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This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
My latest addition to my B&O "family" appears to have an issue I have never encountered with a CD player, that is it plays most CD's flawlessly and other it does not play at all.
The CD's in question are not damaged and play well on my Beogram CDX and Beogram 4500.
Any idea what might be causing this issue?
Jeff
Beogram 4000, Beogram 4002, Beogram 4004, Beogram 8000, Beogram 8002, Beogram 1602. Beogram 4500 CD player, B&O CDX player, Beocord 4500, Beocord 5000 T4716, Beocord 5000 T4716, Beocord 5000 T4716, Beocord 8004, Beocord 9000, Beomaster 1000, Beomaster 1600, Beomaster 2400.2, Beomaster 2400.2, Beomaster 4400, Beomaster 4500, Beolab 5000, Beomaster 5000, BeoCenter 9000. BeoSound Century, S-45.2, S-45.2, S-75, S-75, M-75, M-100, MC 120.2 speakers; B&O Illuminated Sign (with crown & red logo). B&O grey & black Illuminated Sign, B&O black Plexiglas dealer sign, B&O ash tray, B&O (Orrefors) dealer award vase, B&O Beotime Clock. Navy blue B&O baseball cap, B&O T-shirt X2, B&O black ball point pen, B&O Retail Management Binder
You need to replace C2103 on the servo board.
Suggest you search C2103 on the archived general forum and you will find much info.
Regards Graham
Hi Graham,
Thank you for the suggestion to replace C2103.
As you know long distance diagnosis is difficult at best, so I thought a bit of additional information might be useful.
This 9000 was left at a recycling station and did not have the transport screw engaged as the unit was regarded as trash. As such I imagine it was tossed about a bit before coming to me.
Being a fan of British cars I am prone to “tinker” with my aging collection of B&O products. While I know Danish electronics have nothing to do with Lord Lucas and British auto electronics, I still wanted to tinker with this errant CD player.
What I discovered was the CD player shudders badly when first beginning play and then plays flawlessly.
I went from one CD to another and the 9000 played each one perfectly. I then tried the CD that the 9000 refused to play previously and after the initial shudder, it played it over and over again, changing tracks, etc.
I am by NO means a technical expert, just an enthusiast. If the CD player needs much more than lubrication I rather suspect I will need to send it out for proper repair.
Hi, am sure you know this, but still: make sure you set the springs in the right setting depending if it is standing up hanging or lying down. This is done by turing the screw in the back (gently with a screwdriver if you don't have the tool). I did not do this and caused similar issues.
holly42: Hi, am sure you know this, but still: make sure you set the springs in the right setting depending if it is standing up hanging or lying down. This is done by turing the screw in the back (gently with a screwdriver if you don't have the tool). I did not do this and caused similar issues.
I am not sure what you are talking about. I suspect you might be confusing the Beocenter 9000 with the Beosound 9000!!!!!
..stupid me, you are correct, sorry for the confusion.
Not stupid at all, we all make mistakes. However reading the initial post at 6:00AM had all kinds of "confused" ideas going on in my foggy brain. That said, you sarted me off with a smile on my face and I thank you kindly for that!
We must be on opposite sides of the globe. I was sitting with a wine in my hand in the evening. Maybe a wine too many.. Hope it all works out for you.
Sitting with a glass of wine in hand….. sounds good to me.
I am “hoping” that the root cause is a lack of use and oxidation. My gut tells me that the problem is more mechanical than electronic….. however that is only a guess.
Jeff,
the C2103 is a standard fault that happens to all of these if they have been used at all. That is almost certainly the reason the device was in the recycling center to begin with (if the CD hub hasn't broken yet). Occasional warm-up problems and refusal to play certain discs is a 100% typical symptom.
Replacing it will take half an hour for somebody who knows what he's doing, and 1-4 hours for a handy first timer (while a not so handy first timer in a hurry will just botch everything up).
--mika
Mika,
I bow to your expertise. I fall into your second category so it will take me a few hours to replace the C2103.
I have had this BeoCenter for about three weeks and after a bit of use, the problem with “selective” playing of CD’s stopped giving me hope that it was a mechanical problem.
All this rather reminds me of my original Beogram 8000 which really developed a “personality” in playing records. I resisted advice to make needed repairs until one day the 8000 stopped mid-play with smoke coming out of the deck.
It took Martin to get that one back in order as the numerous faults exceeded my limited abilities.
Since this BeoCenter is currently playing CD’s well, is there any harm to putting off the C2103 replacement….. that is will using it as is do any damage?
Thanks for your input and advice.
Shouldn't do any damage but the number of times that it successfully starts a CD will get less and less until it won't play at all.
Meanwhile, you could always order the correct capacitor!
If it works well now, you can keep using it and think about the service again if the problem comes back later.
I guess there is a small chance that the spindle motor was just a bit stiff due to lack of use. But leave that alone, if the part of the hub that grabs the CD breaks you're looking at an unobtainable spare part!
It might benefit from a lens clean unless you've done that already.
I agree with Graham about ordering the cap - it needs to be the specific type so you won't probably find one in the corner shop, and it can take a while.
Thanks Mika and Graham for your guidance.
Thus far the CD player plays everything offered displaying no sign of difficulty in so doing. Had I not experienced this issue I would not have any idea that I have a problem.
At least I am assured that using this CD player will not damage it.
If I didn’t make it clear, this unit was dropped off at a recycling depot set to be discarded. It was brought in without the retaining screw in place and I have NO doubt that the unit was tossed about a bit as it was slated for destruction.
The reason the 9000 was brought in might well have been the failure of the CD door due to a stretched belt. This was an easy fix, although I wish I had known that the adhesive on the two glass panels had dried out. Both went flying off the unit and I just barely managed to catch both in flight. A little bit of drama that I didn’t need.
All this talk about impending failure, I just engaged the 9000’s CD player and using my remote I also turned on my Beogram 4500, both loaded at exactly the same time.
That begs the question; does this expected failure of the C2103 also affect my Beogram 4500 and CDX players? Neither has exhibited a similar issue.
Piaf:That begs the question; does this expected failure of the C2103 also affect my Beogram 4500 and CDX players? Neither has exhibited a similar issue.
CD4500 yes, the CDX is completely different. I've never worked with the latter, but I believe you are more likely to look at failed solder joints and PCB vias if it ever starts acting up.
You were lucky with the glass panels... another standard problem.
Where is this C2103 located? Is it in the servo gain path? I ask because I have a Magnavox/Philips player of older vintage, and it has a cap C2103 in that path, but I'm not sure if that's a coincidence or if there is similarity in the designs, as the Philips was the basis of the early B&O players.
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Jeff:Where is this C2103 located? Is it in the servo gain path?
No, it's a filter cap in the laser current regulating circuit as far as I understand. However, these B&O CD decks follow rather closely the original Philips reference design as far as the servo + decoder are concerned, so there will be a lot of similarities even if this particular cap number didn't match.
You're gold so why don't you take a look yourself with the help of our service manual section
(the BC9500 manual is huge, so perhaps look at CD5500 or similar - pretty much the same technically)