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Hallo,
I purchased one Beogram 4000 with a cartridge-arm which can be moved by hand to the left and right by up to 1 cm. Can this be fixed easily or has this arm to be replaced ? Thanks for any advise.
If you can move the front of the arm 1 cm left and right and the arm returns to middle by itself its normal, if the whole arm (front and back end) moves something is wrong with the arm support.
Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.
Thank you Soren for your quick answer. I really appreciate it. if i move the cartridge-arm to the left it touches the laser arm and stays there. i wonder whether this can easily be fixed or whether replacement is imperative. .
I have a couple of restored Beogram 4000 units and when they are not operating I can use my finger to manually move the arm left or right. In either case the arm should spring back to its center position. During record play the arm will move very slightly to the left, then the tangential tracking motor will move the tonearm transport to catch up. If the arm moves noticeably far to the left before the motor moves the transport then you have a problem with the tracking system (possibly as simple as a burned out lamp or the tracking mechanism is out of adjustment).Since you purchased the turntable used you may not know what the true condition of the Beogram is. There are a number of mechanical adjustments in the service manual you should check out before using the Beogram.
One quick thing to check regarding the tracking is to remove the platter, then press the on button. The tonearm should move to where a record would be and lower as it would to play. After it lowers it should just remain in place. The tracking system should not think it needs to move. If you do see the arm start to move left (or right) then the tracking system is out of adjustment. If the arm remains in place, as it should, you can see if the tracking system works by gently moving the arm to the left with your finger and observe that the tracking motor moves the transport to catch up to the new position.
-sonavor
KlausAnton: Thank you Soren for your quick answer. I really appreciate it. if i move the cartridge-arm to the left it touches the laser arm and stays there. i wonder whether this can easily be fixed or whether replacement is imperative. .
You shouldn't have to replace anything regarding the arm unless you find the arm physically damaged. Most likely the tonearm assembly has things out of adjustment. The adjustment procedures are in the Beogram 4000 service manual. They can be a bit tricky to learn but if you are mechanically inclined and have patience you can learn how to do it. -sonavor
Thank you Sonavor. The arm is physically not damaged. But I guess that the seller did not do a proper packing job. I have to see whether I can find a service manual. I used to play my records on an Oracle delphi one where tone arm adjustments and alignments were very simple. But i am happy that you gave me confidence that i might be able to fix the arm by myself.
You're welcome but I feel I must add a little bit of warning. The adjustment procedures for the Beogram 4000 were not intended for the home owner. Those adjustments aren't in the owner's manual, just the service manual. So keep in mind that when these turntables were new that the adjustments were made by technicians who were given some instruction. Since that training isn't available today we have to learn the procedures from the service manual, guidance from people like Dillen (on this forum) and by careful study of the mechanical pieces. Take a lot of detailed pictures prior to changing anything so you have a good reference when putting things back. To get an idea of the scope of the work you should check out this Beoworld post and this blog by Beolover.
i am a home owner and after your new warning i doubt whether i am the right person to do these adjustment procedures ! On the other hand I doubt whether there is a hifi expert in Nuremberg who could fix it. i still wonder whether this has something to do with an adjustment at all when the arm moves by approx 1 cm towards the laser arm. But i like this turntable very much and want to keep it. I owned one 4000 in Hong Kong where I lived for more than 20 years. I sold it upon return to Germany.
I'm glad you are a Beogram 4000 fan. I think it is a great turntable and is well worth any effort to get it back into full working order. There should be Beoworld members that aren't too terribly far from you that could assist in helping you.
is it not also possible that a spring is broken because moving not only a few mm but more than 1 cm touching its neighbor arm ? will open its housing now to find out. thanks anyway sonavor
To examine what is going on with the mechanics of the arm you should remove the dust cover. That part is something the owner is supposed to be able to do as it was recommended to remove the dust cover and platter for shipping. There are two bolts in the back, underneath part of the turntable that loosen and the cover slides off. Be careful if the cover is down when you loosen the bolts as the spring loaded cover hinges will try to open the cover on its own. with the cover removed you can pull off the tonearm housing and observe the tonearm mechanics.
Just removed the dust cover and the cover with the hole where one can adjust the weight of the cartridge. At the back the metal plate below the laser arm is very low positioned. After I move it higher so that the nose can touch the high position of the incision the tonearm is not moving anymore severely to either side. I think it is only a small problem. apart from this fault the optical condition and cartridge are quite good. 265,- EUR purchase price was quite a bargain. Thank you again for your help. I appreciate it.
Now I have fixed the arm and the beogram works fine. only the stroboscope which is showing no light. question, do I just have to replace it or is it just a broken bulb ??? thank you sonavor for your opinion.
It could very well be that the bulb is defective. The original bulb is a neon type bulb and might be difficult to find. I believe the same bulb is used by other brand turntables from the era such as Dual. Make sure the strobe lamp assembly hasn't shifted where it isn't in line with the view window.Otherwise, unplug the turntable, remove the bulb and connect an AC voltmeter across the bulb socket. Plug the turntable in and press the play button and verify there is AC voltage there. It should be around 200 VAC. If there isn't a voltage present then you will have to trace back to the power supply and transformer. As you probably already know though, the strobe lamp is not required for the Beogram 4000 to function so you can continue to enjoy it until you locate a new bulb or diagnose the problem.
Thank you for your quick answer. Another problem ! i just discovered.that the black nose which holds the cartridge is loose hanging down south. I guess it is inside of the arm broken - very close to the rim. However, the turntable plays well and all the wire contacts leading to the diamond MMC 20E seem to be ok. Shall I leave it this way or should I try to find a replacement of the arm ?
That is a very common problem. My thread on Beogram 400x covers that repair. I had to replace that part on both of my Beogram 4000 turntables. That repair is quite delicate to perform.-sonavor
can i order this unit from b&O ?
Unfortunately I don't think so. Bang & Olufsen doesn't support their old phono cartridges either. That is normal for any company. Most audio companies no longer service equipment they produced over forty years ago. Even if you were to find an intact Beogram 4000 tonearm for replacement, the installation is not a simple plug and play operation. The existing tonearm has to be carefully removed and the tonearm wires that carry the audio signals from the cartridge have to be un-soldered, then re-soldered. After that is done the tonearm calibration needs to be done of course. If the tonearm itself is in good shape I would just have the plastic cartridge mount replaced.If you are located in Europe I would contact Martin (Dillen here on the forum) or Frede (Classic here on the forum) to inquire about repair options. There are others on the forum that might have good repair contacts so maybe they will offer up some assistance. If you are in the USA I would contact Beolover. -sonavor
i am located in nuremberg germany and would be interested to change that plastic black cartridge mount. But i think that will be difficult as well because it carried these 4 brass contact at its bottom.
Correct, here is what is involved with that - my Beogram thread, Beolover's blog. The repair is one of the more difficult.
too difficult for me to repair. will go on playing my beogram 4000 with a loose cartridge mount. thanks for the link. appreciate it.