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This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
My most dependable Beomaster 2400 “lost” its right channel today. Nothing I did made any difference: checking all speaker connections and sources. Finally I turned the 2400 off and then back on, and voila the right channel was back.
Once again I believe I have a switch issue. This 2400 also, on rare occasions displays truly horrific sound, especially when the remote is used to change from PHONO to TAPE. However firmly depressing the PHONO or TAPE button on the Beomaster and the distorted sound disappears.
Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?
From what masquerades as my excuse for a memory, I vaguely recall the responses from my post vis-à-vis the distorted sound/switch issue, but I don’t see the connection to the source being fine, but losing one channel.
Perhaps I have more than more issue here.
What do you guys think?
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
oh here we go againask someone to repair it
Have you tried playing around with the balance control ?It could be a broken bronze contact holder in the balance potentiometer.But of course it could also be many other things.
Martin
No problem Jeff, just keep your fire extinguisher ready
Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.
I usually soak my 2400's in WD40 for a couple days.
Ricardo: I usually soak my 2400's in WD40 for a couple days.
But then you will have to dry it in the oven at 150°C for 3 hours
Søren Mexico: Ricardo: I usually soak my 2400's in WD40 for a couple days. But then you will have to dry it in the oven at 150°C for 3 hours
Dude - this is the 21st century - we have Microwaves !!!!
Well now wasn’t that a colourful and helpful collection of responses? The “soak your 2400 in WD40 for a few days” was insightful beyond words. Why didn’t I think of that?
Look, I get it that you guys think I am a bit dense and maybe that is the case here…. “Here we go again.” However beyond the obvious, if something doesn’t work properly you have it repaired, I have a (generally speaking) perfectly working Beomaster 2400. It doesn’t have operational issues like the 4400, but it is now showing signs of its age….it would be best to have it refurbished.
That said, if I applied this view to all my antique electronics I would either have the world’s biggest repair bill or I wouldn’t use anything over 5 years of age.
Søren, you know me well enough to be entitled to the, “Keep the fire extinguisher ready” comment….. which actually made me chuckle, as that was a pretty clever comment.
The reason for this post was I was hoping there was an easy (for an amateur) fix to what ails an otherwise superb 2400. Martin’s polite response made it clear to me that whatever caused the right channel to disappear could be a wide assortment of things, so no easy fix. Hey, I tried.
This is a discussion forum, you ask questions, get answers, and act accordingly based on one’s own best judgment.
So my 2400 has switch issues, I can deal with that. Eventually it will get bad enough that the 2400 is unusable and it will join the 4500, which is all packed up ready to be shipped for repair, but we are not there yet.
And Søren, yes I really DID purchase a fire extinguisher, NOT because I expected the 4400 to bust into flames, but because I discovered I didn’t have a fire extinguisher after an international move, so I corrected this oversight.
I really enjoy my antique electronics and that means I fully intend to use them…. otherwise, why have them? Everything without exception will eventually require repair, but that shouldn’t prevent us from using our equipment. My 2400 just reminded me that it is not new….. and neither am I.
Jeff you have had these failures, or other, with nearly all your items, at some point you will have to repair them, you will have to find someone near you to help you. I have offered to help, but shipping to TX and then to Mexico by car is not good for any equipment, and will take time.
As for the fire extinguisher, I have 3, 1 at ground floor, 1 at the 2nd floor, 1 on the roof beside the 1500 Liter gas tank, because the law requires this, if a fire breaks out anywhere near that tank I will never go for the fire extinguisher, but run like h###.
Hi Søren,
You are quite right, I have had problems with most all my aging equipment, which is to be expected and as I said previously, it is ONLY a matter of time before each will require attention.
Your kind offer of help is genuinely appreciated and I will most likely take you up on it.
The point to my question was/is I am simply trying to “make do” with my graying equipment. If there was an electronic shop nearby I would take the stuff in one at a time and have them repaired properly.
As that is not the case here, I am forced to do one of two things, try to fix the problem myself, which with electronics tends to be a “band-aid” sort of repair, a patch if you will, rather than a proper repair, but it is ether that or box the unit up.
Truth is I am MUCH better with mechanical problems and have had reasonable success with my Beograms. However when the electronic come into play, I don’t do very well….. both my Beogram 4000 and 8000 were too much for me and had to be shipped to Martin, who fixed them properly.
I did manage to get my BeoCenter 9000 working well….. but only by cheating, as I replaced the entire CD unit, unable to repair the one I had.
Back to my Beomaster 2400, I was hoping for a simple solution and there isn’t one, so I will just have to live with this (currently) minor annoyance.
As for the fire extinguisher, as a (former) car collector I had a fire extinguisher in each car, the garage, the kitchen near the garage….. well you get the idea. However they don’t allow fire an extinguisher to be brought over the border, for whatever reason, and I just never purchased one. Now let’s face it; you need at least one fire extinguisher somewhere in the house, so I bought one, with Martin’s assertion as a faux motivation.
Your joke, in this regard was very funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Back to the real world I have zero concern that the 2400 is a fire hazard with its sticky switches and although I kept an eye on the 4400 (following Martin’s warning) when I needed to use it regularly, however that need it past and the 4400 is seldom pressed into service today. (Point of fact I keep the fire extinguisher in the front closet near the kitchen…. it was never kept in the dining room when the 4400 lives.)
Well, enough of that, time to get back to the joys of unpacking.
Again thank you so much for the gracious offer to repair my ailing equipment; you are a gentleman in every sense of the word.
Dillen: Have you tried playing around with the balance control ?It could be a broken bronze contact holder in the balance potentiometer.But of course it could also be many other things. Martin
Hello Martin,
No I didn’t think to play with the balance control, although that probably would have been my next choice after turning the 2400 on and off.
If/when a channel disappears again; I will try your suggestion.
I have no idea if these two “problems” are related, but with the first one, the terrible sound, pressing the TAPE or PHONO harder solves the problem immediately. More accurately pressing TAPE harder is what works, as there has not be a problem with the PHONO button.
Performing a “serious” repair on this amplifier, or any amplifier for that matter exceeds my ability, as you are aware and with no local shop, I don’t have a lot of options.
All I can do is try to “charm” the 2400 to perform, once whatever is wrong gets worse and my best efforts cease to work, this 2400 will be retired, like my 4500, until a proper solution can be found.
It is all about priorities and if/when my 2400 fails, I would prefer to have the 4500 repaired first, as I LOVE that amplifier. It kills me to leave it in a box, but it is absolutely unusable the way it is AND I don’t want to risk making a bad thing worse.
After 4500 is rebuilt, I would then want the 4400 rebuilt next, as I would very much like to hear what this thing is supposed to sound like.
I did indeed reply to Martin’s valued advice. (Please see reply at the bottom of this posting.)
Whatever is wrong with my Beomaster 2400 is currently a “hiccup” rather than a serious problem or problems. No doubt it will get worse, but even with daily use, no further issues have surfaced.
While I sincerely appreciate the attention of the moderating team, I would like to state that I consider Martin to be a remarkable authority on Bang & Olufsen products who is most generous in giving his profound advice.
The suggestion to “play” with the balance control is undoubtedly a good one, however it hasn’t been necessary to try this technique.
Thanks Jeff.The balance control potentiometer is responsible for many problems related to weak, missing or intermittent channels.Sometimes it's just a matter of lack of use (oxidation), other times the small bronze contacts break off and even in thelatter of cases you can occasionally get the odd burst of sound by moving the slider up and down.Hardly a week goes by without a balance potentiometer issue on the bench. That's why I asked.
This all makes perfect sense. In truth I doubt I have ever touched the balance control in the six years that I have owned this 2400.
I equate this to (in my younger days) curing the scratchiness in amplifier volume controls by rapidly turning the control knob back and forth. This “technique” was quite effective on AM car radios when the cars got older.
Oddly enough your advice was exactly what I was hoping to find in the first place, a quick fix, if only a temporary one.
The real fix is to have this 2400 gone over from A to Z and then it would be good for decades. In the mean time I believe you have given me the ability to enjoy my 2400 for a bit longer, please accept my thanks.
In nearly two weeks, even with daily use, there has been no further “hiccups” with this Beomaster 2400. It would therefore appear that whatever is wrong is currently minor.
Today was a rather spectacular performance at high volume with no problems of any kind. I call this a good day and a rather pleasant one at that. Got to love these S-45 speakers!
Well after all is said and done it wasn’t a switch (selector or balance) that caused these hiccups, but rather a capacitor (or capacitors) in the right channel is giving its notice.
The Beomaster 2400 will play well enough if NOT pressed for power, however turn up the volume and the right channel fades to nearly nothing with little bass and a scratchy upper end.
Turn it off for a minute and the right channel returns, but only if not pressed. That will make three Beomasters lined up needing rebuilding….. not counting my totally disabled McIntosh system, knocked out by an on/off switch catching fire.
Old electronics, got to love ‘em.
Hi Martin, I did answer your clever suggestion. Only time proved the problem has a different source.
I think I'm done with buying older CD players and receivers/amplifiers. I will still collect turntables, cassette decks, and loudspeakers, but after 3 or 4 years in the restoration hobby, I've learned my limits.
Rich,
I think we are more or less in the same spot.
I can work on the Beograms with reasonable results, especially with mechanical issues.
However all these “vintage” amplifiers are set for rebuilding and I am nowhere near capable of that, as I know my limitations.
Ditto the CD players, I agree with you.
My CDX and Beogram 4500 have yet to give me trouble, but that is only for now.
I never did manage to get my BeoCenter 9000 CD player to work; instead I purchased the whole mechanism from Leslie.
And I have never, but never been able to get the cassette recorder to work on my Century 2000. It works perfectly when the unit is disassembled, but put it back together and it plays for a second in one direction, tries the other direction and stops…. Period.
At least the CD player works as does the radio.
I was able to replace the belts (Martin's kit) on a BC3300, plus the belts and idler tire of a Nakamachi BX300. But in trying to fix the 70's era BC5000 I was able to get the belts replaced but couldn't get it back together.
I'm going to stick to later Naks in the future; they are pretty easy to work on and there's lots of help available at tapeheads.net.
Loudspeakers have always given me the most pleasure - as far back as 1987 I built a pair DIY. By far the most rewarding B&O project I've had was bringing back a pair of Beovox P45 from the dead this year.
The Beomaster 2400’s lost right channel has “recovered” and its superb sound quality restored. I have learned that at least in the short run as long as I do not press this 2400 that it performs happily. No doubt there is a failing capacitor that will eventually provide notice, but for now I know to respect its limits.
I was surprised that the right channel came back as in the case of the 4500, it was a straightforward downward spiral, each use and the sound got worse until it was unusable and that didn’t take long.
Different still is the saga of my unfortunate 4400 with its wild harmonic and volume changes, plus that annoying burning aroma. Yet the unwanted drama and odor stopped several months ago and the 4400 settled down to a rather pleasant sounding, if bassy, receiver. I rarely use it now based on good advice, but when I have it has been an enjoyable experience. (Like last night, for instance.)
My Beomaster issues are old news. Those who are decidedly technically oriented don’t understand my fascination with the differences in these receivers and Beograms, but if I wanted flawless and devoid of personality I would buy new…. no hassles and a warrantee if something were to go wrong.
I have also been told privately that I appear to enjoy playing with fire, but I assure you I am not in the least bit interested in “cheap thrills” and that would most definitely include fire.
Instead I enjoy the challenge of keeping these Beomasters going….. so I pamper them, try to respect their limits while enjoying what they can do as opposed to what they can’t. And when I do have all three rebuilt I am sure I will enjoy them every bit as I do now as there is much to recommend dependability.