoll96 — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:03:19 GMT

Thanks for the information, Friedmett and Jeff. Enjoy your BeoGram 4000 when it arrives, Jeff.

John

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Piaf — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:12:48 GMT

Yes, I certainly agree, a trip to Denmark would have been delightful. I haven’t been to Denmark in many years…. so long in fact that the Beogram 4000 in question might well have been still in production.

OK, maybe that is a stretch, but it wasn’t long out of production.

I am very much looking forward to martin’s full report on my “pride and joy,” thus far the news has been much better than expected.

As far as shipping goes, I had three choices: overnight with insane prices, 5 day, which is the route I picked, and "suface" which took a month or more.

Jeff

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Friedmett — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:14:19 GMT

The faster you want it to get here and insured the more expensive it is.

It's good to hear its in the safe hands of Dillen in one piece!

A roundtrip would be a great idea if you got the time and money. Its not everday you come to Denmark? How fast Dillen can fix it is the question as the faults has to be located and the unit properly tested. Skip on this and you might be in for a surprice.

My Beomaster 8000 were done and I had the option to get it 2 days later only to find it still blowing fuses when I came home. It had played and worked great those 2 days but the net transformer had gone bad. It got changed and it stills plays perfectly.

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Piaf — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:39:52 GMT

Hi John,

I checked will virtually all the carriers and was horrified at their responses. The Beogram 4000 with packing material is quite heavy and I HAD to have the 4000 double-boxed.

As such FedExpress was insanely expensive $500-$600 each way. DHL was no better. UPS was less, but still pretty scary. I eventually settled on Canada Post, not my favorite carrier, but the cost was US$274.89. (One way)

So yes, it was outrageously expensive. At least you are in New York State…. whereas I live on Vancouver Island.

Good luck with you CD-50 repair. Martin definitely is the place to have it repaired!

Jeff

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Jacoll96 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:58:31 GMT

Regarding my post of September 14, my concern was only the cost of the international shipping, not the repairs. I know that Martin's work is superlative and worth every cent - and more. I checked the FedEx and DHL sites for shipping rates and learned that it would cost from US$200 to US$300 (136 to 205 Euros) to ship a twenty-pound (nine kilogram) package each way (i.e., a total of US$400 to 600). That surprised me, as I could fly roundtrip from New York City to Copenhagen via KLM for US$864 (590 Euros). That's why I was curious as to what carrier Piaf (Jeff) used. (At the rates I was quoted, it almost makes sense to fly to Denmark with the CD-50 on my lap and enjoy some Carlbergs while the repairs are being made.)

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Dillen — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:30:31 GMT

Yes.

We were quite sure that the fuses were correct and the currents mentioned late at the first page of the thread was that of the solenoid, not that of the Beogram as a whole.

Still, we were close.

Martin

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

tournedos — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:13:02 GMT

Sorry to rub it in, but

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/permalink/112549/112093/ShowThread.aspx#112093

Anyway, I hope the Beogram is now in good order and will return safely in better condition than it left!

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Dillen — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:30:17 GMT

Thanks, Friedmett.

I now have Jeff's Beogram 4000 on the bench;

The complaint was that it would hover the tonearm over the record for ages
but when lowered it only took a few seconds before the fuse blew.

The fuses in question are the mains fuses and in this Beogram they
are 250mA slow burning as per the service manual.

The service manual also states the max current consumption of the Beogram as 40 Watts.
My B&O RT12 variac allows me to not only set my own mains voltage (for this
Beogram 110-115V) but also to read the actual mains current draw of the unit at test.
Ohms law put into action (effect equals voltage times current)
gives us (40/110) = 0,363A (363 mA) so that's what we will be expecting to see.

The readout of the actual values are 240mA when the tonearm is hovering
and almost 360mA when the tonearm is down (due to the holding solenoid).

So no actual overloads anywhere but clearly, this is more than most 250mA fuses will allow.
In other words, we are working outside the fuses factory specs and tolerances.

On 220V mains, the current would be about half of that (apprx 180mA) which makes
the 250mA fuses suitable but on 110V the fuses are too small and should really
be replaced by 500mA types.
As far as I can tell, it's not mentioned in the service manual. Quite a mistake.

Following this, Jeff told me that this Beogram was actually imported
from a 220V territory and obviously noone thought about replacing the fuses, not
even the previous repairer in the states.

A very nice deck indeed.
No other electronic faults were found but it will be given a checkup of
the basic functions and adjustments, a fresh pair of 500mA slow burning
fuses and the finding of a couple of marginal capacitors never comes as a surprise.

Martin

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Friedmett — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:09:15 GMT

If it's well packed you have nothing to worry about.

Danish customs are more into drug checking with dogs and making sure that anything with a value on them get's to pay import taxes. They go by random check and sometimes they don't touch anything at all. When it's outside EU it's import tax and drugs but it depends on the country. China is mostly fake stuff and east europe is imigrants.

Anyway when Dillen get's it you have the best B&O service for your time, money and care.

Dillen must have send a pm by now?

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Jacoll96 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:11:07 GMT

Jeff -

I'm considering sending a CD-50 to Martin for repairs. I live in the U.S. (New York State). What carrier did you use? Was it outrageously expensive?

Thanks,

John

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Piaf — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:20:30 GMT

There’s a scary thought. I am bad enough with pets.

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

camshaft — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:04:35 GMT

Piaf:
My goodness, I am more nervous than a new father with his first born child!

I hope you don't have kids

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Piaf — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:23:19 GMT

Hi Martin,

The Beogram 4000 has arrived in Denmark.

Let us hope that Danish Customs are nicer in regard to these Beograms than is Customs Canada.

Please let me know when you receive the 4000 and the condition in which it arrived. My goodness, I am more nervous than a new father with his first born child!

Jeff

Re: Beogram 4000 ready for repair

Piaf — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:18:56 GMT

Yes, it has taken me a long time simply because I was so intimidated about shipping the Beogram 4000, however I followed Martin’s directions to the letter vis a vis packing, so I am hopeful that it will arrive in good shape.

I understand your fondness for your Beogram 8002. I recently acquired mine and am completely delighted with it. My 8002 was completely restored by a well known B&O “guru” in St. Louis. Compared to any of my other Beograms (I have 6) it feels “new.” Everything is very tight, with instantaneous response to any selection of the buttons.

I really look forward to Martin’s “magic” touch being applied to the 4000.

Although I can not begin to explain it, prior to the 4000 developing its “problem” it had, by far, the best sound reproduction of any of my turntables. Specifically I am comparing it to my ever dependable 4004 with it NOS MMC 20CL cartridge which produces spectacular sound. However, with them sitting side by side, using the same amplifier and the same record, the 4000 sound is…. well more realistic.

I assume that this difference has more to do with the cartridge than the turntable, but we ARE comparing a very used MMC 20CL (one of my old stylus’ that I had saved when I felt it time to replace it) and a NOS 20CL from a sealed box.

In any case, for shipping I cut pieces of foam to completely cover the entire turntable, making cut-outs around the tonearm and sensor arm. I also used a B&O retainer clip for the arms and with it in place, those arms do NOT move.

Naturally I removed the platter and the cartridge… plus the control panel, as mine easily comes lose and can do horrific damage in shipment. Of course with all that foam, it was unlikely to come lose, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

I also placed a strip of foam on top of the tonearm cover as the back so that it can not lift up in transit. Unlike the 4002/4004 series, the 4000 arm assembly is held in place by gravity alone.

When my 4000 was initially shipped to me the seller had failed to put any padding under the dust cover, so the arms were thrashed about mercilessly arriving at a 45º angle. And as mentioned before, the control panel came loose and did an awful job on the dustcover.

So I packed it solid under the dustcover with the padding, closed the lid, and used the Styrofoam end pads from my 8002 and placed the 4000 in the 8002 box.

Then I put the packed 8002 box in a larger one and filled the void with bubble wrap. If the 4000 arrives in one piece, then I was successful. If not, I’ll find out where I failed to protect my pride and joy.

Jeff