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
It has been a while since we had an interesting refurbish or repair thread, I have been lazy this year myself, the last one was, as far as I remember, Sonavor with BM, BG 8000.
Some of you has been collecting for a long time, I only since 2010. I would like to hear how you got into this, how do you decide what to buy and structure your collection.
Here my story. going to be a long one with pics
2010 I was surfing the USbay, I dont remember why, but came upon a BM 901 made a bit of USD 20.00 and 2-3 days later got the confirmation that I won it. I didnt know nothing about the tech. side of vintage B&O, so I started surfing the forum to check what I had bought and how to deal with it, I knew the forum from earlier years (2001-2) where I used it for checking BL 8000 before buying.
The 901 was shipped to TX, and I had to pic it up there.
BM 901 bought August 2010 Ebay Seattle, refurbished 2011.
Before I got time to pick up the 901, I thought about what I had to do with it, found out that I needed a pair of speakers and bought a pair of S45s end of August 2010, shipped to TX.
Before I went up there in October to pick it up, in September 2010 I bought a BM 2400 (I had a BG 2404, bought in 2006, just to play my vinyl, no thoughts about collecting yet), to match the BG 2404. Thinking if the BM 901 didnt work I could use the BM 2400. But if they bouth worked I would need one more pair of speakers nad if I took away the BG 2404 from my Beosound 3000, I would also need another BG, bought a BG 5000 pizzabox in September, bought a pair of 3702s in December 2010.
Got it all home to Mexico city, in the mean time I found out that Martin sold spares and kits, and had bought a lamp and cap kit for the BM 2400 from him. I dont remember if I bought for the BM 901 at the same time. I connected the 901 and it worked more or less, but the 2400 had problems, so with the help of the forum I started on that one, cleaning and changing caps and lamps, it worked. The S45s (83-86) had bad surrounds, I changed these too and put new caps in the crossovers. the S45s needed stands, I took a closer look at them in the manuals and some pics, and decided to make a pair.
I was now hooked, the Beovirus in full blossom, January 2011 I bought a pair of Beovox 3000 panel from Jaff bay. during first half of 2011 I got the 901 working, got the BG 2404 serviced and the 3702s refurbished.
I was now on the forum every day, reading nearly all vintage threads, surfing the web for info, updating my tools, and thinking about where to go with this new hobby. In April 2011 I won an auction for a BM 4000, one more trip to TX, and I got the waiting items down here.
I now had enough to play with for the rest of 2011. As end of 2011 everything was working I started looking for newer vintage or other interesting designs or models, as I had the BG 5000 pizzabox, I decided to get the rest of the stack system, got BC 5000 and BG CD50 in February 2012 and in March the BM 5000, got that cleaned and working, no challenge easy job, I felt like a king.
Well, as the stack system turned out to be easy, I was thinking about why the BM 4400 should be better than the BM 4000, I found a BM 4400 in July 2012, USD 50.00, you get what you pay for.
That one turned out to be biggest challenge until today. I made my longest thread ever on the forum. I got help from members I had never seen on the forum before. And not at least from Martin, who helped me with a complete output stage component kit. Free to test it, he told me. I now realized that I still has a lot to learn, the king feeling went away
May 2012 I bought a BG 1202 in DK got it over here and made a mechanical conversion from 50 to 60 Hz
The rest of 2012 I also bought a pair of Bvox 1600 from Martin and from the bay TX2 and P45, all refurbished and now working. Rich send me a BC 5000 492X he could or would not finish him self.
As I always wanted a reel to reel I had been searching for it since 2011, in July 2013 I found one
And now my son chimed in, he found in DK August 2013, a BM and a BG 1000, my first ever B&O, I bought in 1969 a BM,BG and Beovox 1000, sold it 2 years later. that is now waiting in DK for transport to Mexico.
During 2013 I also bought a couple of BG RX and a pair of CX 100s.
And the hammer, Martin gave me a Master De Luxe Present 608. now waiting for pick up in DK
When I get that one over here I will have to decide where to go next, go for older or for newer to complete time history, I would like a BM 2000 type 2801, but else I´m totally happy with what I have. Space is also a problem, nowhere to put it anymore.
Why I do this, its fun and I think I´m becoming a Beogeek.
Now your stories about it.
Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.
Pictures are awesome and the stories behind them are even better, thanks for the read mate.
I was already infected from the early childhood as my room system were based on a Beomaster 2400 and a Beovision 5100; might want to dig out and scan some the old pictures from me using them and my Father's Beosystem 6000 w/ Beogram 8002 and Beocord 8004. I remember a home vid with 4-year-old me rocking to some tunes with a pair of headphones plugged straight into the Beocord.
Started collecting records in 2007 - and I needed to have a decent system to play them on. Well, off to the scrap yard to find a Pioneer turntable and an ITT amplifier. Hooked it all up to my pair of 1980's Beovox S45's from the old system. The need for a better system became more apparent and I went for a Beosystem 5500 by the end of 2008. No regrets and a very good system...
Beogram had an MMC2 cartridge that failed upon me in january 2009 which had me on the hunt for a nice turntable. Peter's awesome pictures of his Beogram 4001 and my Father's tales of his beloved Beogram 4002 that he bought for his $2 an hour apprentice wage made me get a good 4002 with a pair of Beovox S60's. The bonus piece was a Beomaster 6000 4 Channel that I was given for free by the same seller! Bought a pair of Beovox S75's locally the next day, too.
The virus was alive and rolling... And I made fanboy collages for my desktop in paint of the Beogram linear tracking line from start to end...
I'm not sure on how I got the next buy, but it was a Beogram 4000 - faulty in one channel. My B&O tech at the time said that he couldn't fix it so it was quickly sold again (sigh); but was given my Uncle's Beogram 8002, my Father found a cheap Beogram 8000 and I found a Beogram 2404 where a pristine MMC5 cartridge was used for the 8002 as the 4002 need repairs to the speed control circuits (my repairman was slow and not good at it.) Tried to imitate the famous Beogram christmas tree with my tiny collection.
Then it was winter 2009 and I lusted after more power and a matching Beomaster for the 8002... A Beomaster 6000 was a logical choice, so I found a restored one (and a new repairman!)
At the same time, I found the joy of listening and recording cassettes - so the Beocord 5500 came to justice. Of course I needed the best, so my repairman fetched a Beocord 9000 for me... It did spend a lot of days on the floor as there weren't space for it anywhere.
Something magic happened in late 2010... The 8000 system was found and installed.
The best photo 17-year-old me could do. Notice the 2 liter bottle containing yellow liquid - it's a Danish pop called Tuborg Squash.
In the spring 2011, I found another (working) Beogram 4000 which had to have it's prime spot - had an MMC6000 retipped to Shibata for it in april
Meanwhile, I needed a bedroom system which was slowly forming by other B&O components I bought.... A second Beomaster 8000 and Beocord 9000 was brought into the house....
.... And soon I put it all on my Parents' 1980's record shelves. The 4400 was given to me by my grandparents and was working fine - it was subject to my first total recap in the fall of 2011, much water has flown under the bridge since.
I spent a lot of 2011 on finding systems for other people; a Beomaster 2400/Beogram 4002/Beovox S30 system went for my female cousin, a Beomaster 3300/Beogram 8000/Beovox S35 setup went for my then-girlfriend and later a Beomaster 4400/Beogram 4002(The one I bought in 2009) and S45-2's for my second female cousin. An old friend of mine bought the old S45's for his JVC surround system. Then I got a car and a band to look after - and school was tough with lots of assignments - so the Beovirus was put a little on hold until the autumn of 2011. I did go quad again with a Beomaster 3400, but it is still awaiting recapping and restoration.
A 50-euro working Beocenter 9300 was found at a second hand store and the second Beomaster 8000 was (to my regret today) sold.
Refound nostalgia with a Beovision LS4500, a Nintendo 64 and a VCR, but that didn't last that long because I didn't have the space for it. Instead I found another Beogram 4000 which is in the permanent collection (just lent to my uncle)
Had a little flirt with Beocord 8004 cassette decks - charming little buggars, both sold by the end of the day though.
Then my hobby went to a side track - open reel decks.....
My first B&O open reel deck became a like-new Beocord 1800 which I'll never part with.
I got a Beocord 1200 cheap and it was added to the collection. Here it is fighting (a worthless fight) against my also then-newly acquired Revox B77HS semiprofessional deck recording a new-years eve radio program
My venture into the valve world of hifi would be very similar to Søren's - early 60's stereo sets. My Grand Prix 610 is a milestone of my collection and the oldest piece. Still working and catching stronger FM signals than ever (thanks to a new $5 ECC85 front-end valve)
I also made a debut into the Beolab 5000 range by acquiring this beat-up beauty for free. She needs a recapping (caps bought and ready to install) and some light sanding/oiling of the veneer, maybe a new volume slider if I can find such thing.
The biggest thing yet is my move from home in mid August; have just settled down with my Beolab 8000 system and the S75's. great little inefficient buggars that won't disturb the neighbours too much comparing with my MS150.2's. Much has been omitted in this summary as pics of all acquired and sold pieces would fill a page pretty quickly...
Vinyl records, cassettes, open reel, valve amplifiers and film photography.
Wow great stories and thank you for writing them.
During the Beovirus they also became a fan of my current old school B&O thread on 79 pages on hifi4all.dk which I started back in 2008. It is all in Danish and describes how nuts and crazy it can get. At the present moment I have come to a 5 year conclusion and have changed my Beovirus to lower priority.
http://www.hifi4all.dk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=66882&PN=1
In shorth I got a Beosystem 2000 ('80s) + Attyca II complete in in a matter of a few weeks and a Beocord 9000 by accident. I was no looking for a stereo or B&O at all for myself. This was 2003. I got the units serviced as they did not work and enjoyed the system until 2006 when I decided to sell it and go for Beolab 8000 system. I allready had the Beocord 9000.
So I started and got a Beogram 8000 that was not good. The tacho disc was gone and it ended its life in pieces. On to a bundle with a BM6000, BC8000 and a Beogram 8002. I had gotten some teak Beovox M150 that were refurbished too but I started to realize that B&O does break down. Dillen insisted that he was interested in looking at my Beogram 8002. I finally took the 4 hour train ride and I had my first taste of Dillens magic when I got it back. It kept working like new for several years until it was sold and properly still does.
Then it got to a original Beosystem 6000. Just the 3 main units nearly DOA. Hunting for matching Beovoxes came into S120 and S80.2 with foamrot and missing stands on one pair of them. A manual for SC60 stand were among the units so that too came around. Terminals and remote option were also located.
Still Beolab 8000 were not dismissed and since Dillen is so good meant DOA did not matter that much. I got a BM8000 with a CDX to complete the full setup in rosewood.
New flat meant more room so a Beosystem 6500 and Beolink could be interesting. I got one from an auction prior to the move. Of course I had to invest in a Beogram 6500 and another Beocord which led to another dead Beomaster 6500 in the deal.
Now I am nuts with white design so since I got the Beosystem 6000 in white why not 8000? And for that matter 6500?
Dillen has along the way serviced 98% or so. I also got Beovisions which I still own. LX5500 from 1989 and still works! AV9000 from 1998 which had to had some service by the local store. I even had Beolab 6000 and 8000 for it at one point and Beosound 9000 mkIII
Pictures can be seen:
http://s114.photobucket.com/user/Friedmett/slideshow/
In the process of selling house and plan to retire before Christmas, then I will have time to play with all of my vintage. ;-0
Hello everyone,
I'm not going to post pictures of all my items again, but it all started in 2008 for me.
I bought off ePay a cheap but mint and boxed nonfunctioning Beogram 6006 because I wanted to keep busy with electronics after a few years of doing very little. I was more into valves and open reel then.
The turntable proved to be excellent and beautiful, so it replaced my brand new Technics SL-1200/RB300 setup very quickly. This is also when I discovered Beoworld and that a certain Dillen could give one advice and find them parts!
I was smitten!
In early 2009, I bought a Beomaster 6000 to go with my lovely Beogram. This looked new and had just been overhauled by a B&O tech centre. It wasn't cheap but it also came in its original box!
Then, a bit later, I got a Beocord 8000 for £1 (only bidder, yes), near-mint, but with plenty of goo inside!
Then, the Hi-Fi World magazine to which I had been a subscriber since day 1 (1991) asked a certain Mr Jarman to write articles about vintage stuff, and so a B&O article was published in July 2009, in which the author made a list of what he thought were the best products produced by the marque.
He listed : Beolab 5000/Beomaster 5000; Beomaster 2000; Beomaster 4400; Beomaster 6000; Beomaster 8000; Beocord 9000; Beocord 2200; Beogram CDX; Beogram CD5500; Beocenter 3500... well you get the idea. I have got all these, plus much more today!
To be fair, Adam Smith had published an article about the Beosystem 5000 in 2007 and this made me water but I had forgotten about it... until I really got into B&O! Then I found more articles in Hi-Fi World by Haden Boardman and David Price...
From then on, more B&O articles followed, all eye-candy to me. Thanks to you all my Beoworld friends, I got a passion for these well-designed products.
Oh, and thanks to Prizebot for the superb Beolab 6000 speakers I won last year!
Jacques