Vintage Products

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:13:54 GMT

Got the 4400 home for the first time in functioning condition, hooked up with my self-restorated Beovox S-75 speakers and a Beogram 4002 with an original SP15 stylus from 1973.

I swear that it is cleaner and more detailed than my Beomaster 8000/Beovox MS150.2 combo.

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:46:42 GMT

I finished mine last a couple of weeks ago, but have given it to my B&O "specialist" repairman to be shure that I did it right, and he stated that it couldn't be made better by a professional

Sounds good, I like the 4400 for it's simpleness and good sound with a recapped pair of S-75's. The brighter sound could be one of the differences between original and recapped

Generally, the 4400 sounds a little sweeter than my 8000, and I would consider the project sucessful

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

chartz — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:22:47 GMT

Hi Søren,

My Beomaster 4400 still works fine, including the protection circuit!

It also sounds great, possibly a bit brighter than my BM 8000, especially with the tone controls defeated.

Have you finished yours?

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:25:42 GMT

I'm glad that you found the problem and yes, the old electronics can be dogdy sometimes.

The 4400 is a great design and the Beomaster 6000/8000/5000-series shares the same overall design, though some changes had been made.

It is a great product that will win against many modern receivers and amplifiers costing much more than the price of it - recapped and tuned.

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

chartz — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:01:19 GMT

Hi,

I'm testing my Beomaster 4400... I thought the Beomaster 6000/8000 sounded good. I'm surprised at how good this 4400 sounds. It really is excellent! Now I understand Peter or Tim's preference for this receiver...

But then it would cost £2,500 in today's money, so buying and listening to this in 1978 must have been a revelation!

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

chartz — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:56:32 GMT

Yes well, these Beomasters are getting long in the tooth now... In 2000 they were eleven years younger!

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:41:30 GMT

Strange, my repairman said he had never experienced that failure before, and he had been working as a radio mechanic for B&O 1975-2000.

Installed the last caps and tested if it was working. No sound. Neither on FM...

Turns out that a couple of wires were disconnected (oops )

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

chartz — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:04:30 GMT

Søren Hammer:

Just got the 4400 back in business, it was ultimately proved to be a small signal transitor just before the output stage. It turned bad and one of the TIP transistors switched to put out DC.

That's funny, same thing here! An MPSA06. For testing purposes, I tested with a less powerful 2N3904 just to see what happens and we were back into business! I'm waiting for the real McCoy now, plus the cap kit from Martin. I ordered five of them, and I intend to replace it on the other channel too, since they seem to be prone to failure!

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:38:06 GMT

Thanks, Evan! Not having too much sparetime at the moment as I have to get a good outcome of my last year at upper secondary school

Chartz: It sure could be an interesting project, but way out of my league financially speaking! The 4400 design is exellent and I'm sure that exellent capacitors will make an even better receiver as the outcome

Replacement job almost done, 5 capacitors are left to replace, next up I want to clean the faders on the front panel

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Evan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:36:34 GMT

Søren Hammer:
a large social science report has stolen quite a bit of my spare time this week

That happens to me every week! Although not necessarily a social science project - I finished all of those last year!

BTW, Looking good dude

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

chartz — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:47:56 GMT

Good!

There are lots of 1uF and 2.2uF plus some 4.7uF in there.

Has anybody tried 5mm Wimas in the 4400?

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:55:07 GMT

Have been doing a bit of work on the 4400 now.

31 capacitors replaced, considering myself to be just about halfway done.

Martin sent me a PM about the missing 47uF caps, he kindly offered to send them, free of charge.

Now I move on to the more populated part of the main PCB, a bit tough to work around with.

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:10:11 GMT

I will see if I have the time to make more progress tonight - a large social science report has stolen quite a bit of my spare time this week.

And gongratulations with your 4400, hoping that the fault is easily fixable. My Father's 4400 just got the death scentence, the whole output stage, including small-signal transistors are gone unfortunately.

You should replace the capacitors

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

chartz — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:05:12 GMT

More, more!

And please welcome me to the club of 4400 owners!

Mine has a bad channel too it seems... waiting for the parcel to arrive!

Re: Beomaster 4400 - Capacitor replacement

Søren Hammer — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:17:05 GMT

Now in action, starting with the smaller module PCB's.

The DIN connection module after firtting new capacitors - the 47 uF red cap replacement was not to be found in the kit.

Though all the rest are present, here are pictures of extra board #1:

Starting on the two red caps on the FM board now.