ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Located in Colorado.
Hello,
I'd like to have one too, but you can most certainly forget about finding one. Most if not all are now non-functional and repair is complicated if not impossible in many cases. For sure it is uneconomical. It is a long time project of mine, but even with several attempts and quite a couple of non-working examples I was unable to get one up and running. They are too complex, flimsy in parts of the contruction and old now. Be prepared to buy several examples and spend quite some money to get one up and running entirely as it should. VX 5000 has to be the most complicated piece of B&O kit to get back to full working order by now. It is definitely a contender. Far more difficult to work on than Beomaster 8000, Beocord 5000, the Quad, etc. and that has got to say something.
Sorry to have nothing more positive to say.
Greetings,
Kai
A VX7000 might be easier to find,and they were capable of playing NTSC tapes.It's a simpler version of the VX5000,which was indeed a complex beast.I have several VX machines in my growing "round-tuit" corner,but they are looking like "bucket list" projects at the moment!!!
Nick
A much less onerous task to re-cap the '7000,and I imagine that mechanical parts are still available,at least the common ones like capstan belt and pressure roller,as these were basically Hitachi machines.
I may have some among my treasure trove
I actually have a fully operational VX5000, thanks to Atlantic Systems in Massachusetts. I spent a lot of money getting it fixed. It was a such a traumatic experience for them, they said they would not service another one! However, I have 3 MX5500's and I would like a second VCR. I had no idea the VX7000 not only works with NTSC, but the two way system on the MX's and the Beolink 5000, which is what is most important to me. It sounds like it will be easier to find that instead of a working VX. Thank you for that clue!
You are awfully lucky if they got it fixed. In fact, in most cases, it is simply not possible. There are so many constructive weaknesses of the VX5000. They overheat. Therefore the powersupply needs to be redone. Better fit one that's not producing as much heat because otherwise you'll end up with the same problem soon. Electronic parts are to old now and spread acid all over the place. If that happens you'll likely end up in a situation where you better throw the machine away. Boards rot and simply break. The motors are another problem. The next one is the tray. Brittle plastic breaks again. Most of those problems will need appropriate spares or donors to get repaired. But donors are likely to suffer from the same problems, and if not already they most certainly will in the nearer future. Not to speak of the more than 200 capacitors that all (!!!) need to be replaced or else the whole machine will act up. I could continue. VX5000 was a nice one and I haven't entirely given up the idea yet, but I guess the only reasonable thing to decide is to simply forget those machines. They are more or less all beyond repair now. And if you are lucky to repair one or get it repaired it will most likely break again real soon. VX7000 has many problems too, but there are still some running ones around, they are more common (if a donor is needed) and easier (although not easy) to repair.